Since there are many of us into this sport or wanting to try it I figured I would start this thread. Bow fishing is a great sport it combines hunting with fishing and with practice it can be a very rewarding sport. Feel free to post your shot fish, preferred gear and any questions.
The bowfishing thread
- Thread starter sbuse
- Start date
Here are some of my fish shot this year thus far.
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My preferred tips. After many year trying different tip styles this style I have found to be the best on the market.
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My preferred reel system is the ams reel. It is about $125 in a kit. They are worth there weight in gold. I have used several different reel styles and nothing beats the ams reel in my book. I'll try to get a picture of one up.
As for bows I just go to yard sales and pick up cheap old compound bows. I may average $5-30 for them. My current one is a browning. I also use a lot of Fred bears. The ideal poundage for bow fishing is 50-65#. Any less and you don't get good penetrating hits. Any more and you get to many pass throughs. Nothing worse then trying to feed the arrow back through the fish. In those cases I find it is easier to remove the arrow and pull the line back through.
Arrows
I attach the ams arrows with sliders to my line with loop knots. That way they are easy to change out in case of pass through or broken knocks. I'll post pictures of how we have them rigged soon.
Line
I recommend using 200# test line. Nothing is worse then lost arrows do to line breaking. The 80# test line snaps on shots if it is hooked up on anything. On the other hand the 200# send the arrow back at you so you must pay attention.
Most of all AIM LOW. When you think your low enough drop a little more then shoot. One way I practice is to shoot milk jugs that I have sunk. Also find small suckers, leaves and any other small things in the water. It is all instinct shooting.
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As for bows I just go to yard sales and pick up cheap old compound bows. I may average $5-30 for them. My current one is a browning. I also use a lot of Fred bears. The ideal poundage for bow fishing is 50-65#. Any less and you don't get good penetrating hits. Any more and you get to many pass throughs. Nothing worse then trying to feed the arrow back through the fish. In those cases I find it is easier to remove the arrow and pull the line back through.
Arrows
I attach the ams arrows with sliders to my line with loop knots. That way they are easy to change out in case of pass through or broken knocks. I'll post pictures of how we have them rigged soon.
Line
I recommend using 200# test line. Nothing is worse then lost arrows do to line breaking. The 80# test line snaps on shots if it is hooked up on anything. On the other hand the 200# send the arrow back at you so you must pay attention.
Most of all AIM LOW. When you think your low enough drop a little more then shoot. One way I practice is to shoot milk jugs that I have sunk. Also find small suckers, leaves and any other small things in the water. It is all instinct shooting.
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Got my grandfathers old Bear compound I've been wanting to set up for bowfishing... That or the PSE Kingfisher kit... Got a spot up here with some nice big carp...
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Nice
Get it converted. You will be happy you did I bowfish more then anything else now.
Depends on your states regulations. Here we can shoot many species. All "rough" or "underutilized" fish. Ex carps, suckers, gar, quilbacks, buffalo, bullheads, bowfin, mooneye, shad, the list goes on.
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Find the Department of Natural Resources website for your state and look for the fishing regulations. Around here it's gar, suckers, shad, carp, bowfin, and buffalo. Basically either non-native or what's considered "trash fish" here, non-sporting species.
Looks like your link is this one:
http://www.dnr.state.md.us/fisheries/regulations/regindex.asp
