Getting started "Bow Fishing"

[carpsniperg2]

Bow fishing is a ton of fun! and great way to warm up the muscles for the upcoming hunting seasons. there are many routes you can go to get started. A lot people have a old bow laying around that can be easily turned into a bow fishing bow. Or you can buy a bow built for bow fishing. these bows have minimum let off, and can be snap shot like a traditional bow. One of the most popular bows used for bow fishing is mad by Oneida. They offer a hybrid style bow that gives you the let off of a compound and the ability to shoot it like a recurve as well. the ospreys is there top selling bow fishing bow. Other companies such as pse/browning and a few others make bow fishing designated bow’s. The best way to get into the sport weather you have a bow or are going to buy one is to get a package setup ready to add to your bow. basic packages that consist of a drum style wrap reel, with arrow and rest. They can be found on the net for around 35.00-50.00 . Kits can be found that use spin cast reels, you just push the button before the shot to be able to shoot just like you were going to cast. Muzzy makes a great package with a spin cast reel they run 60.00-110.00. The best kits out there, that I like and use are made by AMS bow fishing. I also feel is the safest reel on the market. They run from about 115.00-160.00. Most of the kits come with the reel/rest/arrow's and line. Some kits also come with a how to dvd.  Some choose to use a standard hunting rests, but most prefer a bow fishing designed rest. The best two that i trust and use are. The AMS roller rest and the muzzy fish hook. Both rests are time tested and can be bought separate or in some kits. Bow fishing can be done from the bank or boat. Most boat setup's for bow fishing will have some kind of raised platform. This allows the shooter to get a better angle to see and shoot into the water. A lot of people also use wading to stalk carp in the shallows. This can be a very productive way to take fish. The common carp average weight is about 10 pounds, the biggest around 40 pounds. Bow fishing can be done year round but the best months are may/June/July/Aug. I always encourage form member to contact me with any questions they might have about bow fishing. So grab a kit a old bow, or new one. Head to your local river,pond or lake and shoot some fish!
Happy Bow fishing all Carpsniperg2

[GWP]

  Don't let this guy fool you! Bowfishing is a disease! First it starts with a simple bow with some form of string holder. It quickly becomes where you have multiple bows equiped with the best bowfishing equipment, multiple arrows, a boat, and various other equipment specifically designed for bowfishing. Soon you will be looking foreward to June, so you can go fling heavy arrows at squirming spawning fish. You will not realize you have pulled your bow back 200 times until that night when your shoulder is a bit sore, but you will be ready to do it again the next morning. That is, unless you stay up all night on your specifically designed night bowfishing boat with lights, generator, fan motor and deck. Run now! Don't do it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

[carpsniperg2]

A 24/7 sickness and yes i do have lights for my boat

[Ray]

Let's see or read about examples of bow and arrow setups. I was thinking that a samick sage would be a good bow. I also understand some people have strong opinions on the arrow and reel setup. Pics always help.

[Ray]

Are these worth a damn?

http://www.kustomkingarchery.com/Retriever-Bowfishing-Reel/productinfo/3104/

http://www.kustomkingarchery.com/K-K-Screw-On-Bowfishing-KIT/productinfo/3612/

http://www.kustomkingarchery.com/Yellow-Jacket-Fishing-Shaft/productinfo/3614/

[ribka]

Are these worth a damn?

http://www.kustomkingarchery.com/Retriever-Bowfishing-Reel/productinfo/3104/

http://www.kustomkingarchery.com/K-K-Screw-On-Bowfishing-KIT/productinfo/3612/

http://www.kustomkingarchery.com/Yellow-Jacket-Fishing-Shaft/productinfo/3614/


Those will get you started .Good reliable products.

I started bow fishing in 1975 with my Dad's cedar arrows and bear razorheads or Ben Pearson Deadsheads and a 45 lb Bear Kodiak bow. have shot 100's of carp.

I use simular equipment now. Based upon my experience use at least 50 lbs with a retriever bow fishing reel.Using this retriever needs more poundage. Especially for longer and deeper shots 

I like the muzzy heads for bow fishing     

[carpsniperg2]

You got it

Okay first is some of the points that i like to use.

Points:
Pic 1: these are by far the best points i have ever used! These are innerloc grapple points. There is a 2 blade and 3 blade, both pictured. These have a huge holding power to them!
pic 2: Left stingray point, very common point, used a lot in tourneys. Because they are very quick to remove fish. I have had a few untwist on me during retrieval of the fish. On the right: muzzy carp point, another one of the most used points out there. Very solid point, They do have wire wings, to hold the fish on. These can tear the fish and cause you to loose them, if the fish are a little soft "full of eggs and spawned out"
pic 3: Top innerloc pro point, my fave wire barbed point. Very good shooting point and does not plane in the water as much as some of the other heads. Bottom is the garpoon. A super heavy point used on big game fish. Can be used on carp, but they have to have the wings locked back after every shot. Or they plane threw the water very bad and won't get the depth needed.

Reels: As far as reels go, i only use the ams bowfishing reels. They are zero drag and the safest reel i have ever shot. The spin cast reels are pretty good. But have you ever tried to cast a spin cast real and forgot to Punch the button? Well imagine that happening with a arrow! Not very pretty! The drum style reels are good as well. They just take about 4 times as long to reel in and get set back up as the other reels

Bows: Note these are only a few of the bows i have setup. My main bow and a few of my main bows that my clients or friends run.
pic 4: My full time bow as of 2010, elite archery xlr 55lbs ams pro reel and muzzy fish hook.
pic 5: My Oneida black eagle, the Oneida is a hybrid bow with the best of both worlds. You can snap shoot it like a recurve, and draw and hold with letoff like a compound. Very popular in the bowfishing world.
pic 6: 40lb Jennings and a 55lbs pro line. Both setup with ams reels and ams roller rests.
With bowfishing bows, its better if you have sight holes to mount a reel on, or a stabilizer hole "if using a spincast reel. But for the trad guys using long bows or recurves. They make a tape on mount for all 3 styles of reels, "bottle ams,spin cast,drum"

Rests: There are many rests out there. After a long day of shooting a guy really will like the "fuller containment rests" they help keep the arrows from bouncing off the rest. The two that i like the best and trust for new shooters and season pros alike is the ams wave rest and the muzzy fish hook rest. Both preformed very well!

Arrows:
Well i have always just made my own with fiberglass blanks. They also make shafts called yellow jacket that are fiberglass with impregnated carbon in the arrows. There are also all carbons arrows. All are good arrows, all will get the job done. Fiberglass has worked the best for me. I have friends that run all types of arrows and there faves are still the fiberglass arrows.

Line:
Most spin cast reels use lighter # test like 80-100#'s, the ams reels use 130 or 210 braided Dacron line. You can also use the higher poundage line for gator and shark hunting.

As always i love to answer questions. I love the sport of bowfishing. If anyone has any questions as far as costs or were to buy there stuff feel free to ask. you can ask on here or in a pm. I plan on putting my skills on the line this year. I plan on chasing more and more aquatic targets! This year SHARKS are on the hit list as well as tuna. Then there are rays and gator gar, and alligators for me later down the road.

[Ray]

Thank you. That was very detailed. One more question. On the samick sage it has some screw in spots on the riser. Is that going to be good enough to mount the reel? I have never attached anything to my bow other than a string and an arrow.

http://www.3riversarchery.com/ShowLargerImage.asp?i=2490X&n=Sage+No+Tools+Take-Down+Recurve+Bow

[carpsniperg2]

Are these worth a damn?

http://www.kustomkingarchery.com/Retriever-Bowfishing-Reel/productinfo/3104/

http://www.kustomkingarchery.com/K-K-Screw-On-Bowfishing-KIT/productinfo/3612/

http://www.kustomkingarchery.com/Yellow-Jacket-Fishing-Shaft/productinfo/3614/

Yes all three will work great. I like the ams reel way better then the screw on reels. You will retrieve and shoot the arrows about 75% faster with the retriever reels. Ray they also make a tape on mount for mounting the retriever reels on trad bows. I will look for a link on one of my friends site.The yellow jacks are the carbon impregnated arrows that i mentioned above. They are a very good arrow shaft as well.

Just saw your other post, if they are standard sight holes. Which i am sure they would be. Because there is a standard in the archery world. Then the retriever will fit right on it. The reel comes with a few spacers for clearance as well. I have not dealt with the samick bows. I have watched them shoot them on Strickland's archery show. They seem like a very nice bow. I have lots of gear for anyone to test out and see what they like. The reels are as easy to out on as a few spacers and 2 screws.

[Ray]

Gotcha on the ams reel.

[carpsniperg2]

They are very safe! and i trust them. Thats why i like them so much.

[GWP]

Nice job answering his questions! I will add; Take all the rest of the stuff off of the bow. No arrow holder, no sights, no weights. I started with a 25 lb bow, which was fine for REALLY close shots, but quickly moved up in power. I had a drum, switched to a closed face Zebco, forgot to punch the release a couple times, The first time I lost an arrow as the line snapped, the last time the arrow whizzed back by me. Now I only use retrever reels. Glass arrows, Muzzy points, Whisker Biscuit rest, but there are a lot of choices that work fine as have been covered. Any bow can be made to work, some are just better then others. I prefer compounds, but there is the issue of damage to cams if you drop it. Course, any bow can get damaged if it is dropped. Just get out there and do it. You will get addicted. It is SOOOOO fun! Not a lot of people bow fish the West side, but they are here. The record in Washington is 44 lbs out of Long Lake.

[carpsniperg2]

News to me if the state record was broken. I know the record that has stood for a long long times was. Kevin Wolf 6-21-1980 at 41.4lbs and that was out of long lake. Probably the same one you are thinking of. That's a magic number for me, its always in my head. The number i am always looking to beat Probably will never happen, but a guy has to have dreams. 

[GWP]

Just looked it up and you are correct. That is the record, and the one I was thinking of. I have seen some monster carp on the West side up by the UW, but was a bit leary of walking around with my bowfishing bow, though I did it one time. I do have a good spot on Lake Washington for carp shooting, and have never seen anyone else doing it there. 
I caused a bit of a fuss bowfishing at Green Lake a couple of years ago and though the WDFW said they would back me up because they stock it, I decided it was not worth the trouble. I mostly wanted to see what would happen anyway! 

[Ray]

I picked up a recurve for 109$ and 12 dollars shipping.