What? Nobody bowfishes anymore?

[Charlie Lamb]

Got out yesterday for the first time in a very long time. I'd been looking for fish for a while with no luck. My daughters boyfriend hooked me up on his Grandpa's place. 3 shots and 3 Asian carp... and my foot in the door. Yep, prime deer habitat.


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[Charlie Lamb]

 It's hard to get good perspective on that top fish, but he was a really good one. (if you look real close you can see the full length fish arrow right above his back) I'll be going back soon. I've gotta fix my bowfishing rig. I took a fall in the mud and broke off the attachment to the bow. It's a clean break and an easy fix.

[IowaHedge]

Nice fish. It’s always hard to get a good picture of how big they are. Shot lots of gar myself this year.  It’s great fun. I don’t even really rod and reel fish anymore. Bowfishing is addicting.

[wislnwings]

Been looking at my bowfishing options here.  Now just need a day off.

[Bisch]

Since I moved, I have not gotten to go bowfishing nearly as much as I would have liked to! My boat is sitting under the carport getting neglected and not used . I hope we can get some stuff done on the house and free up some more time.

But.......just a few weeks ago, BDann, bornagainbowhunter, their 2 sons,and myself made a trip to La to get after the redfish. It was a blast!!!!









Bowfishing is a hoot!!!!

Bisch


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[meathead]

My son and I found some spawning carp this spring. Shot quite a few. Even got the sunbear bow I bought on last years St. Jude auction coated in mud, blood and carp scales. 

[monterey]

A stingray by the boys in FL last week and a carp earlier this year.  The carp was with a wheel bow cuz they didn't have a rig for the recurve.

[Macatawa]

I remember the days. 

I grew up on lake Macatawa in Holland Michigan.  The shallows were ALIVE with carp, gar, and a multitude of other targets in the summer. 

Will never forget those moments.

 

[Gordon Jabben]

Dang Charlie, those are dandies.

[Bowguy67]

Not many around this year it seems but here’s a pic

[LBR]

Several of us go to Cedar Key, FL every year to bowfish.  Biggest ray I've gotten so far is around 100#...was a job hauling it in.

[Bisch]

Several of us go to Cedar Key, FL every year to bowfish.  Biggest ray I've gotten so far is around 100#...was a job hauling it in.

I really want to do this sometime!!!!!

Bisch


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[Ron LaClair]

Here's an old video shooting suckers in a creek in the spring using just cedar arrows and steel blunts. Hitting them in the head or gill plate turned em belly up.

[Charlie Lamb]

Very cool Ron. I haven't eaten sucker in a long time. Love em.

[Ron LaClair]

When we were young and poor we ate a lot of suckers in the spring. The Red Horse suckers always ran in the river the 3rd week in May. Their red fins made them easy to see and good targets for the bow.

Nancy would can some with a little red food coloring to make them look like salmon. She also made sucker soup that was very good. I made a smoker out of and old refrigerator and smoked some too.

Carp shooting when they spawned in the shallows was like "shooting fish in a barrel" 

When the black suckers ran in the creeks I hunted them at night wadding with hip boots. I rigged a harness in front of me that held a coleman lantern so I had hands free to shoot.

[Cyclic-Rivers]

Good stuff Charlie.  I go from time to time but mother nature usually likes to challenge me a bit between clouds and wind.

[LBR]

Bisch (or anyone else interested), give me a holler if you want contact information.  I started going 5 or 6 years ago.  Drove me nuts trying to find a guide that was open to bow fishing (redfish is king down there).  Found some great guys to go with.  The one I go out with is a bow hunter and all about the customer.  If you want to hunt a mermaid, and you can show him they exist and it's legal, he will do his best to put you on one.  Only kicker is the weather...have to book your trip well in advance (usually), and weather is no  guarantee.  If it's really bad, you can re-book.  If it just turns out to be crap weather for bow fishing when you get there, you can always rod fish for redfish, speckled trout, shark, etc. 

[pavan]

When I lived on the east beach of Storm lake Iowa I shot lots of carp at the outlet.  A farmer fed everyone I shot to his hogs.  That is a big no no to feed hogs carp these days and it is illegal to throw them back in the water or on shore.  Red fish is a different thing all together, those are dandy eating.  I think that i like red snapper a little better, but I have never heard of one being shot by a bow fisherman.   

[MnFn]

I remember my dad and a friend of his shooting stickers in the spring.  There favorite spot was a small stream between to lakes.  It was quite shallow so they would wade it and get suckers between them.  They had a blast.

[LBR]

Hogs love fish...when my dad raised hogs, we always fed the heads, guts, etc. to the hogs.  A big catfish head was like an apple to them...just crunch it up.  Carp make good fertilizer if you want to take the time to bury them in the garden.  We once used a coho salmon recipe and canned a bunch of carp...looked and tasted like the best pink salmon you ever ate, but it was a ton of work.  Have to pressure cook them to make the small bones edible (impossible to get them all out).  Smaller stingrays are good eating, but I haven't found a recipe to make the big ones taste good (too strong and very coarse meat).  The locals don't care what you do with them as long as you kill them...huge nuisance for the fishermen, people seeding oyster and clam beds, etc.  Bow fishing is a hoot whatever the quarry, but I've never seen any freshwater fish that compares to sticking a 60+ pound stingray and letting it take you for a ride!  They aren't hard to hit either...they are just easy to miss.  You'd think something as big as a car door would be a "gimme"...it's not...