The Hunt for Big Fish.......7/13/08 update!

[Guru]

Maybe not big by some guys standards, or for some locations.....But it seems twenty pounds is the magic number where Gary,Tim,and I have been bowfishing......

 Gary shot and weighed one last year that was a shade under 20#......so I'm gonna make sure we have a scale from now on to see if we can break the 20# mark this summer!

 Yesterday we went out and again Gary showed us how to do it. When Tim and I came back from spending about 2 1/2 hrs down river and had nothing to show for it except for a few missed shots. Gary had this.....

   


So we decided to try a different spot on the river and Tim and I faired a little better. Timmy did real good with a fine sneak and shot on a real big fish and made it 2 for 2 with another good shot. One is a whopper that I think might have beat Gary's mark,but we didn't have a scale with us. According to Gary it was for sure no bigger than 19#'s         .....

   


I think we'll continue to update this as the quest continues.....

[Fletcher]

I wouldn't know a 20 pounder if I shot one, but that would rank as a big fish on my arrow.

[robslifts]

very nice

[joe skipp]

Nice...looks like the area I smallmouth fish in...great fishing guys.

[Swamp Pygmy]

Congrats.

I've never seen carp that big down here, but I'm sure they have them.

We have big garfish. I wanna try making some garfish scale arrow points like they say the american indians did around here. I found a pic of some the other day they were pretty neat. Sharp looking too.

[Stone Knife]

Those are nice fish you guy's shot, here is a pic of my biggest this year it weighed 35# but I  shot it in a lake, I took a number of 20# fish in this spot.


   

[Guru]

Like I said......"#20 might not be big to some or some locations"......but where we are.....


Time will tell.....we're trying again tomorrow morning  

[larry]

them are nice fish guys...looks like you all had a good time      :D

[Guru]

[IB]

NO CADE......      :eek:

[LEOPARD]

Nice fish, Curt! Well done and congrats!  

[3dmuzzy]

Nice shooting guys,Looks like alot of fun.

[Swamp Pygmy]

I guess this is kinda a dumb question but.. you guys do just kinda randomly search grass flats for them right?

I've seen carp in ponds, and a few lakes, but I hardly ever see them in the bayous. It seems like with all the grass they'd be everywhere.

Am I missing something? You guys all look like you're fishing in creeks or lakes, not backwaters or flood waters. Am I looking in the wrong areas?

I usually try to find a fertile area that is protected from wind and full of grass. Is that a bad strategy? Should I look for access to deeper water like they are bass?

[Guru]

SP, We are finding these fish as tail up to feed on the bottom in the shallows. It's not at all like the frenzy of spawn time. It's spot and stalk hunting at it's finest,but it's fish. This is very challenging!  We also get them sometimes by cruising along slowly in a canoe.  The most difficult stalk is when we have to stalk in the
water as opposed to the hunter being on shore while stalking. Carp are very sensitive to vibrations in the water. Flip a rock, slip and take one bad step and they just disappear.


The hunt continues.....


 Starting out...Gary ran right into some deer....

 

 


 From a distance I could see Timmy was quickly attached to a fish as Gary and I moved up different sides of the river.

I was soon into fish and within a half hour I had these.All three stalked from shore....

 


 After it slowed down I worked my way back to the truck and soon Tim showed up with these......

 


 Gary showed up a little while later with one fish of his own....at this point we had 6 fish...all between 8-10lbs.

We moved to another spot on the river. The same place we hunted on the 4th,where Tim shot his big dog.

Tim did well again...bring in two more fish....

 

Check out where he hit this one....

 

We waited to see how Gary did.....

 


Gary showed up again carrying one fish....

 


He had another stashed down river that we went to pick up making our total 10!

Since all three of us starting bowfishing together last year I think the most was 6 in a day,and that was last Friday. We were on a roll and Tim again had the big dog of the morning.....

[Guru]

The "de-liar".....

 


Have any of you guys seen anything like this? Gary shot this fish and it had the same open sore looking spot on the other side gill plate too......

 


Closest fish is Tim's big fish, 13lbs. 4oz.....

 


Three happy hunters with our 10 fish.....

 

So far Tim had the biggest, but still no 20#'ers


 We weren't done yet though.......

Tim went off to take his cousin fishing/bowfishing.

So with me running out of time,having to be home, we went back to a spot Gary had done well at this morning and had seen a lot of fish......

It had slowed down....But with Gary watching I lucky enough to made a long, slow stalk thru a long stretch of shallow water to take my biggest fish of the day......

 


A while later with very few fish showing themselves, I looked up stream to see an active fish tailing at the head of the same shallow flat I'd shot my other. As I again made my way very slowly toward the tailing fish. Getting closer,  almost in shooting range, I noticed a dark shadow cruising up toward me. I quickly turned my attention from the tailing fish to this closer fish. It was hard to see,but my polarized shades definitely helped. She was feeding/rolling on the bottom, the flash of her belly helped me keep track of her progress. Within seconds she rose up off the bottom and with her dorsal about out of the water I released.......

 This was now my biggest fish of the day.....

 

Kind of a blurry pic, but you can get a better idea of her size......

 


 more to come......

[Guru]

This was now the fish of the day.....

 


That made 12 fish,doubling our previous high of 6 fish in a day!

 What a way to finish up a great day with good friends. Thanx again guys        

Let's do it again soon.Hopefully with Shawn next time......

The quest for the twenty pounder continues......

[Charlie Lamb]

Seeing the sore on the gill of that carp makes me wonder if you have lamprey up in those waters.

Nice fish and good shootin. Got a few today myself in the flood water. 3 gar and a big head carp.

[Shaun]

Lampreys do come into fresh water to spawn and they have to eat. Looks like their sucker work to me. Nice shootin Guru and friends.

[JC]

Looks like a blast Curt, thanks for taking us along.

[Horne Shooter]

I was on a turkey hunt earlier this year (the one where the hog chased me) and I had the chance to shoot some carp out of a tank there on the ranch.  I didn't have the proper rig with me so I just shot them with regular arrows/broadheads.  It was a blast.  Looks like you guys are having way too much fun.  Thanks for the pictures.