bowfishing overkill

[ericmerg]

what poundage would you consider overkill for bow fishing?

[robtattoo]

Bank or boat?

From a boat, pretty much anything over 50# is going to get you a few pass throughs.
From the bank, you can get away with a bit more.

[KentuckyTJ]

I think a 50lb bow is ideal for most bowfishing around here. We shoot a lot of rocky banks and anything much heavier than that is heck on arrows and points.

[KOOK68]

I shoot 40lbs with no problems.

[The Vanilla Gorilla]

I'll put overkill at around 60lbs for soft skinned fish.  I shot thru way too many fish with 60lbs...carp, gar, buffalo, paddlefish..

Shooting thru soft skinned fish is an inconvenience at most, but shooting thru gar often times results in a severed line and lost arrows because of the sharpness of their scales.

I do gotta say though, that 60lbs probably won't pass thru a larger gar.

[Big Ed]

50 pounds is what I use on carp to Stingrays!

[Cyclic-Rivers]

I use 50 lbs. Its ideal for me.

[flippnsticks]

50lbs is they way to go

[Skipmaster1]

I shoot 55#'s and still feel a little light on lots of the water we fish. Our season starts after the spawn and we are often shooting carp that are 3' down. Sometimes on deep ones I just get a scale on my arrow tip. I used to shoot an 80# wheel bow when chasing deep fish! In shallow water 50# is more than enough

[rjackson]

50lbs is the way to go.

Good luck,
RJ

[mncarphntr]

Its hard to have too much weight for big fish down deep, but you have to realize that a good day means A LOT of shots. I shoot 45-50 recurve and have to just let a lot of shots go by. If I need more weight I have the c@#*&!!d in the box.

[oxnam]

75# + would seem like overkill.  60-65# have a large advantage over 45-50# bows, if the fish are very shallow and close, lighter weight bows do just fine.

[oxnam]

Keep in mind that too much poundage in shallow rocky water will cost extra $$$ in unnecessarily damaged tips and arrows.  Overkill can get expensive.

[finkm1]

I shoot 45#s for carp. Works great.

[Night Wing]

In the middle to late 60's when I was a teenager , lots of bowfishing bows were 45# bows.