Looking to get into bowfishing, what do I need to know?

[Jdawg sk1]

Well after spear fishing was so much fun this winter, I bought a bow at an auction sale today and I think I'll fish with it. So I've got a bow it's a pse Mach flite 4r pull weight is 55-70 so it's a little heavy for fishing maybe but it's what I've got so ill use it. I know of a lake nearby with carp. So what's next I'm guessing arrows and a reel what kind of sights are best do you chum?

Let's get this ball rolling?

Thanks in advance

[Archerysniper]

I use the ams retriver bowfishing setup arrows are all about the same and I love the muzzy points.

[delcecchi]

Also need to figure out what you are going to do with the carp after you shoot them.

[Jdawg sk1]

Not really sure what to do with them some folks just shove them down a badger hole but I was thinking I should be able to find a way to eat them. Any good recipes

[Ryan_V]

I just have a pin sight, lots of guys don't even use them. I also put "string things"on mine, those are the rubber pieces on the string for your fingers. The cheapest piece of equipment I bought, and I wouldn't fish without them. As said before, have a plan on what to do with them..... LEGALLY.

[Neighbor_guy]

I do all my shooting with recurves and longbows, but I started with compounds. Infact my "custom carp bow" is the first compound I ever purchased that I converted into a recurve.

My recommendations to you are this;

First make sure that bow fits you.

Second back it down to that 55lb mark. You don't need a lot of draw weight to shoot fish. Plus you will be shooting a lot so a high draw weight will shut you down early.

Third strip your bow. Remove the sights, remove any hunting rest, quivers, anything that the string can catch on it will. (Your hand/eye will take care of the aiming, don't worry about the lack of sights)

Fourth get a pair of polarized glasses, a wisker biscuit, retriever, and a couple of arrows. You can get all of these in a combo set up at the big C store. Spend the money up front to get decent equipment or you will just spend double to get it later.

Fifth and final, HAVE FUN!!!! Find a couple of guys to go shoot with to learn the basics, try fishing from boats or shore, you will find your favorite methos. My personal favorite is to get the hip waders out and stalk flooded timber shooting fish waking though the shallows. But spawners in flooded water is a riot too.

[mainbutter]

do you chum?

Pretty much any CO will say that putting any kind of food in the water to attract fish isn't allowed. Citations may vary from breaking fish and game regulations to littering.

[Neighbor_guy]

Just scored an Oneida on that for sale site!!!!

Been looking for one of those for years, now I need to get it tuned a little bit and put a paint job on it.

Now I have a second dedicated carp bow. $50 well spent!!!

[Jdawg sk1]

Well I'm almost all setup the bow is set to 47lbs And I've got a ams roller rest a couple fish arrows and I have a hand reel coming in on Friday . I also decided to go with a release so I've got that to Can't wait to start

[Jdawg sk1]

Well I'm all set up and have been practicing in the back yard. If it's nice tomorrow I might try and sneak out to the lake or go to the dugout and shoot an underwater target.

[Stick500]

well if an underwater target happens to swim by, you can shoot it! (roughfish of course)

today is the opening day of the regular season

aim low, and then aim lower

good luck and keep us informed of progress

[Neighbor_guy]

With the boat still in storage the idea of getting to go stand around and shoot at random carp or the occasional sucker sounds like a great time.

[Jdawg sk1]

I hit one today but it tore off must have just got the tail. But I did hit one I also scared a few more lots of fun regardless.

Me and my father In law went out in the canoe he paddled I stood in the front and shot.

[Jdawg sk1]

I got one shot through the eye and out the cheek.

Bonus rattlesnake that was on the bank first one I've ever seen in the wild.

[Neighbor_guy]

I don't do rattle snakes. .....

Don't mind the non venomous ones, but I don't want to have to have snake boots to shoot some fish!!!

Well done on the common. Thanks for the story.

[Stick500]

awesome fish Jdawg!

your rig looks exactly like my first setup

you sure that's a rattlesnake? I've never seen one with that coloring and I thought there basically aren't any venomous snakes in MN except for perhaps timber rattlers in the SE river bluffs which have pretty drab coloring

if it was shaking it's tail you might have seen a corn, rat, bull or gopher snake imitating a rattler- I've seen them do that- they really don't have any rattles but they shake it against sticks and weeds and can fool potential predators

also, I think a rattler would have a more triangular-shaped head than what appears in the pic

but I guess I could be wrong and you really saw a rattler

if you actually saw the rattlers, than that's what it was!

EDIT: Just noticed you were in Saskatchewan! so maybe you know more about the local snakes than I do

[mainbutter]

Great shooting! On the snake:

It's definitely a Pituophis, probably a P. melanoleucus, or bull snake. Without a better picture I hesitate to call it for sure, but I think the only pits in MN are bull snakes and fox snakes. Bull snakes tend to have that coloration change partway up the body, so I'm 90% confident that's what it is. It's definitely an awesome find and still on my bucket-list of wild snakes to encounter. I've tromped all over looking for 'em, but still haven't knocked ANY Pituophis off yet.

For hot snakes, MN only has timber rattlers and massasauga rattlers (and technically western and eastern hognose snakes if you want to get technical, but they barely get a nod in the venom department, and are less dangerous than a bee sting). Timbers are pretty easy to tell, they have the proportions of your diamondbacks that you see on TV all the time, that stereotypical pit viper head, but a pattern and coloration that looks like leaves in the fall.

[Jdawg sk1]

Could be a bull snake as I didn't see the tail , it was still down the hole but I Did hear it rattle assuming it was a prairie rattlesnake which is somewhat common in the val marie area of Saskatchewan . I guess I'll just have to go fishing again and see if it's still around.

On another note any ideas why my line keeps breaking.

[Jdawg sk1]

http://youtu.be/pWWFcyBqLBs

Video of the snake

[mainbutter]

You'd think I would have noticed your location being something other than MN! Doh!

You guys most definitely do have Crotalus Viridis in your area, and they do have spots on their back like a lot of colubrids, but I'd still put my money on a bull snake. They get hissy and put up a fit and can certainly sound like a rattlesnake with the vocals they make, plus they do have some similarities in looks. The big thing for me is coloration. I don't work specifically with rattlesnakes, but the color I get from the photo and video screams "I'm a colubrid".

Here's a great video comparing those two species specifically! I was actually just looking for a video for the defensive sounds a bull snake can make, but a guy is already comparing prairie rattlers and bull snakes.

edit:

and a great video of a wild montana bull snake putting on a show -

[Jdawg sk1]

Darn nature took me of a fool just the bull snake thanks for the input and the education.

[harvey lee]

One thing a person can do is dispose of your shot fish.

I went to a local creek to catch some bullheads today for flathead fishing and it stunk so bad from probabaly 75-100 dead roughfish lying on the shore one could not fish. I guess one shoots them and then leaves them lay on shore where others try to fish.

Please dispose of your fish.