# Bowfishing...



## DUCKAHOLIC86

Was just wondering if anyone could give me some tips on this, never done it before. Any preference as to what name brand reel set up to go with, type of arrow and general stuff like that... Any help would be great. Thanks guys


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## string music

AMS makes some good stuff..If money was not an option i would buy  the oneida ospray bow. My good friend owns bowfishing madness gude service and he can be more help to ya....Check out bowfishingmadness.com web site..You might want to book a trip with him to get your feet wet...Good luck


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## FERAL ONE

http://forum.gon.com/showthread.php?t=105538&highlight=101

this is a thread i put together a while back. if i can be of help, let me know.


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## wack em

First of all go ahead and spend the money on the good stuff because you are gonna me addicted. I shoot a Onieda Osprey, with a ams wave rest, and a ams retriever pro reel (this is the bottle type reel and the only way to go in my opinion). As far as arrows almost everybody uses the white fiberglass muzzy arrows topped off with a muzzy gar tiped head. Good luck and if you have any questions just shoot me a PM.


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## FERAL ONE

i agree about getting the best you can first or you will be buying it later !!!  but i hated my bottle reel.  i could not get rid of that thing fast enough !!! sure wish i had the cash for an osprey though !!!


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## bluedvl11

So can I set up my PSE X force Dream Season for bow fishing?


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## wack em

bluedvl11 said:


> So can I set up my PSE X force Dream Season for bow fishing?



You could but you aren't gonna like the way it shoots on the water. You dont want to be drawing 50,60, 70 pounds shooting fish in GA. It would be a good choice maybe shooting gator gar or deep sheepheads, but not for carp in shallow ga mud. Your Xforce shoots so fast that you will bury up your arrow in the mud and spend half of your time pullin arrows rather than shooting at fish. I would reccomend any recurve, or old round weeled bow, or something like an Onieda osprey, or or a Cuda.


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## FERAL ONE

i have a cuda and like it pretty well.  wack em's osprey is the cadillac of bowfishing bows. my favorite shooter is a pse spyder V4 , the  34 " axle to axle one.  it is a great bowfishing bow and pretty light for all night holding .


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## DUCKAHOLIC86

Would a pse firestorm work well? Would it have to be turned down alot? Its a back up bow that I have...


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## Grover Willis

I never liked the bottle type reels ether.  I use a zebco 808 and it works great.  A youth model bow works fine to as long as the draw is long enough.


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## wack em

I think we need a bowfishing sub fourm! What do you guys think?

Seems like there is a fourm for every outdoor activity except bowfishing. Any reason not to have one?


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## FERAL ONE

won't be long and the water will be on fire guys !!!!


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## wack em

FERAL ONE said:


> won't be long and the water will be on fire guys !!!!



I bought a 5hp kicker for my boat today and have taken the troller off. Got all the parts to rig a front drive stick steer device for it and am planning to rig it all up saturday. Hopefully by saturday night the carp will bleed. Its gonna get up to 60 here saturday and they carp should be all over the banks at dark, I cant wait!


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## brucemacgee19

I wish there was a bowfishing subforum..........    oh the santee is calling me right now............   you know they were killing the hound out of them on santee jan 3 through 12........... big cats already moved into the shallows for a few days.   wackem you go to shoot carps?


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## sleeze

DUCKAHOLIC86 said:


> Was just wondering if anyone could give me some tips on this, never done it before. Any preference as to what name brand reel set up to go with, type of arrow and general stuff like that... Any help would be great. Thanks guys



If you wanna use a reel.  Get a muzzy reel seat and a Muzzy reel.........

BUT the best thing for a beginner, imo or even long time veterans use,,,,, is to get a AMS retriever you do not need a reel seat....mounts right to your bow ..................nothing to mess up, will last for ever.http://www.amsbowfishing.com/product_info.php?cPath=32&products_id=263

Muzzy bowfishing arrows and tips are great.  I would recommend this with the safety slide. 
http://www.shopatron.com/product/part_number=1020-CSS/182.0.1934.1943.0.0.0
*
Use the AMS safety slides*...................i do not recommend tying to the back of the arrow.

Let me know or PM me with any other questions.


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## wack em

brucemacgee19 said:


> I wish there was a bowfishing subforum..........    oh the santee is calling me right now............   you know they were killing the hound out of them on santee jan 3 through 12........... big cats already moved into the shallows for a few days.   wackem you go to shoot carps?



Yea I shoot anything that is legal on the waters that im on. I probably shoot more carp than anything else over the course of the year. Headin down to Fl. in a few weeks to get after some gar. Im heading out to work on my kicker controls now and if I get it going im gonna go to hartwell and kill some carp and catfish tonight!


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## sleeze

wack em said:


> Yea I shoot anything that is legal on the waters that im on. I probably shoot more carp than anything else over the course of the year. Headin down to Fl. in a few weeks to get after some gar. Im heading out to work on my kicker controls now and if I get it going im gonna go to hartwell and kill some carp and catfish tonight!



What part of Florida are ya going to shoot?

We are going to Florida in a few weeks to fish, but i am thinking about taking the bow just in case i see something.


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## wack em

Not real sure the exact spot but somewhere around Tallahassee. Im going with a buddy who has been there before and he says its awesome!


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## Michael

Good luck Blake. I'm in the middle of building my new boat as well.


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## wack em

Michael said:


> Good luck Blake. I'm in the middle of building my new boat as well.



Didn't get finished with it yet. Oh well I would rather do it right the first time than have it tear up on the water or have to tear it apart later to make adjustments. Got the steering cables and sprocket all setup and adjusted, and would have been on the lake around 1 saturday night but we ran into trouble with the conduit we were trying to use for the throttle cable. Ive got the parts in hand now and should be on the water weekend after next

Hows yours comming?


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## MonsterBuckBoy

I am getting my old browning bow set up for this year. I just bought an AMS pro retriever. I also have the standard arrow with the muzzy carp tip. I have my bow set at 45lbs. What is the best "lb" that I should have it set at?  What type of rest do yall use? My whisker biscuit is not strong enough to hold up he heavy fiberglass arrow. Plus I dont want to take it off of my switchback.


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## sleeze

45lbs is about right,,,,,,,,,,,,,,They make Whisker biscuits for bowfishing.  Same thing but the bristles are sturdier.  A lot of people use a Muzzy fish hook rest.

A new bowfishing rest just came out for 09.  Its called the Quick Draw Rest.  I am going to be getting one of these soon.  www.bowfishingextreme.com sells them.

I have the Extreme all in one rest ,,right now,,,,,,and i like it.


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## sleeze

Another thing,,,,,,,,,,,I prefer shooting a recurve bow.  Because you are doing a lot of "snap shooting". I sometimes shoot at 3/4ths draw. If you can find a cheap recurve bow or have one laying around i would use it.  If you cant find a recurve a compound will still work for you though.


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## wack em

I shoot the AMS wave rest on my onieda. And shoot off the shelf with my recurves. I would say that for around here 45lbs is the most you will want to shoot. When shooting around North Ga. I usually just shoot 25lbs. Thats the min draw weight on my bow, it makes it alot easier to retrieve your arrow out of the mud. A buddy of mine shoots 50lbs and it gets old having to turn around to get his arrows out of the mud, we have even had to grab the arrow and pull it to get it loose before. When I go down to fla in a few weeks I will probably turn the poundage up to 45 so that I can get a little better penetration on the bigger fish in deeper water. Good luck!


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## Michael

[QUOTEHows yours comming?[/QUOTE]

Hopefully my deck will be fabricated and mounted tomorrow  I love shooting out of them, but I hate building bowfishing boats.


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## sleeze

When you guys gonna let me come up there and shoot off your boats?

I need a change from shooting off my little jon boat.


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## killitgrillit

*setup*

Alright ya'll I need help, I just asked Boneboy lastnight about a sub forum and they didn't think we needed one, So I need some support showing there will be enough of us fish stickers to support one.
 Just got my platform built last fall, got the troller lengthened and lights built(150w HPS) with removable light box. Here's a couple pics.


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## wack em

Im all for a Bowfishing fourm. How do we need to approach to get it done?


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## shiznugg

*The cheap way*

Bowfishing is awesome fun.  All you need is a few things besides a boat and bow.

1. Make sure you boat has 2 batteries...One for the trolling motor and the other of lights.

2.  Get a bow that you can draw back comfortable (45~50lbs) and some Talon bowfishing arrows or other types of bowfishing arrows. 

3.) Braided Nylon rope...small enough to go through the arrow shaft hole.  Secure the line with a knot (I use a clinch knot followed by a square knot).  Then tie the other end of the string to the bow, below the arrow rest...make sure that the string is above the arrow rest and draws back over the top of where your hand is. Otherwise, you'll cut yourself with the string.  Also, make sure you have enough string to shoot. ( I used about 50 ft.).... Important when the bow is at rest with the arrow noched, make sure the string isn't tangled.... you want to make sure that the string will not hurt you.   ....Or you can skip all these things and fork out the money for a line bottle that attaches to your bow.  However, why spend the money on something if you don't even know if you've like it?  That's my opinion.

3.  Get a high-powered spot light from local store and a  Fishing License and Hunting License.

4.)  Get a buddy and go bowfish!
takes all!

All you need now is a boat and a buddy to go with at night. ...Just pull the boat into a cove and go along with your trolling motor and trace the shoreline with spotlights.  

You wanna look for disturbed mud in the water because carp feed off the bottom.  Remember, don't shoot game fish. It's illegal!  

 After you've located a fish, one person shines the light the other shots ... it's pretty self-explanatory... One more thing, Make sure you cut off the trolling motor before you shoot  

Bring a big bucket to store the dead carp! 

If you want gar I recommend going during the noon hours along dams.   Good luck and have fun!


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## GA Bowfisher

shiznugg said:


> 3.  Get a high-powered spot light from local store and a  Fishing License and Hunting License.



No hunting license requierd


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## Michael

I started over 30 yrs ago shooting fish from the bank. Then moved up to 2 of us shooting from a canoe at night; the guy in the front of the boat would work the Q-beam and find a fish. Then he'd pass the Q-beam back to the guy standing in the back of the canoe doing the paddling. Once you shot your fish, you'd turn around and now you'd be the guy doing the paddling and your buddy would work the light to find himself a fish...  Well sir, with 2 men standing in a canoe, a battery for the Q-beam and a cooler for the beverages, it didn't take many 20+lb carp added to that canoe before someone, I mean everyone and everything got wet 

We shot with a Q-beam for many many years and had a ball! About 20 years ago someone got the bright idea of rigging lights to a boat with generators so we didn't have to worry about holding the Q-beam. I bought a 14' Duracraft and rigged 2-500 watt lights on the front and 2-300 watt lights on the side. The paddle was replaced with a trolling motor. This worked great for another 10-12 yrs, but once I shot out of a "kicker" motored boat, there was no going back to a trolling motor.

My point is this, it doesn't take much to get started shooting fish. During the spawn in the spring, you can simply shoot them from the bank. Don't worry about having to go out and get an airboat right out of the shoot.

Yes, I'd love to see a bowfishing thread here. If not and ya'll want more info, try http://bow.fishingcountry.com/bfcforums/


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## Michael

GA Bowfisher said:


> No hunting license requierd



But you DO need a fishing license.


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## ClydeWigg3

Where are you hunting around Tallahassee Wack Em?

Can I rig up my old Hoyt Spectra 1000 with it's oreo wheels?  I was just about to sell that thing.  Guess I'll hang on a little longer.


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## wack em

ClydeWigg3 said:


> Where are you hunting around Tallahassee Wack Em?
> 
> Can I rig up my old Hoyt Spectra 1000 with it's oreo wheels?  I was just about to sell that thing.  Guess I'll hang on a little longer.



Im not real sure exactly where. Somewhere around st.marks. Im going with a buddy who has been down there a few times. 

If your bow has oreo weels then it should work good for bowfishing. If you have an old recurve laying around thats even better.
Good luck


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## ClydeWigg3

How low can I go on poundage?

You can bow fish both the St. Marks and the Wakulla Rivers.  The Wacissa River is just a few miles East of those two and is also crystal clear.   All teaming with mullet.


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## wack em

I shoot 25lbs. the lower the better here in this mud. The biggest fish we usually see are 20lbs and they are rare. Most fish here are 2lb fish


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## CMMILAM85

I shoot a Bear Kodiak mag recurve 45#. I think 45-50 is about the perfect weight because you can draw it all day and still make a fairly long shot.


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## Brian Smith

Just go to backwater bowfishings web.site.  Bryan Hughes  has everything you'll need!


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## archerholic

Hi folks, 
Archerholic here with Bowfishing Madness. Years ago (at least 20 yrs.) when I first started bowfishing I used a recurve. We would take a piece of 6" wide pvs and flare the end out with a torch and then mount that to the recurve. That was our reel!!!! Funny thing is it works great! I still have that same recurve. I didn't mind cramming the bow in the mud to make it stand up while I removed a fish. I have killed hundreds of fish with that recurve. But today my choice is the Oneida Osprey set at around 34 lbs. These bows draw very smooth and pack a serious punch. I do also like the Barracuda and the AMS Fish Hawk. The Barracuda packs a little bit more punch than the AMS. The Barracuda will pinch your fingers a little more than the AMS due to the axle to axle length. The Muzzy reels are great and the AMS retrievers are great. With the reels you had better remember to hit the release button!


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## archerholic

Someone asked how low they could go on poundage. Last summer I had multiple customers that brought kids along to bowfish. I had one bow set at around 14 lbs. This kid managed to kill 4 gar with that weight that night. Most of the women that get on the Madness boat shoot an average weight of around 25 lbs.


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## RIVER_CAT

Depending on what im shooting......I love the Osprey set about 30-35lb....low enough for the small.....and deep driving for the big


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