Bowfishing in SK advise needed.

[Dan the Saskbertan]

I found a cool spot last year where the carp hangout in shallow water. I want to bowfish for the carp and there's no limit. A local guy who raises a few pigs each year will take them as pig food.

I have a 70lb compound but think that's a bit much. I'm more inclined to think a recurve is a better choice because I could still fire mid draw and less parts to get wet.

Anyone here bow fished before and have some advise?

Dan

[calgarychef]

I've bow fished quite a bit. Go to the AMS bow fishing website and they'll have all the info you need. You could start as basic as a smooth bottle taped onto your riser and line wrapped around it. Its a pain rewrapping the line after each shot though and a retriever reel works faster. Get an AMS reel if you do decide to buy something as they "push" the line into a bottle, no dangerous tangles that way. Make sure you use an arrow slide to prevent snap back "never tie the line to the back of an arrow."

Shoot low and have fun, I tried eating carp. You should too, it develops personality

[J D]

Yes, a 70# compound is over kill for carp you will pass through and then some. It really sucks if you drive a fish arrow through a carp and into a log in deep water . It does work in a pinch.

A recurve is nice especially for fast shots. If it is threaded for a stab even better then you can screw in a bow fishing reel. I prefer the recurve for bow fishing by far.

Find a spot where the carp are cursing high in the water column is best. Like was already said aim low.

Have fun

[Bonescreek]

You guys are killin' me, bowfishing was the first thing I did with
my bow back in 1972? to raise the bar from shooting straw bales.

All I can tell you is it was about one of times I really enjoyed the most
early on shooting the bow.

Total freedom to draw, anchor and release without any focused thought
about ... anything.
Just like plinkin' tin cans with a 22.

You can read anything you want into the lines above, but it gave me
at an early age the (12 maybe 13 years old) a reason to continue
shooting the bow and it made it fun.
Yup a heck of a lot of fun.

I still shoot the bow.
What year is it ?

Yall got me wondering if I had not gone out on the unusually warm day
in Jan. (trout season opens Apr. 2) to shoot carp in the creek on the farm back in 1973, would I still be shooting the bow today, or just stayed with the shotgun and rifes alone ?

I wonder.



And I shot it a lot more and I got better as time went on.
One thing led to another.

[Dan the Saskbertan]

Thanks for the advice guys!

Dan

[BigRackLover]

I use my 44# recurve with a AMS bowfsihing pro reel mounting to it. Very good setup, realy great for quick shots once I got the refraction down. Check out the the 2013 outdoor canada summer issue ... I wrote an article on getting started with bowfishing.

Are you fishing from a boat or stalking along the shallows? Feel free to PM me .... I've been to Sask. bowfsihing a few times and plan to go again this year.

[tonycanevaro]

Anyone ever try pickling carp? Europeans eat carp a lot. Hate to waste that much fish....

[calgarychef]

I've tried eating carp, it's pretty bad, even a genius cook like me couldn't make it taste good. It's probably really important to flush them for a week in cold clear water, unfortunately that isn't possible with bow fishing.

[Dan the Saskbertan]

I have found a local farmer with 5 pigs I can feed any of my catch to. There's no limit to carp in SK so I'm hoping to have lots of fish to feed them.

Dan

[L.O.S.T.Arrow]

Bow Fishing is a blast...we used to have free range here in alberta with the right licences...but they put us in the same catagory as spear fishermen that were taking to many big spawners...so everybody lost it..

I had a low poundage compound I picked up for peanuts...put a big casting reel with 100lb line in it attached it to a 1 Ft piece of broom stick...with a lag machined bolt that fit into the stabilizer insert...and simply hose clamped the reel to it...

Worked like a charm...except for the couple times I forgot to hit the line release before shooting...had to wade in spring fridgd water to retrive arrow...

Have a couple extra fishin arrows on standby....

feeding to the pigs would not be a waste IMHO...good cause actually...and makeing good relations with land owners...win-win all around...


One can pick up $100.00 used compounds with lower poundage ...that with some of the fishing gear mentioned above...deadly...

Good luck...

Neil

[Alberta Bigbore]

I miss bow fishing at wabamun. it was an awesome way to spend the weekend. I'm a look at getting into it again myself, and traveling for those carp. there is suckers not too far from Edmonton to shoot

[Glowen]

Any suggestions on how to cook carp if you'd want to TRY eating it?

[L.O.S.T.Arrow]

Originally Posted by Glowen

Any suggestions on how to cook carp if you'd want to TRY eating it?

Take a big pot ...bring water to boil...add spices to liking...add two big baseball sized rocks to broth bring to boil again...

simmer for an hour ....dump out carp and eat rocks....


lol

Neil

[Dan the Saskbertan]

Picked up this AMS bow fishing package.....

If I harpoon any carp in the coming weeks I'll post pics to this thread.

Thanks for all the help & advise fellas!

Dan

[Alberta Bigbore]

Originally Posted by L.O.S.T.Arrow

Take a big pot ...bring water to boil...add spices to liking...add two big baseball sized rocks to broth bring to boil again...

simmer for an hour ....dump out carp and eat rocks....


lol

Neil

Hey.... thats the same recipe for Moose Nose!!

[Dan the Saskbertan]

Originally Posted by Alberta Bigbore

Hey.... thats the same recipe for Moose Nose!!

Yummy! But I'll bet it's still tastier than carp

[Bonescreek]

Hey Dan, that AMS should do fine.

Two of things I would give a hard look over on a bow for bowfishing would
be 1. the amount of metal parts overall on the bow and
2. how durable it's built.

1. Less is more, 2 more is better.

For bowfishing I would want one I can "drop" in the bow of the boat when
I land the fish, and one I can hose off when I get home without it rusting.



Note... shorter ATA bows will do better on close and/or deep water shots
giving more clearance to the bank or sides of the boat. Otherwise shorter
ATA don't matter so much.

[BigRackLover]

Just got back from bowfishing in Saskchewan, check out some pics here. Give my page a LIKE please if you like what you see. I'm going again next year for sure.

Tourism Saskachewan recommended Sundale resort - it was a great place to stay - top notch actually.

My AMS bowfishing retriever pro reel reel didnt fail me once. I did however miss many times because of that dam refraction.

[Dan the Saskbertan]

Originally Posted by BigRackLover

Just got back from bowfishing in Saskchewan, check out some pics here. Give my page a LIKE please if you like what you see. I'm going again next year for sure.

Tourism Saskachewan recommended Sundale resort - it was a great place to stay - top notch actually.

My AMS bowfishing retriever pro reel reel didnt fail me once. I did however miss many times because of that dam refraction.

Looks like you had an awesome trip there amigo, good work!

Dan