Last day of Aneal and Matt's hunt with Outdoor Expeditions. Tune in to see the last day big buck action, as well as a review of spot and stalk packs from Aneal and Matt.  

A big THANK YOU to Mr. Launch Monsen for salvaging this tape from a case of bad video heads.  Also a big THANK YOU to Miles and Outdoor Expeditions.  We'll definitely be back again - hopefully these giants are even bigger!

For those of you who have never tried bowfishing, you may have conjured up in your heads an image of a huge boat with a big ass fan on the back buzzing a bunch of rednecks around in some swamp somewhere.  While that may be the way many of those who enjoy bowfishing do it, Matt and I started out a bit simpler - with our own two feet.

Wading /Shore Fishing

We basically started in the early summer once Turkey season was done hitting up some of our local lakes and a few farm ponds here around Denver.  We found our first kills were just wading out a bit from the shore, or sometimes walking out on a downed tree and waiting for a carp to flash or splash.

What I think is so great about bowfishing (especially when carp are spawning) is it is not stop action, and you get a ton of shots to figure out just where to aim (and trust me, this is going to take a few arrows to get down).  In general , you are aiming lower than where you see the fish to account from the refraction on the water's surface.  I had some of my best luck standing on a log and just watching the reeds in the shallow water moving around.  That was always a good sign that a carp was swimming by, and gave you a notion of where he or she was going to.

Once the spawn heated up during some of the COBF tournaments, there was spalshing all around, and one of the best days Matt and John North had was when they didn't have a boat and entered the tournament as "Shore Fisherman".  But more on the tournaments in the next blog entry.

Using a Boat

More traditionally, guys who have boats, tend to be a bit more mobile.   Again, there are all kinds of setups with generators and lights for night fishing, swivel chairs raised well above the water for better vision, and even gadgets that let you control the motor and direction of your boat by simply moving your quadracep left and right.    Trust me, if you want to talk to some new school tinkerers, go find a bowfisherman who has his own boat.  That will be a fun and educational conversation.

Finding Fish

We had a few opportunities to borrow my neighbor Rick's boat.  Nothing fancy, but it allowed us to essentially motor the shore lines until we found areas that were holding fish.  When the fish weren't spawning hard (splashing all over the place) we tended to need to find the right "depth and mixture" of vegetation.  On the Colorado lakes we fished, it seemed between 2 and 3 feet with some grassy vegetation on the bottom seemed to be where we typically had our action. And when you have action bowfishing, look out!  Fast and Furious!

One thing to note is that we are probably shooting in water that is typcially deeper than many other areas of the country.  This led us to pull back a slightly heavier bow which I will get into in another blog entry.

Whether you are fishing from the shore or from a boat, bowfishing tactics are pretty straightforward.  Find the fish be either sight or motion in the water, aim low, and start firing arrows.

In my next blog entry, I'll cover a bit about how the COBF tournaments were setup that we competed in.  In the meantime, post your questions about bowfishing tactics as a comment to this blog entry, and we'll do our very best to get them answered.  Happy Fishing!

As winter really gets going I thought I'd share a really great recipe.

Perfect for warming those cold bones after a day out in the freezing temps!

Venison Soup 

6 cups of chicken broth

1 can of beer (the inexpensive beer is fine you won't be able to tell the difference)

1 pound of ground venison (browned)

1/2 pound of crispy bacon (crumble it in)

1 can Red beans (drained & rinsed)

1 can Black beans (drained & rinsed)

3 stalks of celery (chopped)

1 can diced tomatoes (include the liquid)

1 Tomato (chopped)

1 Red pepper (chopped)

1 Orange or Yellow or Green pepper (chopped)

1 Red onion (chopped)

1 Habanero pepper (without all the seeds or it will be too spicy.. diced)

2 fresh garlic cloves (diced)

Salt and pepper to taste

I usually add a little oregano and basil as well as a shake or two of mexican chili powder but we like it spicy!

Dump it all in together as you chop it and simmer for 20 minutes or so, if at the end of the 20 minutes you feel like you need more broth add 2 more cups of chicken broth.

Enjoy!!

As a reminder, 2009 was the first year I ever picked up a bow and aimed it at a fish.  Being as resourceful and inquisitive as many of you know I am, I reached out to several individuals to understand what went into getting setup for bowfishing.   I talked to a couple of the individuals from the Colorado Bowfishing Association (COBF), I spoke with Mark Land from Muzzy Bowfishing who runs the largest Bowfishing tournament in the country, I spoke with Jeff Braun from AMS bowfishing, I spoke with reps from Cajun Archery, and I chewed the fat with many different guys who have been doing this for a long time. 

Just like anything related to the great sport of archery and hunting, there are many opinions out there.  My goal of this blog entry is not to necessarily make recommendations on specific pieces of equipment (although stay tuned, that is coming), but to really highlight what the core pieces of equipment are to be capable of shooting a fish with a bow.  Here goes.

 A Bow (Duh)

It is important to recognize that pretty much any relatively new bow (whether it is a traditional or compound bow) will work to Bowfish.  A lot of guys choose to use traditional (recurve/stick bow) to shoot fish with.  It should also be pointed out that in most cases, the same exact bow you use for big game hunting can be used for bowfishing.  You need to switch out your arrows, rest, and add a reel, but if you only own one bow, chances are you could use it for bowfishing.

With that being said, there are manufacturers (such as AMS) who make bows designed for bowfishing.  What is different?  Well, for one, shooting at fish is more of an "instinct" type of draw cycle.  The AMS Fish Hawk that we used this year only has 20% letoff, but the limbs do crank up to 50 lbs.  Often, 30-40 lb limbs is all you need to be effective while bowfishing. 

In addition, if you do only own one bow, you need to consider the conditions you will be bowfishing in.  Obviously there is water involved, and I will admit to the greater BowCast community that I have dropped my bow overboard and had to fish it out with a long gaff out of a murky, muddy, carp egg laid lake bottom.  Might not be exactly what you want to do with your primary big game bow.  So in some instances it does make sense to invest in a primary bowfishing bow.  More on that in subsequent blog entries.

Reel/Line

I am sure many of us would love to be able to follow a line to the deer that we shoot, but doing so is just not that practical.  If you want to bowfish, you will need to invest in a reel.  The good news is they are cheap, they attach to your bow very easily, and you can put them on and off pretty easily.  Keep in mind, while it isn't unheard of, most guys do not run with a sight on their bowfishing setup.  It's more of an instinctive shot (i.e using the tip of your arrow as a reference point).  So, you can pull off your sight, and attach a reel pretty easy. 

There are different types of reels are available.  I will be reviewing the AMS Pro Retriver which is a "bottle" style reel that stores your line in a bottle and uses a "trigger" to provide tension when you are reeling in a fish.  These reels are EXTREMELY popular.  It worked great for me, but there are also more "fishing" style reels that have line on a spool.  I personally like the bottle style better as there seems less to get tangled with -  but bottom line you will need a reel to bring in your fish once you shoot them.  You'll also need some line either made by Muzzy or Brownell, but usually the line is included in a reel kit.

Rest

In theory you could probably use a drop away or TM Hunter style rest, but there are several bowfishing rests that are much simpler than what we use on our big game setup.  Again they are cheap, easy to switch out, and we just aren't concerned with some of the same speed dynamics when shooting a big heavy arrow at fish.  You want some containment aspect to your rest as  you are constantly swinging around to take a shot, and don't want your arrow falling off a rest.  Stay tuned to reviews of 2 specific rests I used this year.

Fiberglass Arrows

You will not use the same arrows you use for big game.  You'll want to get some fiberglass bowfishing arrows (I used Muzzy Arrows).  These will be MUCH heavier than the typical ~400 gr arrows we are used to running through our big game setups.  They are also more durable which is important when you are shooting into rock bottoms around dams, or cement like sand at the bottoms of rivers and lakes.  I have not had an arrow break, so I literally think you could get by with 1 arrow, maybe 2 arrows to have one as a backup.  Probably don't need more than that until there is a reason to buy more (i.e. skip one off a log and lodge it into a tree - ha ha!).

Fish Points

I think of these as broadheads for fish.  Typically there is a ferule with "V" wing to pass through and ensure the arrow doesn't come back out the 2 holes you put in a fish.

Safety Slide

This is an absolute must have for bowfishing!  Never run an arrow through a bow without a safety slide.  The safety slide goes over the shaft of the arrow, and when you are waiting to draw, the safety slide is pushed down towards the end of the arrow where the fish point is.  This ensures the line is out in front of you and has less of a chance catching up with the reel or bow mechanisms.  Obviously you could imagine shooting an arrow attached to a line out of a bow, and having it stop 3 feet from your face and coming back at you.  Do NOT run a bowfishing setup without a safety slide.

Other Equipment Considerations (Garbage Can, Gaff, Boat, Release etc.)

As you may know. Matt Hogue, John North and I took a crack at a few tournaments in Colorado this year.  Spending all day bowfishing makes it apparent that there are some accesories and other peripheral pieces of equipment that are useful and make the overall experience more enjoyable.

On thing to think about is what you are going to do with your fish.  We got a couple of cheap rubbermaid garbage cans that we used to throw our fish in.  Until they fill up, you can keep the lids on to keep the flies away and the stinc down.  And by the way, the action is non-stop and during the peak of a spawn, you will absolutely fill up multiple garbage cans with fish.  Another note - if you are shooting invasive/non-edible fish, do not "dump" them on the shore or even in the water.  Dispose of them properly so bow fisherman (and women) don't get a bad rap.  You can use the fish as fertilizer, donate to a local wildlife sanctuary or even an organic farm.  Find someone who can make good use of the fish, and make it a point to donate them there.

A gaff is very useful as it gets a little crazy when you have a fish on an arrow that you are trying to land and not lose (BTW, I arrowed two fish with one arrow this year....yep, I am bragging even though this isn't a rare feat in the midst of the action of a heavy spawn).  We started out with one of those long pole gaffs which are useful, but we found it easier to just use a hand held gaff and get down closer to the fish on the side of the boat.  We were mainly shooting carp in the 10-15 lb range, so a gaff is not an absolute, but merely a recommendation.

A boat can get you into some spots where wading won't allow.  But I will be very clear - you DON'T need a boat to start bowfishing.  Matt Hogue and John North actually took 3rd place in one of the tournaments doing it all in waders from the shore.

Release?  I think I am one of the only guys in the world who bowfishes with a release.  Typically bowfisherman are finger shooters.  Since I do most of my shooting with a release, I felt most comfortable anchoring with a release.  But that is probably a topic for another blog entry.

So what equipment do you use that I didn't cover?  What questions on bowfishing equipment do you have?  I want to get folks having as much fun as I did this year shooting arrows at fish, so if you have a question, just post it to this blog entry as a comment.  This sport is absolutely awesome, and if you haven't tried it, I would suggest you give it a shot - I can't imagine you would be sorry you did so.

I'll get into some specific equipment we used on the next part of this bowfishing series.

Until then, I am out.

Aneal