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Inexpensive but decent enough bowfishing setup and arrows

2K views 4 replies 5 participants last post by  lasers 
#1 ·
for up to 12 pound fish? Plan on going after some snakeheads.
 
#2 ·
As a kid in high school I hunted fish with a bow all summer long. I had one of those solid glass barbed fishing arrows. I used several of the inner strands from paracord waxed together, no reel just let the string float. Worked ok. Later I switched to sealed wood arrows with like a 30 carbine over the target point to make them blunts - no string or sights. Hunted the shallows of the river up stream, misses floated back to me. Hits were interesting - either dead right there or they swam around some and required some chasing. Mostly carp, some were really big. Don't think very many were over 3.5 feet but 100's of 1.5 foot class.
 
#5 ·
My go to set up is a solid fiberglass arrow with a slider. Heavy #18 or #27 nylon string and a pop bottle attached to whatever bow I am using where the stabilizer should go. More important is the lights.

We used to use a car headlight on a swivel on a 4 or 5 foot pole the light on the pole above you kept most of the huge swarm of bugs that were attracted to the light on the water out of your face. One person had the bow and did the fishing and the second had the light and a truck battery in a backpack on their back. Now with modern led lights I would use a 10-20 watt 12volt light and a car battery. More brightness, less weight and longer output of that brightness with the led's. The person holding the light needed a face mask, googles, hat, glove and long sleeves(because of the bugs) The person with the bow could usually get by without the goggles, hat or gloves.

Sometimes we would submerge the light if the bugs were too bad or if water clarity caused too much reflection too see with the light above the water.

The most important thing I found with bow fishing was to do it in lakes/rivers/streams with sandy or rock bottoms. The fish will taste good no matter how you cook them(assuming they aren't too big) If the bottom is muck, in my experience, there is no way to prepare them so they don't taste like a handful of swamp muck.
 
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