[Zedicus]

Just got a dicent plinking crossbow off of ebay, but intrestingly it has attachments for bowfishing & the whole idea sonds a little absurd to me....

Can anyone enlighten me on this? quite frankly i'm puzzled on the idea.

[Joe Demko]

I did a bit of bowfishing with a recurve bow back in the '70s. Typically, one goes after such rough fish as carp. The challenge is in learning to correct your aim for the refraction caused by the water. Strictly a close range affair. It was amusing to go a few times, but it wasn't so exciting that I developed any long term interest in it.

[hillbilly]

It's a combination of fishing and hunting.

What's not to like?

And, contrary to lots of elitist fish snobs, so-called "trash fish" are mighty tasty if prepared correctly.

My grandfather used to fish for carp, on purpose, and then my grandmother would pressure cook them.

It was Arkansas Depression-era salmon, homemade style.

Carp also made good fish cakes.

Gar backstrap is good. But don't eat the roe, it's poisonous.

I have a Cajun in-law with a killer recipe for gar.

hillbilly

[Zedicus]

Sounds intresting, but i still think that a 100lb draw compound crossbow is a tad on the overkill side for bowfishing...

Or am i wrong?

[Joe Demko]

Bowfishing arrows are much heavier and less damage prone than regular arrows. The ones I had were solid fiberglass. Remember that you are only shooting at targets a few feet away. Bowfishing arrows have to made that way because on every shot you are going to be driving it into the stream/lake bed. Is a crossbow of that weight overkill? Well, you don't need a tremendously powerful bow to pierce a carp or a gar. The arrowhead on a fishing arrow is barbed like a harpoon, you see, and you don't need to completely transfix Mr. Limpet to reel him in. With such a bow as you describe, I wonder if one might not end up driving arrows so deeply into the stream bed that they would be difficult to retrieve.

[Kingcreek]

I've done a bit of bowfishing but not with a crossbow. Some shots especially on gar, can be quite open depending on the water, not always into the bottom or bank. And distances are not always close, shooting can stretch things out some. I used to rig a harness and shoot from and under bridges- 25-30 yards was not out of range. I cant quite see reason for the crossbow application, tho. You'll spend most of your time just resetting your rig.
I don't have a problem with eating "trash" fish from clean water but most of the bowfishing around here is in waterways heavily poluted with farm chemical run-off, etc. I like good smoked carp but not worth the lymphoma.

[Zedicus]

Getting the arrow stuck in the bottom is why i think that 100lb draw would be a bit overkill, Unless the fish is realy deep in a river/inlet....

I only have to cross the street in front of my home to go fishing in an inlet (it's called a river though...)

One fish I've allways wanted to try sometime is Icelantic Hardfisk, I used to know a guy online who lived in Iceland who said when it's done properly it has a very tasty and unique flavor...

[JShirley]

"Sounds intresting, but i still think that a 100lb draw compound crossbow is a tad on the overkill side for bowfishing"

100 lb draw is actually on the light side for a crossbow. IIRC, most are 150 lb draw...

John

[Kingcreek]

100 lb draw is actually on the light side for a crossbow. IIRC, most are 150 lb
true, and 100# crossbow does not equal 100# compound or recurve

[JShirley]

Yup. Crossbow bolts are considerably smaller than arrows.

[Peter Gun]

One of the best (easiest) fish for bowfishing is Skate. Kinda like a ray. On the Chesapeake and elsewhere they would float near the surface to sun themselves. They make big slow targets. When you haul em in, just hack off the wings and throw them on the grill. Cartiligeous (sp?) fish like shark so no bones. Lower grade seafood vendors use skate wing peices as scallop substitute.
BTW, I just found out that Vermont still allows shotgun fishing! Sounds like fun, but be careful shooting in shallow water.