Author Topic: Anyone bowfishing with primitive gear?  (Read 32737 times)

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Offline koan

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  • Brian D. Mo.
Re: Anyone bowfishing with primitive gear?
« Reply #15 on: April 03, 2007, 10:27:14 pm »
I use a milk jug on a rope to practice, just fill it with water and toss it in. I shoot mostly from the bank and at that low angle the arrow seldom goes deeper than a foot. thinkin bout modifyin a tip that would make it dive more and hopefully slow up the porpasing effect. Dang i wish i still had my boat! ;D
             Brian
When you complement a lady on her dress.....make sure she is the one wearing it.....

SteveO

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Re: Anyone bowfishing with primitive gear?
« Reply #16 on: April 07, 2007, 10:23:30 am »
 I use a homemade osage selfbow with a tape on, shoot through reel. The only finish it HAD was a rubbing of beeswax/olive oil. I leave it in the boat year round and it pretty much looks like an osage fence post now, but still works fine.

 I'm using solid fiberglass arrows now with muzzy heads. I made my own arrows at first, which worked fairly well, but had a high breakage rate with bigger fish. One can drill through the primer pocket on a .38 case with a drill the same size as the shank of one of those long gutter nails. Insert the nail through that hole so the nail head stops against the base of the inside of the case head, then hammer the point of the nail out flat enough to hacksaw a good, long cut near the point to bend up a barb. File the point and barb to shape, solder the nail head inside the case and that's it. The heads can be mounted on any shaft but I never found any that a big fish couldn't tear up. I gave up on trying to save the shafts and started tying my line around the head on the nail shank, then running the line up the shaft and half hitching it tight just ahead of the nock. I was using cane arrow shafts there at the last, just plugged in to the head and tied off with a half hitch at the back. They would almost always come out of the socket when a fish was hit and float free. The cane won't shoot very deeply. Most of the time the fish I'd shoot at were almost at the surface and that was a non factor but the inability to hit deeper fish made me switch to the solid fiberglass. Also, with those home made heads, you've got to cut and re-tie, then re-rig after every shot, which is kind of frustrating when a 30 pound fish swims up and moons you while you are trying to get ready for another shot.

  Even with the solid fiberglass arrows, deeper fish often just leave me with a scale on my point which hasn't penetrated up to the barb. I don't know how deep you can actually shoot effectively but the arrow slows down really fast with the water resistance and line drag combined, and I have had sharp muzzys bounce off of deep fish without any penetration. Those are always monsters, too, big targets that I can hit farther away. Those times allow me to exercise my vocabulary.

Steve 

a finnish native

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Re: Anyone bowfishing with primitive gear?
« Reply #17 on: April 10, 2007, 12:57:55 pm »
I have been bow fishing with my 45# bow and 44" long bamboo arrows. needs no fletches. I have caught around 10 northern pikes with the biggest one weighing around 16 lbs.

woody

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Re: Anyone bowfishing with primitive gear?
« Reply #18 on: April 11, 2007, 05:16:19 pm »
Carp season starts May 1 in Illinois.  Never shot at them before, but I think I am just just going to pin them into the ground with my arrow in the shallows.  No lines or reals, what do you think?
 

a finnish native

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Re: Anyone bowfishing with primitive gear?
« Reply #19 on: April 11, 2007, 05:31:42 pm »
make arrows that are long enough, then it should work.

SteveO

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Re: Anyone bowfishing with primitive gear?
« Reply #20 on: April 11, 2007, 07:10:48 pm »
 I'd be afraid that any carp worth shooting wouldn't stay pinned for long. I've shot lots and lots of fish and, except for the rare spine shot where they don't even quiver, they pretty much explode when you hit one. Heck, it might work, but I'd be surprised if you have a 25% recovery rate on hit fish. Give it a try and let us know. It would sure be easier if it worked than wrasslin' with all that line and stuff.

Steve

a finnish native

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Re: Anyone bowfishing with primitive gear?
« Reply #21 on: April 12, 2007, 02:36:39 pm »
A good tip for a bowfisher who doesn't use a string: use arrows like the ones on the right here. http://www.perinnejousi.fi/keskustelu/files/nuolenk_rki_1_200.jpg
aim for the spine of the fish and so it will snap and the fish will die instantly.
one could also make knda x shaped points so that it will snap the spine, and stay in the fish.

Offline PeteC

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Re: Anyone bowfishing with primitive gear?
« Reply #22 on: June 04, 2007, 10:46:38 pm »
Just got back from a great tilapia hunt this weekend.For those folks who stalk the thickets back up the creek banks after these super spooky fish know why I use the word "hunt".We shoot self bows and self reels,(I make the reels  on my lathe).It is tough on your bows,but I would'nt hunt with anything else.My daughter took some pictures with her digital camera,so I'll try to get em up here in the next few days.We got 54 fish despite the storm.That's about 6 serious size fish fries.   If your asking me,Yes!, use your self equipment.  God Bless,                            PeteC
What you believe determines how you behave., Pete Clayton, Whitehouse ,Texas

Dustybaer

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Re: Anyone bowfishing with primitive gear?
« Reply #23 on: June 05, 2007, 02:42:48 am »
pete, can't wait to see those pics.  especially of the reel and the arrows/tips.