My two brothers have just entered the arrow shot Buffalo Carp category at Gander Mountain Baraboo. They only took 6 fish because they didn’t realize there were 8 prizes. Right now they are 1 through 6 in the running putting a certain braggart in 7th place. The employee registering today was so happy at how pissed the other guy was going to be.They’re out now trying for bigger Buffalo and there is a regular carp category they are going to fill up if they can, and they likely can. I expect them to at least finish off the Buffalo category. They were running a bit over 3 feet and close to 40 pounds. The big one is 44 inches and 50 pounds. The nice thing is there are bigger, so they can try for them.
They weren’t even going to enter until I got on there cases about don’t you like prizes. Go win some loot now.
Where did they get them you ask. Don’t bother asking says I.
Bowfishing is most usually accomplished using the same type of compound bows that are used in deer hunting with the addition of a bowfishing reel with line connected to the arrow so that the arrow and the fish can be retrieved after shooting it into the water.
Mainly the sport is only practiced on “rough” fish like gar, sucker, buffalo, drum, and carp.
ETA- the process is that the fisherman stalks rough fish close to shore either on foot or by boat until a shot can be taken, aiming is the key thing and figuring out the refractive differance between what you see and where the fish actually is makes it tricky. It’s not the easiest fishing endevor out there, but there is a dedicated following.
There are no points. It comes down to the highest weight normally. You don’t mix hook and line fish with bow caught in contests. There is a good chance that they won’t keep all the slots as the year progresses, but I suspect they will finish with something. It’s neat to have 8 slots all taken up. At least this puts them in a better mood. Kings for a day don’t you know.
I don’t know about Wisco, but down here we have problems with silver or bighead carp in the Illinois River. The thing is they jump out of the water when startled, and boats startle the bejeebus out of them, so guys have taken to bowfishing for them while they jump out of the water! These are non-native fish that are destroying the river, so I say more power to them. Youtube link of aerial bowfishing video, not for those who are averse to seeing fish killed.
The last carp was officially a 58 pounder. 62 pounds was the record to beat for the state record with bow. Had it not spawned it would have likely beat it. There still are larger, but they won’t likely got those this year. The employees were coming from al over the store when they heard they were in again. The guy registering it was like you won’t believe it but they have a bigger one again. Yes right now, right here. I think they got a congrats from every employee. I did take a picture, but that’s for tomorrow.
Thank you both for the answers. It sounds really difficult.
How high do the jumping fish jump, Cluricaun? I just have visions of following a fish out of the water as I aim and nailing someone in another boat or on shore.
Wiki says they can do 10 feet, so they can jump pretty high. As with all projectile based sports you have to know what’s beyond your shot before you take it. If you look at the video I linked you’ll see that lots of those shots aren’t taken at any kind of range. It’s a reaction based shoot, not a distance thing.
Oh, and Rick, the first time I saw that I thought the exact same thing.