Has anyone Tried BOWFISHING?

I been meaning to ask this, I know bunch of lake has lots of Carp, is it even legal in CA? Looks really fun..

its legal in ca. Clear Lake has a big bowfishing tournament every year, first prize is like 10 grand. I also know an old guy and he was telling me his grandson bowfishes for leopard shark

Awesome!! I know carp are fun to catch on Rods and Reels, I just want to try a new adventure specially winter when some areas get flooded, I forgot is there any special license on bowfishing? Thanks

just your rtegular fishing lic. Man u shoot something i wanna see pics. I've always wanted to do it to but not really any good bow fishing water by me. I don't think they would like it if i was sticking salmon in the klammath, hahaha

I did it in the springtime in MN as a kid for carp. It was a blast.

I took my regular compund bow, got a fishing arrow, and duct-taped a spool of nylon line just above the handgrip.

Aim low.

I did it in the springtime in MN as a kid for carp. It was a blast.

I took my regular compund bow, got a fishing arrow, and duct-taped a spool of nylon line just above the handgrip.

Aim low.

Never tried it before, I guess I need some practice, since carp are invasive species I guess bass fisherman wont mind if I shoot those big ones at clear lake, I am going to order one by Friday I found $140.00 for just add water.. cant wait!

 

  Used to go all the time with my dad back in the late 70's.  We went to the Los Banos wildlife refuge and walk'd the banks and wade in the ponds.  The size of fish we nailed, nothing was under 8lbs!  Talk about a heck of a fight?  Sticking a arrow into a 10lb'er, the water explodes, fight is on! 

Yep... carp in lakes... leopards and bat rays in SF & Tomales bays.

I am going to order one by Friday

Darius, don't forget to buy the camo colored cargo shorts, sleeveless wife beater shirt and the John Deer cap  You gotta try to blend in to get into the sport 

Darius, don't forget to buy the camo colored cargo shorts, sleeveless wife beater shirt and the John Deer cap  You gotta try to blend in to get into the sport 

LOL I dont think thats necessary since I am asian dark color specially at night I'll blend in just fine, 

Totally legal, lots of fun, regular fishing license is all that is required. Never done it from my yaks, I don't want that nasty Carp guts "stank" all over my boat. They splash guts, blood and scales all over everything. I won't do it from any of my boats anymore. Someone else's boat is fine!   You need a lot of Simple Green and a pressure washer to get the smell out. I entered a carp shoot tourney at Clear Lake back in the 80's, my boat partner and I shot 584lbs of carp and didn't even place in the top 25!

I used to walk the Laguna off High School Road in Sebastopol and shoot hundreds of them in the spring, but not in years. I had private access, but I suppose you could legally launch at the bridges and not be trespassing, just don't get out of your kayak. I actually still have a separate "carp bow" in the garage so I won't get the "smell from hell" all over my good bows. We used to shoot them and leave them lay for the buzzards, gulls and raccoons to eat (they gotta eat too), but DFG gave my friend a ticket for wanton waste, so now we haul them home, and plant them in the garden- big hole 2 feet+ deep, chuck in carp, a small scoop of redwood soil amendment, 1/4 tub of red Wigglers, and backfill in hole and then plant a tomato plant. We would get MONSTER tomato harvests! Never put one beneath a Zucchini plant, you don't have enough friends and neighbors to unload that much squash.  

That guy in the video is a good shot. He takes a couple nice long shots. Harder to shoot and see carp sitting at water level. Standing would be much easier. My friend has a "carp boat" with elevated platforms above the deck so you can get angle on the carp. That guy was doing it from a SIK. Nice shootin'. Too bad he has to appease the antis by the "all carp were eaten, none wasted" stuff in the video description, carp are an introduced, non-native "vermin" and crowd out native species. They need to be exterminated. I feel no guilt in sport killing them. Just like killing Norway rats or Star Thistle to me. There are a few days in the spring around Trout opener when the carp are spawning, where the shooting is almost as fast as in the video, nearly as fast as you can draw, aim , shoot and retrieve and reload. You just need a target rich environment over loaded with carp, like the Laguna de Santa Rosa. Rodman Slough at CL is good too, but the tournaments beat down the carp pretty bad up there, not enough to put a dent in the population, but there is faster and more furious action in other places. The carp tourneys all haul the carcasses away and compost them for fertilizer. They fill dump trucks! What a stench!

Aim low is correct for subsurface because of refraction, but if they are sticking their face or dorsal thru the surface  to feed or spawn, then aim dead on and shoot them right in the face. There is extra points for a double lip shot.  

Get the pushbutton reels, like a Zebco 808 or similar, the hand hoop in the video or that retriever bottle system suck for carp. too many weeds. You also want arrow points that retract into the tip like these:


This style suck. They catch on all the weeds when you miss, and suck to pull back thru the carp.



Put a couple of rubber "O" rings on the arrow shaft behind the arrow tip but in front of arrow rest contact point to keep the arrow from passing completely thru the carp, if it does you either have to cut it out or push the whole arrow back thru the entry hole. You will get carp guts on you for sure then! The flies won't leave you alone once you have carp guts on your hands, arms, shirt, legs, hair... Then you have carp guts in your nock, then that gets on the string, which you draw right next to your nose, ... you get the picture?
Bring towels and Baby wipes to get the carp guts off your hands, and Simple Green in a pump squirt bottle.

10 lb carp pull hard when they have a 6 oz arrow sticking thru them!

Troutnut, your avatar is so insensitive.  I love it!

My buddy and I used to shoot carp in the Owens Valley near Bishop. We shot out of a little 8' boat in very weed infested ponds. One of us would paddle, one was on point. They usually had their big backs and dorsals hanging out of the water. Most shots were dead on. I used to pull them into the boat by their eye sockets like a six pack. One day we were stalking and I let loose of the arrow. Missed the Carp, but pulled in a little catfish I shot throught he tail. Nice shootin my friend says. Very next shot, missed again. Pulled the arrow back in. Guess what. Had a Bluegill dead center. Never happened again like that.

Bow fishing is making a big come back in on the East Coast, more so in Chessapeke Bay as Rays are destroying the crab and oyster beds.  A lot of guys out and nail them. 

I have a boaw fishing setup that is quite outdated, so i dropped by bass pro last night, and the cheapest one i could find was $500. 

Mike