Bowfishing is an old sport that, because of the World Wide Web,
social media, YouTube, and hunting shows, is gaining popularity. It is a sport that can be inexpensive, it is
loads of fun, it gets you outdoors, and anyone, men or women, young or old can
participate. I say inexpensive but, like
many outdoor sports, you can spend as much money as you want to. . .and many
want to spend a lot! Kind of like a
rifle hunter that only needs a two hundred dollar rifle to harvest a deer but
“needs” a high end rifle, hunting blind, camo attire, 4-wheeler, private
hunting land and so on. A bowfisher
could easily get by with a hundred and fifty dollar setup but will often spend
thousands after they get a taste of the fun: new bow set up, new boat, trolling
motor, generator, batteries, lights, pickup to pull the boat, you get the
picture.
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| Matt Willis, Dwayne Carter, Lance Carter |
I asked a couple bowfishermen why they liked bowfishing and they
both stated it was exciting. It is a
hunt where you do not have to sit quietly waiting on the game. You get to be loud, you get to cheer your
friends on that make a good shot on a fish and give a good harassing when
someone misses. You get to shoot over
and over and are not finished with the hunt after the first kill.
I remember bowfishing at Lake Texhoma with my dad when I was
younger, a lot younger, but it’s been several years since I’ve enjoyed the
sport. After seeing an interest by many
on social media I thought I’d see what the big deal was and why it is again
gaining popularity. When dad and I
bowfished we just used our fishing boat and dad took the sight off my hunting
bow, attached a reel in its place, attached a bowfishing arrow to it, and we
started shooting. Today, setups can get
pretty elaborate. Some build special
boats with a raised platform, which help you see deeper into the water with
less reflection. Some buy special bows
and retrieval systems.
I visited with Dwayne Carter of Dwayne Carter Hunting and Oklahoma
record holder for the shortnose gar (nine pounds eleven and a half ounces and
forty three and a quarter inches long, he was quick to mention) about
bowfishing. First we talked about
equipment. What do you have to have what
can you get by without and this is what Dwayne said. “All you absolutely have to have to get
started is a bow with some type of retrieval system; my first was a Folgers
coffee can with twine wrapped around it, and an arrow with a barbed point. A fiberglass arrow is the most popular and
very reasonably priced, running around $10 an arrow. You can pick up a heavy duty carbon arrow but
it will set you back more than two times the cost of a fiberglass arrow. It doesn’t matter if you have a recurve or a
compound bow, there are benefits to both.
When it comes to retrieval systems there are a few ways you can go. Of course you can go the extremely cheap way
and use a coffee can or you can spend around seventy dollars and get a spincast
reel or a retriever reel in the one hundred dollar range. A barbed point, which penetrates through the
fish and uses the barbs to hold the fish on your arrow for retrieval, will run
you about eight dollars. There are a ton
of accessories you can add but my advice on this is find a friend who is into
bowfishing and look at their set up or go to a good archery shop and the staff bowfishing
expert to get you set up.”
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| Dwayne Carter |
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| Dwayne Carter |
I spoke with Brian, the staff bowfishing expert at Davenport’s Archery
about equipment and technique. I asked
him what his best advice was. He replied
simply: “aim low”. Because of the
refraction of the water the fish are usually deeper than they appear. That one looked a foot deep and was really
three feet deep. Add night shooting and
it gets even harder. If you think you’re
aimed low enough then aim even lower. As
one bowfisherman, Britches Ryerson, interjected during our conversation, the
point of bowfishing is to have fun and do not get frustrated with misses.
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| Davenport's Archery Staff Bowfishing Expert Brian Seaton with an alligator gar |
So, now that you have your setup, what do you bowfish for? “Trash fish” also known as nongame fish is
what you are looking for: gar, carp, or paddlefish. To shoot these nongame fish you do need an
Oklahoma fishing license and a paddlefish license, which you can get for free
when you buy a fishing license. Paddlefish
and alligator gar are the only two nongame fish that have special
requirements. You can only harvest one
paddlefish a day with a limit of two per year and you cannot shoot paddlefish
on Monday or Fridays. Hey, I’m just telling
you the rules, I’m not telling you they make sense! Alligator gar are restricted to one a day but
no yearly limit or limit on days you can harvest. You are required to check these fish in with
the Oklahoma Wildlife Department using the E-check system or calling a phone
number available in the Oklahoma Fishing Regulations. Other species of carp and gar have no limits
and no restrictions. Just make sure you
properly dispose of them.
Where do you find these nongame fish for shooting in
Oklahoma? Just about any decent size
creek, pond, river, or lake will have plenty of fish for shooting. The best place to look is in grassy water and
during the heat of the day look in water with trees for shade. Speaking of time of day, you can shoot fish
day or night. At night bowfishers will
outfit their boats with lights. You can
use LED or halogen but you have to look at electric supply. LED draw less amps and can be ran off good
batteries for a few hours, halogen generally require a small generator.
If spending money on a boat setup isn’t what you want to do you
can do what many do and wade the banks of the waterways or shoot off the
banks. You will still get plenty of
action and save a *boatload* of money.
To do this you only need your bow, retrieval system, and arrow.
Why do people shoot nongame fish?
Well, many of these nongame fish are not native to Oklahoma waters and
most people say they are not good for eating.
Like any such wild game, if they are not controlled through legal
harvest they will become more invasive.
The gar species will eat game fish, destroying the population of good
fish in a waterway quickly and the carp move into the areas where game fish spawn
and destroy their beds.
Dwayne also told me about the
Oklahoma Bowfishing Association. They
host several tournaments throughout the year to get people out and hooked on
bowfishing. Dwayne and his team took 3rd
place a while back in the Big Five Red River Tournament. These tournaments all have different
setups. Some go by most weighted in
fish, some by size of individual fish, some by specific breed of fish. I asked Dwayne what his best advice was for
bowfishing, whether it’s a newbie or someone who’s bowfished a lot and he told
me “be safe, have fun, and keep shooting.
The more you shoot the more fish you’ll reel in. You might not hit every one you shoot at but
that’s okay, you’re there for a good time.”
So ladies and gentlemen, get out and enjoy a fun sport where there are
no heavy expectations, just heavy fish.
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| Brian Seaton, Randy Mayfield, Dwayne Carter, Dustin Statton, and Derek Mayfield |
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| AnnDee Lee |
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| Colby Seaton |
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| Christine Carter - Stingray kill while bowfishing the Gulf of Mexico |
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