Bow Fishing

I have wanted to try bow fishing for a long time. Back in Indiana when I was about 10 or 11, one of the older guys (he was about 17) got a bow fishing setup. He and his friends went carp bow fishing around the edge of the lake my parents had a cottage at. I do not know how well they did but it sounded real exciting.

In the little bay where the boat dock was located there was a mud flat area where a stream came in. The carp would swim up in the flats area and in to the grass and weeds and they would be about 1/3 out of the water. They would thrash around and were easily seen. These carp were some of the biggest fish in the lake and they were impressive to watch. Most everybody said they were junk fish and just ate small fish and food other fish could eat. They were just big tough fish you could not eat and should be gotten rid of.

Bow fishing seamed a neat way to do it. I think the fish had the advantage and were for the most part safe. Any time I tried to get near them they were gone in a flash. When you came at them from the bank they just kept away from you and moved to deeper water. When you came by boat they would scoot across the flats and stay away from the boat. If you chucked a rock at them they would move like a rocket. I could see how bow fishing for them could be exciting and fun.

We received a Christmas Sale Flyer that had a sale on bows in it. They were just after a fishing section and that sparked the memory of bow fishing. We do not have the carp on the river like we did back home in Indiana but we do have schools of mullet that move up and down the canal and the river. I like smoked mullet, but have had no luck on catching them.

I have been told you can catch them with a shag hook but I have had no luck with that. I have had no luck with floating bait that I was told to try. The only way I have seen them caught is with a cast net. I do not think I can use a cast net off our sailboat, with all the shrouds and deck stuff that the net could catch on, and a good cast net is not cheap.

A bow set up would not be cheap either and I need to find out if it is legal to hunt mullet that way. If it is legal and I can’t catch fish with it I can still target shoot with it. I think I will check out the legal part of bow fishing before I spend any money. If I can catch one that way that would mean I would have to get a shocker and the stuff that goes with it. I wonder what that would cost.

I think I just talked my way out of the Bow fishing idea…It looks like it will cost too much. Well the mullet will still be safe. 8-)