Can I shoot through a whisker biscuit? Should I just get basic fiberglass arrows? Basic help would be appreciated!!!!
Thank You
can't speak of the muzzy reel
Whisker biscuit won't hold up very long to the heavy fiberglass arrows.....I tried one and the arrow would actually fall through the whiskers....the rest that comes with the ams is ok.....
turn your bow down.....45-55 is plenty.....70 is really hard on arrows...or at least was for me....may not be the case if your shooting in deep water.
what are you shooting?.....if your just shooting carp I would use the basic fiberglass......buffalo or paddlefish....I would use better arrows and better heads.
I use fiberglass for everything. Have fun! It sure is addictive.
Just for what it's worth you can save some serious money. If you decide you love and it and want the convenience of a reel giver but to get started all you need is a fish arrow and some line. We shoot em out of a canoe mainly sometimes off shore.
Have Fun and remember to "aim low" !
I prefer the Muzzy reel over the AMS. You will need reel, screw in reel holder and some prefer a short line guide.
A solid or roller rest is best, many just form one from epoxy putty. I don't use the slides and just tie to the back of the arrow but you have to re-tie the loop after a dozen fish or so. Using 200# FF never had one or seen one not break off.....YMMV
If you like it - and it is pretty addictive. I suggest a light 40-/45lb recurve set up for fishing. Lot less to get tangled up and you are not shooting your hunting bow or getting fish guts, eggs, swamp gunk and crud on it. You will also likely bang your gear around a lot in the boat when the action gets hot and heavy. The fiberglass arrows are heavy but not heavy spined so it does not take much bow to shoot them at fishing distances. A recurve shoots off the shelf really well too - a good thing for fishing.
Another good practice is to have multiple arrows rigged and ready because nothing is a bigger downer than loosing your only or last arrow when on an outing and if you fish much you will loose arrows.
As far as arrows cut the knocks off and make self nocks in the end of the fiber glass shaft so when you hit a rock the nocks can't pop off - another bad buzz when fishing. Cut the stupid plastic fletching off too - it is just decoration. and arrow with a 200lbs fast flight string tied to it flies straight - it has no other place to go.
If you go with the reel get some spray silicone and dowse the inside of the reel before every outing. Good for the reel and your line will peel off like it is not there. Works sweet - trust me.
There are times when the fish are spawning that you will shoot hundreds in a day - it gets intense and dbls and triples are common. Have fun
Looking back it was fun (our 'fishing' arrows were carbon arrows with soudering rods in them for weight and a bent nail epoxy'd through the shaft) reels were zebco 808's with Dacron line on them.
Will save a lot of time just getting an AMS full setup. Reeling an AMS takes a little getting used to, but definitely an advantage not having to remember to push a button.
Definitely get safety slide rigs. I have had way too many arrows bounce back in our early experiments to do anything different.
Also nice to put finger rubbers on your string will be much more fun to shoot than a release or glove
Other than that, the Cajun spool will work just fine and it is really cheap. I have a buddy that rigged up a 2 liter pop bottle to wrap his line around and it spools off pretty easily. I will warn you, though, that you will most likely end up upgrading pretty quickly to an AMS or reel, since it can get tiresome having to re-spool your line after every shot.
Personally, when I got started, I got an AMS kit and put it on my old hunting bow (60 lb Bowtech Stalker) I turned it down as far as the book said I could, and it works just fine at about 50 lbs. I am using the cheap rest that came with the kit and it seems to be working just fine. A few years later, I bought a Fishhawk that was all set up, mostly so that buddies could go with me and I would have a bow that would work for anyone. That bow came with a roller rest, and it works just fine as well. Most people seem to bowfish with fingers and no sights, but I use sights and an old release. That just proves that you can have fun bowfishing with whatever equipment you like! Get a few different arrows with different types of points on them and you will quickly figure out which ones you prefer. I like the Muzzy stingrays because they are easier to get out if I only get halfway through a fish or if I stick an arrow into some cattail roots. My brother prefers the carp points, but I'm not sure of his reasons.
I don't have any experience with a reel like the zebcos, but I can certainly see some advantages to them. They will actually reel in a fish, where the AMS will retrieve the line, but you have to pull fish in hand over hand. With as well as I seem to shoot when bowfishing, I reel the line in without a fish a LOT more than I reel in fish. And I am sure that I would forget to push the button on the reels about half the time...
Most guys seem to prefer a boat, but I have never used a boat. I bank fish some of the local canals and wade in a few local reservoirs and rivers. I've never tried it at night , only daytime during the spawn. What ever you would like to try, get out there and have some fun flinging arrows at carp!
I have a float fishing trip with some guys coming up. They will be surprised when I pull this out for carp while they are plugging fishing for smallies.
I appreciate all the input!!!
