Time to shoot some fish!!!!!
Bowfishing
My son and I are heading up to either Pymatuning or Lake Erie on Sunday to shoot some carp. We are both so jacked up about going bowfishing for the first time this year!! Supposed to be sunny and 70, so we should really be into the fish.
Here's a pic from last year.
I do not shoot fish, but this drum was quite a handful on 4# test line. I was smallmouth fishing, using a 1/8-ounce hair jig. This was a little one, just a tad over 20. Some years ago, I landed a 34-pounder. Would have been a line class WR if I had wanted to fool with it. Over the years, I have landed several over 20 on light line. It takes a while. BTW- yes, we did catch about a dozen smallies. This was Tues. and Wed. of this week.
Still a month away from bowfisign here in Eastern Canada - waiting for the rivers to open up first! Can't wait!
Went to Lake Erie early today. Fish were not there so we headed over to Pymatuning. Windy and water was very murky. We each shot 4 carp. We only missed one each, so we were shooting well. Here's my son with some fish. Biggest one was about 8 pounds.
I got a spot with some jumbo carp and it looks like fun. Question, does anybody eat the damn things? Been to a Chinese restaurant and seen one done up all purty and it tasted good as well. Then again, I've seen what the Chinese can do with pig entrails and I'm simply not in that league. So I'll put it to fellow bowhunters/fish stickers - any of you actually eat carp? If so, what's the recipe? Is there a size that they start to taste like something else beginning with c ending with p with an r and a in between? I forget, do you aim low?
The master showing me how it's done! Fried bighead is as good as it gets! Hunt
I've never tried to eat them. They smell SO awful, I've never had the nerve to try.
You tube has a lot of recipes. We have smoked the smaller ones with the skin on and peel the meat away from the bones. Add mayo, relish and egg to make carp salad sandwiches. Great stuff
We've smoked and fried carp (common). Make sure to remove the mud vein when filleting, they really are great eating. We did a "shore lunch" last year and brought the fryer along, my cousin who is a bit of a foodie, was shocked at how good they were.
Much of our aversion to different fish and game is not based on taste.
In Alaska you can shoot the parka squirrels, but must either harvest the meat or skin. Once some guys from Michigan wanted to shoot some and I told them the rules. We butchered a half dozen and they were quite good.
I used to eat smoke sucker in MN years ago and it is excellent. I don't see why carp out of good water wouldn't be fine.
There is a huge difference between the common carp and bigheads. Bigheads are a plankton eater and have extremely white firm meat. Pain in the ass to clean but well worth it when you pull them from the fryer!
All I know is that years ago I shot two big carp and wanted to show my kids. I put them in my livewell and took them home. It took me 1 month of scrubbing that livewell to get the putrid smell out of it.
Went back to Pymatuning today. Christopher shot 15 and I shot 6. He was really drilling them. This one was the biggest, 14 pounds.
Here are a couple of nice bigheads I shot yesterday.
Beav, I have sent you a message.
@DirtyD (and anyone else who eats carp) - when you eat them, do you do anything special about all the bones?
Thanks, Drew
Looks like fun HerdManager, great to have your son out shooting with you!
Catfish, raccoons, gulls, and raptors like carp a lot more than me so I give them away. :)
Good eating right here!
Good eating right here!
Beav,
You are a dragon slayer!!!
Mark
Was up at Pymatuning Saturday shooting some carp. Water was high and murky, but I wound up shooting 9. Biggest was 16#. Fun day. Next weekend my son and I will be up at Lake Erie trying to shoot some of the monster carp up there!
Few Bowsiters are headed down South for some Redfish action Saturday Night! I'll post the story, good, bad and ugly!!! #cajunnavy
A couple from last weekend
Taking the boat out this week as the wind is supposed to let up wed/Thu. My buddy wanted a Kuiu pack so we went by their store in Dixon last week. Bad news for me, their packs are still too short though they have a longer version coming out soon Cody said. We hit the ditches around a couple buddies ranches closeby..... still a hair early but shot 20.
Do you-all usually use an old beater backup bow and leave it set up for bowfishing, or do you add fishing equipment to your regular dryland bow? If you convert back and forth, how involved is the process to set it up for fishing, and how much did you spend? What equipment do you use, and why do you like it. I imagine most of the shots are 10 yards or under, usually under.
I use my regular hunting bow. Only takes a few minutes. Pop off site, screw on AMS retriever reel and you are ready to go! I think the AMS reel was under $100.
For the Bowsite police; I was dinking around with my buddy in that last pic- not "Long arming"
This one was my biggest of the day approaching 14#.
WT; Bow wise, I used an old MQ1 hunting bow for years...but now prefer a ILF recurve or the cheap fish bows [compound] for the low letoff. Its nice for the quick shooting you get with fish without that hump in a hunting bow. I think my fish bow is a PSE sumthin- like $200 a couple years ago.
Beware; Shooting fish is about the most fun you can have with a bow...its addicting. I love drifting those flats in the Delta on a weekday without a lot of boat traffic- fun and relaxing at the same time. Or drifting at night [the fish are less spooky under the lights] just usually a little buggier at night due to the lights.
As to the fish; one of the funnier Bowsite related stories was when I took a Bowsiter and his buddy out. They shot about a 1/2 garbage can of fish [My leg was broken so I was happy to drive] on the way in its easy to find an asian guy fishing that will take the carp off your hands. we found 3 guys in a cheap 10' inflatable raft that was maybe 3" from having water come over the sides they were so overloaded. We gently pulled up alongside, slipped them a couple fish that got them giggling like school girls. When they said they wanted more, the bowsiters buddy just dumped that garbage can of fish,blood,guts everything right in their tettering raft.
It didn't seem to bother them all that much as they had been catching 6" bluegills and now they had 100# of fish. I was just hoping they could all swim as they weren't going to make it back across the slough if the wind kicked up.
Williamtell, A pretty good route to go that will last a long time and is reletively cheap would be a PSE Kingfisher, an AMS real, with whatever arrows and tips you can find. All in all you could probably get away with a setup that is under $300. Any setup you have I strongly recommend a safety slide system.
FWIW,
I've never shot the safety slide even with 200# line.....arrow just snaps the line if it does get hung up. In decades of shooting I've never seen an arrow bounce back
I shoot the spinner reel and tie to the back of the arrow. Bowfished 35 yrs and never seen a snap back either.
I'm sure the snap back has to do with the set up but I've seen it happen twice. Once into a thigh and once the nock came back and caught a guy in the forehead. Was enough for me to start using them. It sounds like others may have the combo to avoid it so that's definitely another option.
Beware, the Kingfisher weighs a ton! The best bows are old recurves less than 60" and with as much draw weight as you can handle shooting all day. These kinds of bows are all over eBay and it takes nothing more than tape to attach an AMS.
The safety slides also help promote good arrow flight by creating some drag at the rear of the arrow like fletching.
Here are a few pics from our bowsiter trip in South La. this past weekend. From left to right - myself, KTH, JTreeman, cajunarcher, bigpizzaman, and his Grandson, Riley.
tough conditions, but we managed to shoot a few fish.
Great Times! The reason we all look tired is it's 5am and we've been shooting (at) fish all night! Let's just say we were all HUMBLED!
Got into them this weekend
Difference between Carp and Redfish is one is fertilizer the other is a mighty fine meal!!!!
Went up to Lake Erie Saturday and got into some nice carp. Here is the biggest, 27 pounds. We put about 200 pounds of fish in the boat.
Made a trip to the Missouri R. with family and friends and had a blast!
My daughter with her best one of the trip!
My son was the only lucky one to draw a paddlefishtag.
My son's buddy with a nice gar.
thats some pretty cool fish,thanks for sharing.
Having a numbers shoot Friday June 16 no carp, no shad. Lets see who can find some gar, dogfish and suckers. $50 with a $10 side pot. out of the Angler in Hudson IN. Up to 3 shooters 8p.m-2 a.m.
Went up to Lake Erie today. Most of the carp are gone. We got a few, including this 16 pound fish my son shot. Time to head back to Pymatuning and shoot some there.
My 16 year old son is starting to get interested in bow fishing. We live in the west suburbs of Chicago. Does anyone know a place to bow fish in our area?
