How to shoot giant carp in deep water?
Contributors to this thread:Bowfishing
From: HerdManager
13-Jun-17
So my son and I were up at Lake Erie yesterday. There are lots of giant carp (30-50 pounds), but they are incredibly boat shy. The shots we typically get are 5-8 feet deep. Sometimes they are close to the boat, but they always start to drop when they see the boat. I shot a huge one yesterday. Conservatively I'll say 40 pounds. I drilled him, but I think I only got 3" or 4" into the fish. He freaked out and wrapped my line around a bunch of weeds and pulled off.
I need to be able to shoot deeper. I was looking at the FMJ bowfishing arrows. My bow is a Hoyt 55-65 pounds and I have it bottomed out. My son has a Craze that goes to 70 pounds, so I was thinking of switching bows. He could use my Hoyt at 50 pounds and I could crank up his Craze to the max.
Any other suggestions for shooting really huge fish that will be 5-8 feet down? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
From: Gun
13-Jun-17
Scuba Gear Seriously tho you need to find where they are in shallower water. You won't get penetration in that deep of water no matter what weight you shoot.
From: wifishkiller
13-Jun-17
Heavy arrows, if your running the cheap white ones, upgrade to the camo blue aluminum carbon ones.
From: Lucas
13-Jun-17
There are some threads about this on bowfishing country, there are some really creative ways to get your arrow weight up for deeper shots...
From: OkieJ
13-Jun-17
Just aim lower. 1200 grain arrow will kill anything. Deep fish are hard to hit.
From: Medicinemann
13-Jun-17
Try Chautauqua Lake, NY or Pymatuming Reservoir in Pa....they aren't as deep.....
From: Medicinemann
13-Jun-17
double post
From: Beav
14-Jun-17
We often shoot fish that are 5-6 foot deep and sometimes deeper. I would recommend shooting 70 lbs or more if you can. Also look at pinching your barbs down a little for better penetration.
From: Bigpizzaman
14-Jun-17
Use Steel Force Broadheads for better penetration.
From: Cobie33
14-Jun-17
From: Scrappy
14-Jun-17
Use dynamite first or a telephone and then you can shootum right off the surface.
From: Brotsky
14-Jun-17
HM, I highly doubt you will get any more zip from the Craze at 70 than you will from the Hoyt at 65. The performance on the Craze is not that good. Depends on your model Hoyt obviously.
From: HerdManager
14-Jun-17
The water in this bay is crystal clear, like the Caribbean. You can see the bottom 15-20 feet down in detail. I actually did email the Fish Commission multiple times about the legality of spearfishing, and they will not reply to me. I ordered some of the Easton FMJ bowfishing arrows. We'll see how it goes this weekend......
From: Beav
14-Jun-17
I agree with Brotsky on the Craze. Good luck I hope the FMJ arrows help.
From: squirrel
14-Jun-17
go down where they are!
go down where they are!
From: squirrel
14-Jun-17
go down where they are!
go down where they are!
From: elkstabber
15-Jun-17
squirrel: did you wrestle that one up or shoot it with something?
From: HerdManager
15-Jun-17
Is that a carp or smallmouth buffalo?
From: Smtn10PT
15-Jun-17
My advice is don't tempt yourself with those deep fish, find shallower ones if you can. If you crank your bows all the way up and then come across them in the shallower water youll bury your arrows so deep you wont be able to pull them out of the muck!
From: squirrel
15-Jun-17
Scuba/spearfishing... big ass buffalo, bottomed out a 30# scale with a thud. I wasn't after him but how could I say no when Moby Dick swims by?? I was there after these. But targets of opportunity sometimes are too tempting, as long as somebody will take them and eat them I am happy to shoot them.
