Bowfishing

[Grathr]

I have been doing archery on an off for the last 8years, and Im now thinking of trying bowfishing, since that is the only hunting that is alowed here with bow and arrow. The plan is to get a cheap used all syntetic recurve bow or compound bow of ebay , since all my bows are made from wood and bone, and in one case some fiberglass laminated wood. And then attach some kind of primitive reel to it.
 The challenge is that it is now only legal to bowhunt for salt water fish. (apparently its cruel to shoot fresh water fish with bow and arrow, but its OK to shoot salt water fish with the same equipment...  )
Do anyone here have any experince with salt water bowfishing?
I would greatly apriciate any tips, tricks or equipment recomendations you might have.

[comis]

(apparently its cruel to shoot fresh water fish with bow and arrow, but its OK to shoot salt water fish with the same equipment...  )

I don't have any experience with bowfishing, but I wonder will it be just as effective using spears depending how clear is the water?  And will bowfishing at night using flashlights be a little more effective?

[Grathr]

(apparently its cruel to shoot fresh water fish with bow and arrow, but its OK to shoot salt water fish with the same equipment...  )

I don't have any experience with bowfishing, but I wonder will it be just as effective using spears depending how clear is the water?  And will bowfishing at night using flashlights be a little more effective?

I guess you will get a little more range with a bow. The arrow is also connected to the bow with a line.  I think that a fish will be spooked more easily by a person with a spear leaning over it and by the voilent motion than by a person with bow a few feet further away.  But since I have never tried either, I dont really know. 

[comis]

(apparently its cruel to shoot fresh water fish with bow and arrow, but its OK to shoot salt water fish with the same equipment...  )

I don't have any experience with bowfishing, but I wonder will it be just as effective using spears depending how clear is the water?  And will bowfishing at night using flashlights be a little more effective?

I guess you will get a little more range with a bow. The arrow is also connected to the bow with a line.  I think that a fish will be spooked more easily by a person with a spear leaning over it and by the voilent motion than by a person with bow a few feet further away.  But since I have never tried either, I dont really know. 

That makes a lot of sense.  Just did a bowfishing search on youtube, and accidentally stumble onto this.  There are so many fishes that people are literally shooting at mid air, and the guy at 1:30 with the baseball bat really crack me up:

Illinois Bowfishing Charters
(ignore the picture, it has nothing to do with the video content  )

And also, I notice "bowfishing" is closely associated with "bikini", and I have a new found respect for the sport. 

[enki_ck]

OK, that was nuts.

 

[Grathr]

(apparently its cruel to shoot fresh water fish with bow and arrow, but its OK to shoot salt water fish with the same equipment...  )

I don't have any experience with bowfishing, but I wonder will it be just as effective using spears depending how clear is the water?  And will bowfishing at night using flashlights be a little more effective?

I guess you will get a little more range with a bow. The arrow is also connected to the bow with a line.  I think that a fish will be spooked more easily by a person with a spear leaning over it and by the voilent motion than by a person with bow a few feet further away.  But since I have never tried either, I dont really know. 

That makes a lot of sense.  Just did a bowfishing search on youtube, and accidentally stumble onto this.  There are so many fishes that people are literally shooting at mid air, and the guy at 1:30 with the baseball bat really crack me up:

Illinois Bowfishing Charters
(ignore the picture, it has nothing to do with the video content  )

And also, I notice "bowfishing" is closely associated with "bikini", and I have a new found respect for the sport. 

 
You could fish with a frying pan there

I too have noticed the close assosiation between "bowfishing" and "bikini". Apparently there is also a bikini bowfishing calendar...