Bow Fishing Setup?

[bowhuntin_360]

I'm interested in outfitting my old bow with the gear necessary to do some bow fishing.  I'm wondering who has done this, and what it takes?  Thing you've tried and didn't like?  Gear you like?  Cost?  Thanks for any information!

 

[dplumlee12]

I looked into doing this and I've read that you want a bow with no letoff.... can't remember why. 

 

[ghost]

You can use any bow, compound or recurve. As far as draw weight you have to figure out how deep a water you would be shooting in. In Utah we shoot in 6" to 2' of water. My Utah bow has a 40# draw weight. But in Idaho the water in lakes is pretty clear and it's not uncommon to be shooting fish at 8'-10' deep. My Idaho bow had a 72# draw weight. Most of us who shoot tournaments use Oneida bows. I personally use their Screaming Eagle model. They were built in the 80's but still make parts for them and we rebuilt them. They have a magnesium riser, composite power limbs and wood outer limbs, it's a recurve with wheels and cables. The reason you wouldn't want letoff in a tournament is there are times that all you get to see is a quick tail movement and with a recurve type bow you can draw half way back and the string fly at where you saw the fish last, but with a compound you have to come to full draw. By that time the fish is gone. For recreational type shooting this is not an issue so a compound is fine. Just find the next fish. In a tournament, it could be the difference of placing in the money or not.

You can get away with as little as $20 spool type reel, some line and a few arrows.
If you want a more bomb proof system look at a bottle type reel which may run you about $50.


Look up The Bowfishing Shack and give Josh a call, tell him Jose sent you.
Trust me, you won't find better customer service than what you'll get from Josh.
Not sure if I can post the link or his phone number here so PM me or email me if you want more info.


Be careful about starting Bowfishing though, it's VERY addicting.