anyone here ever tryed bowfishing for carp,its almost time.theres this river that runs behind my house and every spring hundreds of carp make their way upstream to spawn.they come up from a larger river every spring just about when the dadalines pop up.its a blast and alot harder than I thought I must have shot 30 times before I hit one,but man talk about fresh water tarpen!!

I have done some in my younger days. We shot from bridges on small rural roads or waded in the shallows on the lakes this time of year. Great fun! I found that the if you aim low at the bottom of the belly you'll not miss a fish. We didn't use sights back then but it shouldn't be any different.Have a ball

Haven't done it in a few years, but used to shoot garfish a lot. Great fun. Especially in a light john boat. We would make a shooting platform for the bow out of plywood and ease around an old oxbow lake off the river. This particular lake was loaded with gar. Hit one and hang on! Fond memories. Thanks, Russ

Bow hunters here in Africa want to know about hunters who have had the expeirance bow fishing and who has bow hunted in africa. let me know I would like to publish these stories in my magazine which goes international

Bowfishing is a blast, especially when you get a carp in excess of 20lbs. Aiming low to allow for the refraction of the water and working out the trajectory from different angles is odd at first, but you soon pick it up.

They were in the spawn a couple of weeks ago in Central CA, a buddy of mine and I shot a ton of carp in the 12-20 lb. range, and one 6-7 pound goldfish each. I had never seen one that big before. Unfortunately the weather has not been cooperating and the carp have been a little less active.

Can't wait to go back though.

the carp here in PA are running a little late due to the long winter and cold water,but warmer temps are in the forecast so things should pick up soon I hope,Ijust started bow fishing a few years ago and every year I cant wait to hit the river to get my fair share of fresh water tarpen

Went out last night and got in about an hour before the wind picked up.
Got four nice carp and one 80lb gator gar.
Like Aquavit said, shoot low, the deeper the fish are the lower you have to shoot. When you think your aiming low enough,,, aim lower.

still no carp in the river,the water needs to warm up some, does any one know what temprature triggers the carp to spawn.then instead of wasting time looking I could go by the water temp and save myself some time.

snowmaker, I bowfish on a large lake and it seems like the carp start exploding in the shallows when the water temp hits the mid 50's.
Hope you get a load of em.
Good luck

In deep southern areas like where I live the carp get all fired up when the water temp is in the 70's.

I got one big carp the other day. It was nearly 4' long and weighed about 45 pounds. And it wasn't the biggest one I saw!

They grow big and strong in the private lakes and ponds in my area.

I like to use a recurve for my bowfishing, it's much faster on moving fish.

You need to aim 4-6" low on fish for each foot of water they are under. If they are under a foot, just aim at the bottom of them. And don't hit him in the guts (low behind the front fin) or the gills as the arrow will pull out more.

One of my favorite things to do during the spring. I am planning on a trip next week about 100 miles down the road. There are some pigs to be had.





Here are a few my buddy took when I wasn't around. Definately a good couple of hours.


My best to date is right at 32#, hope to break 35# this year.

[ 05-27-2003, 08:31: Message edited by: mtmiller ]

Just to let you guys know, instead of just chucking those carp like i used to do, i now take them to the local zoo. The zookeepers like to feed them to the carnivores there-- believe it or not. I also take them to a raptor center here in Pueblo.

Oh by the way-- nice pics!!

[ 06-24-2003, 12:18: Message edited by: sscoyote ]