# Sticky  "New to bowfishing" thread



## weasle414

Every other post seems to be questions on what will work to get people started so I figured I'd save people time by creating this thread as a good data-base for what will work for now, and what will work forever in the world of bowfishing.

OK, lets get started.

*The weapon*
'Do you have a bow?'
'Yes.'
'Can it shoot arrows?'
'Yes.'
'That'll do just fine.'

I personally prefer my bows to be set around 45-55 lbs. I know some guys that shoot theirs at 70 lbs. On the other hand, I know a few people who won't shoot their bows set higher than 18-25 lbs. It all depends on how long and how deep of shots you will be taking.

Shooting long distances or in deep water, crank the bow up to 60 lbs. If all you do is shoot at night when the fish are almost litterally at your feet, drop the weight to 25-30 lbs if you can. If you're like me, who shoots 24/7 durring the season and changing weights is too much of a hassle from day to night, a good medium is around 45-50 lbs.

*The reel*
There's 3 basic types of bowfishing reels. I've shot with all 3 and will give you an idea of which is good in what areas and what's bad in all areas. They all have pros and cons.

There's the cheap reel; a hand wound style.

It's basically a round chunk of plastic that bolts onto the front of your bow that you wind the line around to retrieve the arrow.
Pro's:
-Cheap
-Can usually be bought in a starter pack with line and a couple arrows
-Can even be made at home (I'll go into more detail later)

Con's:
-SLOW to get your arrow back
-Line can sometimes fall off the front of it and all over the boat, shore, bridge, etc
-Usually cheaply made, therefor are more prone to breaking if you don't treat them right.

Subsitutes for store bought hand winding reels are great, because you can usually make one with something laying around the house. My old backup bow had one of these that I made myself. It's nothing more than a 6" PVC end cap with a hole drilled in the middle and a bolt through it with the same threads as the stabalizer mount on the front of the bow.

Then we have the fast reel; spincast.
Spincast reels come in many shapes and sizes. A lot of bowfishing addicts use expensive and high quality spincast reels like Muzzy reels (roughly $40 a pop). They're nice, but not something a beginner needs. I, personally, shoot spincast reels, but don't have the budget or patience to get a Muzzy reel ordered. I shoot the Rhino RC3($21 at Wal-Mart...), made for catfishing and such. Pretty much any spincast reel would work, it's just a matter of for how long. I know what you're thinking, too. NO! Do NOT try using an open faced reel for bowfishing! I was desperate enough to try this once, or twice... BAD idea. The bails can flip closed from bow vibrations and cause the arrow to snap back at you, break your line or break your reel. I almost lost my ability to have children when the bail shut the last time I tried shooting with one.

Along with shooting a spincast, you will need to get a reel seat for it. They come in 2 styles, stabalizer mount and side mount. The stabalizer mount is by far the most common and probably the best for beginners so the button is right in front of your fingers as a reminder to push it between shots.

Pro's:
-Very fast retrieval
-Faster arrow speeds
-Can get replacement line in just about any place that sells fishing gear
-Keeps the line dead center with the bow so the arrow has less of a tendancy to drift left or right

Con's:
-Suseptable to breaking if not properly taken care of
-Have to press a button to release the line between shots
-Line is thinner so fraying line can lose an arrow and a trophy fish

Finally, the easy-reel; the AMS retriever.
This is the style I would recomend for many beginners, just for the fact that you don't have to press any buttons and they're lower mantainence than spincast, yet you can still reel line in without winding it around a drum. I'm sort of biased against these, personally, so I'll let someone else who shoots these fill in details...

*The arrow*
Bowfishing arrows are basically all the same consept. Fiberglass or carbon fiber for the shaft, and a hardened steel tip with barbs. Just to make things simple for beginners, I'm gonna say get a plain white shaft arrow with a Muzzy carp tip. They're durable, have great holding power and the tips are easily replacable. If you're local sporting goods store doesn't sell these Muzzy's, chances are they don't sell any bowfishing stuff at all. Once you get more into bowfishing, you may find an arrow you like more. I know plenty of hard-core bowfishermen that all they use is white shaft Muzzys, but I also know tons of people who found something else they liked.

So, with tomorrow being MN's opener I will end right here for the day wishing you all good luck tomorrow!


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## Duckslayer100

Good thread! I made it a sticky so it stays at the top of the page :beer:


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## carp_killer

great job weasle


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## weasle414

I'll add more later on. If anyone else has anything they can share, please do so! The more info we get on this thread, the less people will have to create knew topics asking questions. I'm thinking about going more in depth on bows and putting in something about bowfishing boats, platforms and lights and all that good stuff. But bowfishing season is in, so I'm gonna get my butt off the computer and go stick some fishees


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## weasle414

*Rigs*

Just about anything that floats can be used for bowfishing. It all depends on what your budget and what types of waters you'll be shooting are mostly. My personal rig is a 15' fiberglass trihull/flatbottom that I got for $300. As a kid coming from a family with no extra money to spend on toys, this was all I was able to scrounge up to get and it works just fine.

Most bowfishing rigs have some sort of a platform up front to get a better view of the fish. The higher you go, the farther you can see, but if you go too high the fish can see you well before you can get a shot at them. With high platforms comes stablility and weight issues as well. Most bowfishermen I've talked to say anything from right off the top of the boat to about 18" works great. It all depends on what kind of boat it's on and what your personal feeling is. You also wouldn't need a high platform for say shooting at night so if your main shooting hours are from sunset to sunrise, keep it low and close to the fish.

V-bottom boats:
I've seen countless people turn their 14' v-hull duck boat into a workable rig; in fact my first boat was a v. They work just fine for smaller lakes where wind isn't as much of a factor, but when you get on big water or get waves rolling in, they can be scary. They're not as stable as flatbottom boats, but are generally cheaper and more abundant. With the v's you should shoot from a lower platform to keep the stability as much under control as possible. I had a 22" platform on my v when I first got it and it was way overkill. The first tourney I shot in with it we almost tipped it and had to go diving for the troller battery. Anything from right above the rails to about 10" is suitable for most v's, although it depends on how wide the boat is. Obviously the wider it is, the more stable it will be so you could go higher if you had a decent sized v-bottom.



Tri-hulls:
Like a good combo between v-bottom and flatbottom boats. They're usually nice and stable but can still cut through the water like a v-bottom vs plowing through it like a flat. There are 2 major down sides to tri-hulls though. They're usually fiberglass so they're usually very heavy. While they may be stable, they don't float as shallow as an aluminum flatbottom. You also need to be VERY aware of anything that can punch a hole in the hull like rocks, suberged logs and docks. Since they're a lot more stable that v-bottom boats you can have more people and a higher platform on them. Mine platforms are both roughly 14" off the top of the boat and I've never felt like I was going in the lake.



True flatbottoms and modified-v's:
These are prefered among the bowfishing comunity for a few reasons. 1)Stability! They're generally very stable compared to v's and trihulls so you can have more people on board and have higher platforms. 2)Light weight. Most flatbottoms on the market are made of aluminum so they're a lot lighter than their trihull counterparts which means they can hold more fish, float shallower, troll faster and trailer better.



Others:
I've seen some seemingly stupid set-ups before, but once you look past what they are they can function great. Canoes and kayaks! If you've got a "secret pond" that holds a ton of fish but there's no access, a canoe or kayak might be a good solution. You're obviously not going to be out there in just a bare canoe; you'll need to make outriggers for it. They can be as simple as a couple pieces of 6" PVC pipe with end caps bolted onto 2x4's that attach to the top of the canoe. I've also seen 5 gallon buckets tried (very unsuccessfully, though) and old water drums.


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## PnR_Productions

I'm going to have to say i would avoid that canoe, your just asking to fall in lol
Great thread tho!!! :thumb:


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## weasle414

PnR_Productions said:


> I'm going to have to say i would avoid that canoe, your just asking to fall in lol
> Great thread tho!!! :thumb:


My dad tried shooting out of a kayak once. You can only imagine how funny that one ended up.


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## weasle414

PnR posting on this topic got me reading what I posted last year and since I can't sleep I'm gonna add some more on boats.

*Night lighting*

Ok, so you've got a boat and you've got it set up for day shooting with, for example, a 12" platform up front, but you want to start shooting at night (check local laws and ordinances to make sure you're allowed to shoot at night in your area!) You will need a few things to get started and there is 2 basic ways of setting lights up.

Most common and best for longevity and light levels is the generator and 110 volt light set ups. The most expensive part of this set up is the generator. You can go out and buy one brand new from Menards, Cabelas or pretty much anywhere. When shopping for a generator (or genny as I call them.) You need to consider how much extra weight you can handle on the boat for obvious reasons. The biggest thing to look at is how much the genny can handle as far as wattage and amperage. Buy a generator according to how many watts your lights and other accessories will be putting out; scroll down for details on what kinds of lights are available for generator setups. I picked my Champion genny up from Cabelas for $300 last spring when they went on clearance. You can either buy one brand new or buy a used one from classifieds and such. Craigslist is a good place to look, too. Also take into consideration local noise laws. I highly discourage buying an illegally loud generator, especially if you shoot on lakes that have cabins and houses. Waking people up from noise at 3 am and getting noise violation tickets turns the public against us bowfishermen and is just not fun to deal with.

Another option is 12 volt batteries (car or deep cycle batteries) and off-road lights. I used this type of setup the first year of night shooting in Minnesota and it worked, but wasn't very efficient. Plan on carrying 1 battery per 2 lights per 2 hours (generally...) - so if you have 4 lights and plan on being on the lake for 4 hours bring 4 batteries along. There are many variables on how long the batteries will effectively light up the lake such as age and condition of battery, quality and type of battery. I honestly wouldn't suggest this if you wanna shoot 2 or 3 nights in a row since charging all the batteries gets to be a pain in the butt. Trapper_2, Rednek and I did this twice 2 years ago with 4 lights and a ton of batteries except we went out for 4-6 nights in a row. It ended up being a week of no sleep because we had to constantly swap batteries on the chargers as they'd get done charging. It did work though!

*Types of lights*

I'm actually going to copy and paste the writings of a LLBA member who did a test on the 3 types of lights; halogen, high pressure sodium (HPS), and metal halide (MH.)



> Gar Getter, LLBA member-
> 
> The reason why I'm writing this is because I've had alot of questions regarding my lights. Before I put the lights on my boat I wanted to see which ones worked the best. I tried HPS lights, MH lights and halogens. I went to the lake and put them all to the test. I wanted to know which light penetrated the water the best, which light penetrated the water the best at a distance and which light I could see the deepest with. I wanted all the lights to be as equal in lumens as possible. I took 5 - 500 watt halogen lights (37,500 lumens); 1 - 400 watt HPS light (51,000 lumens); and 2 -400 watt MH lights (66,200 lumens) to complete the test. I proceded to throw a dime into the water at a depth of 6 feet to use as a reference point. The lake that I was on has a water clarity of 12'. I graded the performance of the lights on a 1 to 10 scale, with 10 being the best.
> Halogen Lights: Grade - 7; More of a yellow light. They penetrated good but not excellent. The light was more concentrated towards the surface in my opinion. I could see good at 6 feet of water. The distance was not that impressive, they didn't penetrate the water.
> MH (Metal Halide) Lights: Grade - 5; More of a white light. The penetration was alright but nothing to write home about. The light seemed to reflect off the water and light up the trees on shore instead. The main problem was it casted shadows on the bottom of the lake which effected my ability to see any depth. The light also gave the surface of the water a shiny gloss which made it impossible to see any distance in front of me.
> HPS (High Pressure Sodium) Lights: Grade - 10; More of a orange light. The penetration was awesome. It made the water glow. I could by far see a longer distance with this light than the other two combined. If you like to shoot right off the edge of your boat this is not the light for you. With these lights I could count the pebbles on the bottom of the lake at a distance. HPS lights are by far the winner, hands down.
> All in all, they all will work. This is just my opinion about what works best in the lakes I bowfish. I don't bowfish on murky lakes, so I don't know how these lights will perform on them. One other factor in choosing which light would work best for me was how many amps and watts they would use.


I'm just going to break down the efficiency of each of the lights, more of a re-phrasing of what Gar Getter wrote. He compared lumens (amount of light) not wattage used. The first test he used the same setup I have for lighting, 5 - 500 watt halogens. Halogens are VERY inefficient compared to HPS and MH lights. Considering it took 2500 watts with them to get 73% of the lumens of 400 HPS watts of lumens. The best thing about halogens is the cost of them. I got mine for 6$ a piece at Menards, $30 total and they came with 1 replacement bulb per light, extra bulbs are sold for like $3 for a 2 pack. HPS and MH lights are a lot more efficient, but are very expensive. I'm honestly not sure on the cost of either, but they're not cheap. I don't really even know that much about HPS or MH lights since I've never used either but if I remember right HPS lights don't automatically start off bright; they need to warm up before they get to top lighting levels.

I would also like to add the fact that you don't need to use 500 watt halogens or 400 watt HPS! If you're generator can't handle 2500 watts of halogens, you can use lower wattage lights just the same. Mix and match the numbers of lights, placement of them on the platform and wattage of the lights. I rarely use more than 3 or 4 of my 5 lights when I'm on clean watered lakes and have them placed so I can easily just shut off a couple when I am shooting on clear lakes and turn all of them on for max coverage and penetration on murky lakes.

Well now it's 2 AM and this guy is signing off for the night. Questions, comments and concerns? Post 'em up! Somebody gimme something more to work with and write about!!


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## weasle414

Todays lesson: platform railings. There are 4 types of rails I've seen and used; waist, shin/knee, foot, and suicide.

*Waist rails*

This type of railing is probably the safest, but one of my least favorite. It offers good protection from falling out of the boat but I've had a few people shooting on my boat that have wrecked bows because they didn't get the bottom limb over the railing, one of my backup/borrow out bows included hence the reasoning for me not using this high of a railing anymore. It can also get to be a pain in the butt when you've got a monster fish that won't cooperate since you have to lean over so much to get a gaff down to grab them. They can also be a pain in the butt if you want to get under low bridges. One of my favorite lakes was completely unaccessible when I had a high railing on my boat.

*Shin/knee*

Probably the most common height for railings is the shin to knee height. They will let you know where the edge is and don't get in the way so much with smacking limbs and such. One thing to watch out for, especially with rails that are lower shin height is tripping. One wave big enough or a loss of footing and you'll get a nice bath.

*Foot guards*

These are pretty much what the heading states, foot guards. Not very common but still an option, a very good one if you get into lakes that have bridges and like to swim. I like this style, personally, because it suits my needs very well. If they're done right they do the job of letting your feet know where the edge of the platform is. There's obviously some major downside to having such a low guard... Tripping being one. In the heat of the moment, or when someone's ****** at you for shooting all the fish, it's easy to find yourself in the lake. Another is if there is any burs or cracks in the railing you'll find your line caught and cut quite often.

*SUICIDE!!*

Suicide is having no protective railing at all. My boat is set up like that right now and I love it. Not a good idea for those who don't have good balance and don't like getting wet. I, personally, have yet to fall off into the lake with it, but have fallen back into the boat once or twice on accident. The biggest advantage to having no railing is the fact that you can literally control the trolling motor while laying down and shoot the fish from 3". It makes for easy shooting with no worries of tangles on the rail and quick, close shots. But like I said, eventually you will end up in the lake so be a good swimmer and a firm grip on your bow!

Here's a few tips on improving platforms or just making them right from the get-go.

-A good general tip is pad the railing. Trust me, after a long night of shooting the last thing you want to deal with is scraped and rashed shins. Padding can be anything from styrofoam to shirts duck taped around the bar. Look around at local hardware stores and lumber yards to see what's readily available to you.

-Pick your materials wisely. Wood is an option, but isn't really a good one. If you have no other means of making one it will work, but give it a nice heavy paint job or the wood will rot quick. It'll also hold fish stink in BIG TIME! While it smells like success to you, it doesn't smell very good to 99% of the people in this world and you don't wanna know what it smells like 6 months after you first shoot fish with it. Aluminum is a very clean and lightweight way of building a platform. It's expensive and hard to build since most people don't know how to TIG weld. Square tubing is usually what is needed to make a good, sturdy aluminum platform. Steel is what I used for my current platform and it works good if you can weld and can't afford aluminum. It's great because it's cheap and takes very little of it to make a solid platform. Angle iron can be used in substitute for tubing, which is nice.. cheap and light. Biggest downside is rust. Paint is a MUST! Don't think you can go out at all without painting it. I thought I'd be fine for "one or two nights" before painting and it ended up with some surface rust after the 2nd outing.

-Another thing to take into consideration is how much do you want the railing to wrap around the platform? Most people have it on just the sides that keep them from going in the lake, but there has been a couple times where I could've used it on the boat side. Generally you should be fine if you don't have far to fall, but if you're platform is 4' tall you should probably consider having protection all the way around.

So that's pretty much all I have to say on platforms. I think I'm out of ideas on what to write on for now, so I'm gonna have to think for a while to get more ideas. Suggestions?


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## lunkerlander

Thanks for posting this. Definately a good read. I have one question. What are some of the benefits of night bowfishing?

Currently I don't have lights on my boat so I bowfish during the day only. I always see fish. Would I see more at night? Do the lights spook the fish? I know my trolling motor does.

Thanks for the posts.


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## weasle414

Night time shooting can be hugely different than day time. 99% of lakes will draw carp and pretty much all fish into the shallows more at night than the day. Most of the time rough fish don't even realize when I come over top of them with the lights, I dunno if they're just too dumb to realize the light changed from pitch black to blinding light, but they rarely take off. On lakes that don't get shot very much, I've made a game of hitting carp with the front of my trolling motor then shooting them when they take off. I have noticed if my lights are actually shining on my trolling motor it will spook them a little more frequently, but for the most part they're just too stupid to realize what's happening.

Here's a good example of how drastic shooting day and night can be in the same exact spot. One day I went out to one of my shore spots with a buddy and shot 14 fish in 4 hours between the two of us. Both of us have been shooting for a few years and are fairly proficient bowfishermen. That night I brought a different friend who had never even picked up a bow before to that very same spot and in an hour and a half we shot 120 fish. The sheer numbers had grown to a rediculous number of fish and even if we shot right in the middle of all of them, very few would scatter and they'd be back shortly after leaving.

I've also noticed when you spook fish, have on pull off or break your line, they come back to the same area pretty quickly at night time. Twice last year I got lost arrows back from fish that I shot earlier in the night and snapped my line because they came back to the same area. The last one was a 35 lb carp that caught my line on a light and snapped it, 45 minutes later I was cruising back over the same shore and he was back in the exact same spot I shot him in earlier to within 3' of the original spot. It was a nice trophy, both size wise and the fact that I got my yellow jacket back!


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## ImpalaSSpeed96

Good posts weasle. I personally went bowfishing for the first time last year and it was the most fun I think I've ever had. And we didn't produce any crazy numbers. I just enjoyed the shooting so much. And no butchering after you're done!!! I probably wouldn't have liked it as much had I used my pins. I really enjoyed shooting instinctively, so I'd recommend that for someone starting out. It makes it so much cooler when you connect w/ one. It took me a few times as i kept shooting right over them. By the end of the day though, I was nailin em! Really sad I'm going to miss it this year!!!!! Cause I had a blast!


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## weasle414

Yeah I hear ya... I dunno how much I'll get out shootin. The Marine Corps hasn't given me a ship date yet for boot camp so I'll probably end up leaving in the middle or beginning of the season. I guess I'll just have to take full advantage of this time off and go shoot out of state between now and then.


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## carp_killer

you better be here for bowbenders alex! and by the way were going to iowa first weekend we have a chance after iceoff :thumb: thought you should know that before the day im ready to leave


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## weasle414

Alright, keep me updated and I'll be there if there's a spot in a boat for me. Mom got rid of my Exploder when I went to Fargo last week so I don't really have a whole lot of towing options til I'm done with boot camp. Plus I wouldn't trust my boat this time of year with no railing on it...


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## sdrookie

Here's how we're fishing at night. LED light in the 80 lumen range. Conduit clamp mount. GTG


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## weasle414

SDRookie, that looks a lot like how I did it the first couple weeks of night shooting here in MN a couple years back. Except mine was one of those floating spot lights that WalMart sells for like $2 and it was duck taped to my riser. It worked alright, but not great. Looks like your light set up would work a bit better than mine did.


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## sdrookie

That light and others work better than you can imagine. Four of us have these setups and have great success with them. They are actually tactical lights used for defensive firearm use. That light is a Surefire 6P LED. We also use the Surefire G2 LED. One of our group uses a two stage light made by Fenix. 60 Lumen and 200 Lumen. That light is BRIGHT. We're currently testing some Coleman LED lights they sell at Walmart. One is 80 Lumen the other is 125. The lights we use now operate on CR123A batteries. The Coleman lights run on AA and AAA. I've had the 80 Lumen model on my hardhat at work for about 3 weeks and its still going strong. Have not shot with them yet. The Surefires cost from $50 to $80. The Colemans are $15 to $25 and use cheaper batteries. I'm hoping they can handle the shock as most folks can't float an $80 flashlight. We used a handheld spotlight when we first started night fishing. Sucked. Then I tried mounting a rechargable spotlight on my bow. Sucked. From the first time out I knew this would work. We are silent and nearly invisible. I refuse to listen to a generator. Just not for me. Any questions feel free to ask.

Thank you for your service to our country. There's always a spot for you in my boat.


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## weasle414

I love the sound of my genny, it's really not that loud. I've got my exhaust pointed behind the boat so it's facing away from me completely and not directed to shore. The little humm I do hear just sounds like success to me!


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## sdrookie

So long as you're killing carp, You're cool by me. 8)

Gonna shoot some snow geese, catch a few walleye, then on to the invasive species reduction!


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## carp_killer

bowfishing without the hum of the genny purring in the background doesnt even sound fun. that sound just gets me excited.


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## lunkerlander

How well does using LED flashlights work? The reason why I'm asking is that I don't have lights on my boat because I cant afford a generator. The water here is clear and I just go out during daylight. Would I be able to bowfish well at night with only the flashlights as light?


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## sdrookie

These flashlights are all we use to hunt at night. It really works very well. They shine fish as far as I can hit anything for sure. It is different at night. Fish are dumb in the dark. You've got to be sure and use a bright light though. LED brightness is measured in "lumens". The one I use now is 80 lumens. Above I said the Coleman one I bought at Walmart was 80 but I checked and its only 60. I'll strap it on and shoot with it and report back. My partners and I do construction work. We listen to stuff run all day. Its like fingernails on a chalkboard by Friday. And I'm cheap!  Surefire G2 LED is $54 from "brightflashlights.com" and works great for sure. Suitable to mount on your AR as well. Make sure its legal to shoot at night. Good luck!


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## lunkerlander

Thanks for the reply. I bought a couple Colman 115 lumen LED flashlights for $25 each. I've never shot at night so I hope its as good as I've been hearing. I'll give a report once I've had a chance to go.


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## weasle414

lunkerlander said:


> Thanks for the reply. I bought a couple Colman 115 lumen LED flashlights for $25 each. I've never shot at night so I hope its as good as I've been hearing. I'll give a report once I've had a chance to go.


You're gonna have a blast. The only day shooting I like to do anymore is shooting the buff spawn the first couple weeks of the MN season. Every other time I go in the day it's just not as eventful.

Damn that night season making me nocturnal!


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## lunkerlander

We went out for about 2 hours. We got to the river as the sun was setting. At first you couldn't see into the water well, but once the sun went down and it was dark it was easier. The fish were scattered but at night you can get really close to them and they arent afraid like during daylight.

We each shot a couple carp. Alex got his first carp so he was pretty happy. Here are a couple pictures of Alex with some fish and me also. Also, you can see how the bows look with the flashlights.


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## sdrookie

Nice job! I love hunting at night. Keep us posted on how the Coleman lights hold up. After a couple hundred shots I'd have more faith in them. Hunting at night for 25 bucks. That should get some more folks on the water!


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## lunkerlander

Thanks for the idea of using a flashlight. We may add another light onto each bow on the opposite side. Twice the light would help out some in murky water, but I think they do a good job overall by themselves. We probably only will go for a couple hours at a time, so I was thinking about also adding a 12v light to the front of the boat.


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## lunkerlander

We got some more.


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## Kenland

Looks like you're all enjoying guys. I think I'll give it a try sometimes together with my friends. :beer:


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## huntinpoet16

What do you guys use for line for carp


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## the professor

huntinpoet16 said:


> What do you guys use for line for carp


200 lb test braided dacron; neon green or hot pink.


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## Carpslayerxxx

Hate to say boys, but get 2 canoes, and it makes a HELL of a bowfishing rig.  8 feet wide, 14 feet long. Floats in 1 inch of water


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## Ike777

How often should you replace your fishing line string? I been using my new bow for about 4 months now and it's starting to fray a little.


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