bow fishing

[Genofish]

My son (13) is interested in bow fishing. What type of equipment is needed??? Are there any MN laws or

regulations for this?? This would be a great hobby for him.

Any help would be appreciated.

thanks

[Pooh]

bowfishing, its a great hobby and alot of fun only thing i can think of is no bow fishing at night. carp and suckers are a junk fish and most are more than glad for u to get rid of em. biggest thing i have found is the AMS no drag reel. its a GREAT investment for anyone that bow fishes more than 5 times a year. get a good arrow!! a muzzy predetor (fiberglass arrow aluminum wrapped) or the carbon muzzy (not sure of the name). the arrows with the black plasitc slide om them already are way more maintenance free that the cable slide. make sure you have one of these. Very dangerous without one!!

the fiberglass arrows are good but you start to get the fibers stuck in your hands and stuff. I like the AMS safty slides not the cable the cable is good but not fantastic. a good muzzy roller rest (its brass). an inexpensive bow, mine was 35 dollars its a compound. some like recurves. a good point, one that has replaceable tips and tips.

[I'llTakeWhatiCanGet]

Just about any equipment that'll allow you to fling an arrow into the water and retrieve it should be fine There's quite a price difference as you move up in reels though. Like pooh was getting at, when deciding how much $ to spend, you should probably take into consideration the frequency with which you will be using it. One thing's for sure though, I can't thing of any thing better than bowfishing to give a guy a few decent s**ts and grins

[Eric Wettschreck]

At the Lime Lake dam here in good ole Avoca the carp are THICK in the spring. It's a total hoot. Many times your arrow goes through 2 of em then GAME ON!!!!!!

I use a PSE Express. Nothing fancy. Couple years ago I bought the cheapest bow fishing combo I could find at the store. Still works.

[riverbasher]

I am a member of a bowfishing forum bowfishusa dot com....admins can I post that link here. LOTS of info for bowfishing. I am a member of the 10 Thousand Lakes Bowfishing Association, we are working with the DNR and the legislature to get the night ban lifted specifically for bowfishing and allow us to use artificial lights.

RB

[riverrat56]

I wouldn't mind getting into bowfishing, i have an old Abu Garcia 6500 that i recently bought at a garge sale and fixed a few parts on, works great now, anyways i was thinking since i only have about 17 bucks into it is there some way i could mount it on my bow? all i can think of is to find an old reel seat and mount that on a board and then mount it off there somehow?? Or i could just spend the money and buy a regular bowfishing kit, but its more fun to try to make something

[ghotierman]

There are reel seats that will screw into the stabilizer groove on your riser. If your totally into fabricating your own...thread a bolt onto the end of an old reel seat and screw it into your riser. you coul even adapt and old snoopy pole with eyelets if your so inclined....could be fun...

good luck.

[I'llTakeWhatiCanGet]

I've got a little rod (about 24-28") and reel combo that screws into my stabilizer that works out pretty well. You just gotta make sure and open the bail

[abens1078]

Riverrat,

you might get one heck of a backlash using a levelwind reel for bowfishing. Setting the tension might put alot of drag on the arrow too. I hope it works for you though it sure wouldn't be the first time I was wrong.

I once saw a guy that had mounted a 1 liter plastic pop bottle on his bow. I don't know how he got the bottle to hold still on the bolt but it seemed to work. It wasn't as efficient as the reels though, the line could fall off real easy when the bow was pointed downward.

[riverrat56]

Abens, didnt even think of that, your right on that subject it wouldnt work to well because of the backlash, ill just spend the money on a bow fishing kit, sounds like alot less of a headache in the longrun.

[Pooh]

i got a seat made for bowfishing i dont use it anymore. last time i seen it they were like 30 bucks. want it email me [email protected]

[I'llTakeWhatiCanGet]

Yeah, the cheap reels only consist of a round spool, some that you can shoot through, and some heavy line. I think you can get an arrow and a reel setup for under 30 bucks all together.

[norm]

Riverbasher-could you give me some more info about the Ten Thousand Lakes thing? I was talking to Vic at Archery Country and he said it's like $20 to join and they already have a bunch of lakes lined up to shoot at. He didn't have any info of who I should talk to join or anything though. Is there a HSOforum? I wouldn't mind paying a small fee if it will help to legalize using lights at night. Thanks

[poutpro]

I wouldn't buy one of those reales where the line just spools of like a spinning fishing reel. What happens if the line is caught upon something? It will fly back and you'll stick yourself. You can find the higher quality reel for 75 dollars and often they go on sale for 50 dollars at fleet and other stores.

[so haaad]

I agree with poutpro, if you can afford to spend a little more than get the kind that has the string inside of a tube. They are much safer than an old reel. Or, buy the cheap hand retrieving/winding spool that screws into your bow.