What time of year,Which month

[Caribou Dreamer2]

Ok guys i'm getting the itch to go,What is the earliest you all have seen fish.The end of march beginning of april here anybody seen anything earlier.Is everybody getting ready to hit the waters.

[Ðe§perado™]

That's when I go out looking for them. I check all the swallow lakes first then work toward the rivers.;)

When I'm getting ready to go out and look around we can hook up and go out together.;)

[Arrow 1]

I really can't get that excited about going right now. Maybe it's because I'm looking out my window at a frozen lake as I am typing this. It's kind of hard to shoot thru ice!

[Ðe§perado™]

I know what you mean. but talking about it and checking equipment and thinking about a game plan will get you going. Knowing it won't be long.;)

[ohioguy]

if you have lights on your boat you can shoot fish as soon as the ice comes off.it will be hands down the best shooting of the year.the water will be crystal clear and the fish are real slugish.i have been out in january shooting hundreds of fish in a matter of a few hours when the lakes have not froze over.if we had not gotten this last cold spell my partner and i were going to try and go .

[Caribou Dreamer2]

Sound great deperado,I have not got lights on the boat yet but working on it,Might have to give it a try earlier than march thanks for the advise ohio guy

[CARPN-JAKE]

If you check your local rivers you can usually find fish now...I know places down here that I could shoot fish now if I was brave enough......Normally i'll start stickin em the middle to end of Feb.

[flathunter]

When I'm getting ready to go out and look around we can hook up and go out together


You guys having a date?????:D :D :D ;)

[ohioguy]

i was out working today and stopped at one of my honey holes.well the whole lake is frozen and there is a warm water discharge where the fish stack up.there were thousands of giant shad ( in the 2 to 3 pound range) and quite a few schools of decent sized carp. i am going to hit it tommorrow! shoot a few in the morning until it gets too cold.

[Ðe§perado™]

Sure Jack, to check out bowfishing water. Your just upset you weren't invited.LOL:D

Tracy, I'm looking around now to get a generator, so i can see at night. Going to build a deck on the front that I can remove when I'm done bowfishing. Try to go with some 350 watt lights.;)

[ohioguy]

hey clarence you should be where i am going to shoot tommorrow!!!!!! drive on up and we can shoot a ton of fish by 8 or 9 am

[george tinkham]

alum creek in columbus is usually crystal clear all year/shallow and you can shoot carp any day out of the year.best where camo and stalk the fish because they spook easy.lot of shooting,i have taken up to three fish with a single shot several times when they were stacked together.it is not real challenging so it might not be for everyone.

[Arrow 1]

George, I drive over Alum Creek, the creek at least twice a day. That creek is almost never clear. What part of the creek are you talking about? The part that I drive over is downstream from the dam a couple of miles. I have bowfished in the creek a good bit too. It is not one of my favorite places to bowfish. Although, there use to be a good sucker run, up around Kilborne in the early spring.

[george tinkham]

the section from morse road to 161.i it was very clear about everytime i went there.yes it floods now and then but the water comes up fast and falls fast .i am talking from actual bowfishing experience here and it was fantastic as far as action.i don't know about legality but i lived on it for two years and bowfished it many a day. you can take that as fact.i'm just letting others know its there.the fish are shootable all year and i have shot them during winter.and the nice thing about it is there are people in columbus who will eat the fish.otherwise i won't shoot them.thats just my ethics but i'm not putting down others.

[Caribou Dreamer2]

Still have ice on the lake up here but still waiting and i'm ready just waiting for it to warm up alittle.

Is everybody else getting ready

[lureboy98]

Don't forget we need to stick some pigs this year desperado!

[Ðe§perado™]

I didn't forget. We will go out and stick a few. I'm looking around now for a generator for my boat so I can go out at night and bowfish.;)

[Caribou Dreamer2]

Who's geting ready to go after some carp i've been ready come on spring time we need some warm weather to melt this ice off then i'm going to hit a water plant discharge that i know of to see if anything is stirring.

[Q2XL]

wheres that at, is it one of your secret spots.let us know if you do any good

[Caribou Dreamer2]

Will do:D

[lureboy98]

I realized a friend has a lake with carp in it that he doesn't want in there. I will get to try bowhunting a little there this spring, but Desperado you still need to get me down there and show me how its done!

[Ðe§perado™]

As soon as it warms up I'll be out scouting. I will call you when I find them moving up.

[george tinkham]

i know where there is a 6' grass carp...

[Ðe§perado™]

6' Grass carp...I would like to see that.;)

[george tinkham]

at the golf course where i catch the big bass...but they won't let you arrow it...

[Ðe§perado™]

I just would like to go over and see it. Take a few pictures.

[Thunderflight]

So what do you all do with all these fish you shoot?

TF

[george tinkham]

i usually give em to carpeaters at the lake...if there are no carpeaters there i take em home and fillet them...soon as i locate a carpeater i give em to them...some carpeaters are tickled to death i filleted them too,other carpeaters would rather fillet em themselves...

[lureboy98]

My friend wants them out of his pond, so i don't know what he'll do with them, but it would be fun to get them!

[Ðe§perado™]

I give them away to people that want them and put some in the garden. Lots of people around me love to have them in the garden.

[Caribou Dreamer2]

That make good fertilizer for your gardens.Hay lureboy98 if you need some help with them in that pond give us all a call we will be glad to help out:D

[george tinkham]

well i guess if you cant find a carpeater do something other than just waste em for nothing...i have also fed em to raccoons too...they need to eat too and they seem to love filleted carp!!!

[Caribou Dreamer2]

Welp another month down maybe one more to go.Hope it warms up soon need to go find some carp.:D

[bucktail]

Originally posted by ohioguy
i have been out in january shooting hundreds of fish in a matter of a few hours when the lakes have not froze over . [/B]

What happens to the hundreds of fish that you shoot in a few hours ? Do you keep them or are they left on the shoreline or in the lake to rot. Shooting hundreds of fish like that in a few hours can't be good can't be good for any body of water. Man someone has got to put a limit on these fish somewhere. No I'm not a PETA supporter but that seems to me like your raping the resources no matter what kind of fish it is. Sorry to sound harsh about the subject, but that seems like overkill no matter what species is getting slain. There should be a limit on how many fish that can be taken by this means. (bowfishing)

[CARPN-JAKE]

I understand your concern.......... Since we are limited to shooting highly fertile rough fish the fish we shoot are reproducing faster than a few bowfisherman can shoot em....so even though it seems that we are taking ungodly amounts of fish the fish we are limited too are ones that are for the most part unused by the majority of other fisherman....Now when you start talking limits the only thing I agree on is that we should be able to shoot some gamefish and have a limit on those....say half what rod and reel anglers are allowed...What difference does it make if someone takes 2 channel cats home to eat.....it makes no difference if they were shot or if they were caught?

[Caribou Dreamer2]

Hmmm shooting game fish boy i could of stuck some really big bass in the past.Now that would stir up some trouble,just think we Bowfisherman could join the bass fishing tournaments hehehe

I like the half the bag limit thing that would be great,I could sell all my fishing rods and buy some more arrows then.

[CARPN-JAKE]

Well, maybe I should rephrase that....even i don't think you should be allowed to stick bass while they're spawning.... heck why would ya want to shoot em anyway when there are better eating fish....but why not allow a limited harvest of say, channel cats and panfish....Not so sure if blues or flats should be shot though...although other states allow it such as Alabama, Lousiana. Your even allowed to shoot them at Santee Cooper which most catman consider part of heaven....

[george tinkham]

maybe a food bank will take em...the needy need food and we don't have to give em lobster...

[cwcarper]

In a way, bowfishermen could theoretically cause the carp population to increase in a given body of water. By removing larger carp, the smaller ones have a better chance of surviving, so where there was once a 20 lb carp, there are now several smaller carp. This has been shown to be true on many bodies of water where an attempt was made to eradicate carp (though in this case, the carp were removed by means other than bowfishing). Of course, there would have to be a lot more bowfishermen, or the body of water would have to be just the right size for this to actually hold true.

[ohioguy]

bucktail i nor does anyone else on here have to justify shooting any amount of fish! The law allows this kind of thing for a reason. I have been bowfishing for more than 13 years and have always been very good about what i do with my fish . I do not leave fish on the bank too rot. In fact i usually bring them home and bury them like most of the guys on here. Putting a limit on something like shad which is what we shoot hundreds of in hours would be ridiculous! Shad die by the millions on there own and cover the water surface of lake erie too the point that birds are walking on the dead fish! It really does not matter to me that you have a problem with shooting hundreds of fish?!As i have already spent way too much time defending what is my RIGHT. You have a couple of options in my opinion.....sit around and whine on sites like this about it!!!!!! or go into politics and change the laws !!! One thing i do know though is you should go sling your ANTI crap somewhere else because you are not going to convert anyone here anytime soon. People preach this over and over but here it goes again.We ( bowfisherman included) as sportsman can not fight amongst ourselves.We have enough people to worry about.People like bucktail pretending to be sportsman when they really are just camoflaged anti`s . Do i agree with every outdoor sport out there? Of course i don`t. I do not even own a gun but does that make me an anti gunner? No i just prefer all forms of archery and do not care one way or another what anyone else does as long as it is legal and they are not hurting me . I just know i am not going to go over into some forum and start crap about gun hunting because i love archery!!!!! We can not afford to fight amongst ourselves. i will finish with this thought and i have talked with many people around this whole country on this one and i am going to go ahead and say it. PEOPLE LIKE THIS ARE ONE OF TWO KINDS OF PEOPLE. EITHER THAY ARE AN ANTI OR THEY ARE JUST JEALOUS.

OHIOGUY (TRACY HARPER)
B.A.A MEMBER AND FORMER STATE REP
RMEF MEMBER
PHEASANTS FOREVER MEMBER
FORMER B.A.M MEMBER

[george tinkham]

why not put a lil effort to find a carp eater...they appreciate the meal and it makes you feel much better too...george the bowfisher

[flathunter]

bucktail I agree with everything you just said........

I see this may get out of hand quick, so why dont we try to nip it in the bud, before that happens.....Arguing on a message board will not change anything, I know I have been there done that

[bucktail]

The origin of my point was not to bash you or someones belief's, but maybe to set a standard on what should be an acceptable level of harvesting of any creature whether fish or wildlife. This is just the way that a species become extinct, (extinct = once it's gone it's not coming back). Just look at the past, it's not hard to figure out that too much of a thing can be detrimental in the long run.

I'm not going to argue back and forth with you on this subject, but my belief is to protect our natural resources for our children and their children to come with selective harvesting to ensure a healthy future for all fish and wildlife. Not the senseless decimation of fish and wildlife that some people prefer to accept as a practical standard. If thats being a sportsman then I don't want nothing to do with people who think your way. And I will do all I can in legal means to shelter my kids from people who think this way because thats my right as an AMERICAN..

[Ðe§perado™]

Bucktail, knock it off. If you just came to the bowfishing forum to start an arguement , you did it. Please move on. This area is for bowfisherman and if you don't like what we do while bowfishing then stay out of this area. You don't understand about carp reproduction. They reproduce faster then we bowfisherman ever could take. They will never go exinct. We need to stick together , not pick each other a part. :mad:

[CARPN-JAKE]

One thing I've noticed is that the people who slam bowfishing have never been around in and don't have a frickin clue what the the f##K they are talkin about!!! It comparable to someone who's never fished saying fishing is cruel because the poor fish are just trying to eat and are getting their stomaches ripped out buy fishhooks and they are being released to suffer and die.....get a life guys and find something else to complain about....and before you argue about something at least try and get a clue what you're talking about........By the way....I went to school for wildlife management....not that that makes my opinion mean more than anyone elses....

[Whit_1]

How is it that everytime a bowfishing forum is started someone who has never bowfished always seems to find there way into it and starts this same old argument? I don't know about the speicific situations on all the lakes in the world but I do know that on ALL the lakes that I have bowfished on the rough fish seem to have a serious over population problem..In my opinion if bowfishermen did not go out and do what we do this problem would only get worse..I don't know of ANYONE who goes out and trys to catch carp,gar,or shad. That is not to say that they are not out there but there are not enough of them to put a dent in the population..And even if there were a significant number of people fishing for these speices of fish all they would do is put them back in the lakes to breed agian and this would not help the over population problems........As for the comment about not careing if the shad die naturally, if we had that attitude about all of wild animals there would thosands of animals die every year of starvation.And what a waste that would be!!The Depatment of Natural Resources sets the laws for each individual state and districts within each state based on a tremendous amount of data and I feel for someone looking in from the outside to sit back and second guess them is pretty senseless..I have said this before and I guess I have to say it again,,,If you start trying to get small parts of hunting and fishing banned or regulated more strictly just because you do not agree with them you are opening PANDORA'S BOX!! This is just the kind of thing that those tree hugers over at peta love see..(In fighting amoung outdoorsmen)I am also some one who does not agree with gun hunting deer..How much sport is there in shooting a deer from 75 yards.Or farther..Someone needs to delete all the posts on this subject!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[bucktail]

Anyone who would enjoy to go out and kill something by the hundreds obviously has some sort of fixation with killing, and that tells me that you ain't right in the brain. I've been bowfishing before but we never went on a killing rampage like the hundreds you talk about, it was more like getting a limit of bass or catfish or whatever species of what the law allowed using the fishing regulations. It's one thing to feed your family with a few of what ever species but hundreds of shad or fish to me is just plain demented.

Can you imagine people teaching their children bowfishing at an early age to go out and kill'em by the hundreds, it's ok daddy does it all the time. Folks who practice that type of fishing or hunting must not have a high standard of morals in life and obviously don't have a care in the world for fish or wildlife or their children. I can't see where the sport is going out shooting hundreds of shad or fish is acceptable, don't even compare it to hunting. In deer hunting your talking about 1 animal at a time not hundreds and if you can't see the difference in that well it's like I said you ain't right in the head. I rest my case.............

[Robert P]

What is the exact number that makes me a killer? Is it two, ten, twenty, fifty, hundred, five hundred? It sounds like you are simply telling everyone that you think I am a killer because I shoot fish. If that is what you think, fine I really do not care. I have met a lot of bowfishermen and they are the best people in the country. Sportsmen all of them. Killers?, no apparently you don't know us very well...and by your attitude I would prefer to keep it that way.

The last time I checked this was the bowfishing section. No one made you come into this section so I will invite you to just go away. If you are just looking to spam someone and make yourself feel better, I think the phycologists will want to talk to you more than me.

[Caribou Dreamer2]

Biting my tongue here:mad:,Not going to let it happen again

[CARPN-JAKE]

I'm gonna give up on argueing this one....I'm not expecting to change you're mind and you shouldn't expect to change mine.....To compare it to deer hunting is unrealistic because they are completely different things....Like comparing small gaming to deer hunting perhaps.......I'd consider myself more ethical than you're average guy out there when it comes to hunting, I'm a dedicated bowhunter who has a feels a sense of sadness when gun season comes around because I know what kinda people are gonna be in the woods.....not to say there aren't unethical bowhunters because I know of plenty......
Anyways, good luck this fishing season and don't use to many minnows for bait...those poor things....and better limit the amount of cutbait you use catfishing too cause we don't wnat to see a decrease in the shad population....
I'm tired of trying argue something which doesn't need to be justified....
Later

[bucktail]

I don't use minnows or cut bait, I very rarely fish for anything besides croppie, bluegill or the occasional bass and then I specifically use soft plastics or man made baits. I don't hunt to kill anymore, but I still enjoy the thrill and excitement of the stalk thats the main reason why I go.

I have noticed most of the folks here and on other forums get so defensive when someone from outside the realm, tries to bring certain moral issues to light for awareness purposes, then there are a selected few who actually see where I'm coming from when trying to bring certain issues to light. Those are the real sportsmen who have an open mind and don't see everything as an attack or a one way street, they see that I'm just trying to bring an issue or issues to light and generally support it with intelligent posts not with calling people tree huggers or PETA supporters of which I'm not any of the two.

You say sportsmen should stick together, thats all fine with me but I can't support someone who kills by the hundreds and then wants to call it a sport, where's the sport in overkill. I guess I'm getting mellow in my old age, cause I don't have to go out and slaughter fish or animals in mass quantities to feel like a man, it's an obvious macho thing with some here. Those folks are just insecure people who need to seek therapy to help seek out there insecurities with manhood.

[george tinkham]

well on issues like this we don't need to worry bout what we hunters an fishers think...its the general public who don't carphunt,hunt or feesh...so be careful what you do how you do it an how you say it and what you say...or we,ll all be without a boat and a place to hunt...they vote on these issues anymore,its taken out of the wildlife pros hands...

[bucktail]

Well there is another way to look at it also, would you rather have a sportman like me trying to bring certain subjects to light or would you rather have those PETA or tree huggers here trying to get this site and others like it closed and our freedom to hunt and fish taken away. If no sportsmen talks about these things in our own arena, then those groups like PETA and the tree huggers can get 1 step up on us. These forums are the place to for us to get together to try set certain moral standards with the outdoors and more stringent regulations in certain areas that way it will only help us in our plight, so we will be able enjoy our pastimes some form of hunting or fishing for years to come.

It's we the people (sportsmen and women) against all those groups, if we can set acceptable standards we can convince the public that were doing a good thing in meaning more support from the general public then we can shrug those anti-groups away. It's the general public that we have to prove our plight to, if we can do that with acceptable standards in their thinking we can't lose. Remember we and the general public control our destiny, not those groups. Lets get the public on our side by showing were responsible sportsmen and sportswomen who can resolve our own issues. If we don't have high moral standards on what we do in our pastimes were sunk. Now I rest my case........

[george tinkham]

i was not talking about peta or those groups...we know how they will vote and we know how we will vote,its the ones that are left that we need to impress...

[carpwarrior]

buck tail , are that bored. does cabin fever got ahold of you , why dont you look up the history of the common carp in the U>S>A and you would c that the government put them in our water systems for a food source , so if they did not do that i guess you would not be crying about what you dont understand , before you go flappin your gums again about bowfishing , whont you learn somthing about it first, then when you have ,then maybe just maybe your opinion might mean summthing , it is clear that you do not have any first hand experience at this sport , i would be more than happy to take you out and show you how this is done. AS I HAVE SAID BEFORE SOME OPINIONS STINK AND SOME ARE A BUNCH OF LOUD NOISE. AND WHY DO WE LET OUR SELFS GET TEED OFF AT THESES WANA BEES

[Garp]

but I don't think I can do it. I will try though. (or does it really, maybe it requires this kinda debate). Bucktail, You were right to question the limits on bowfishing, and to that respoince, I think ohioguy (sorry, ohiog) kinda overreacted. BUt part of your responce was accusatory in nature, which I think is what triggered his responce. You are right to question it, we should always question things like that, but without pointing fingers or making statements out of the blue:quote "(but that seems like overkill no matter what species is getting slain. There should be a limit on how many fish that can be taken by this means. (bowfishing)". Down here in TX (and I imagine up there too) biologist keep a constant watch on fisheries and effects of all aspects of fishing, and they will let us know if a a trend starts to develop, good, bad, or ugly.
Back to y'alls ping-pong of words. After his rather staunch reply, you became more fervent about the bad points of overfishing and used sportsmanship as a point of refernce too, so add this into the equation. Do you dove hunt? If so, you have likely seen or heard of the south- of-the-border dove hunts where the skies turn black with doves, and you can literally shoots hundreds per day. Ever dreamed of goin on one of those? What about white bass. REmember when there was no limit on size or bag? Well, the biologists did, and they noticed what was happening and put limits on them, just like bass and deer, and quail, and ducks. They are watching, I promise. We fish and hunt for fun and food. Shad, Carp, mullet, gar ... someone eats them, or gives them to the food bank or uses them for fertilizer, but you jumped to the conclusion that they were wasted, and that they, as a resource, needed to be regulated, but you really didn't know. I agree, all of our resources need to be regulated. Right now, the biologists say that the trash fish population is such that there needs to be no limit, at the time. It is a well documented fact, that when you reduce carp and gar numbers, bass numbers increase. And we were talking shad anyway. You can take them buy the hundreds w/o effect. And it is not like all bowfishers encounter this odd-LUCK that ohioguy hit. It doesn't happen every day or every week. Just my 26 1/2 cents.
Mark.

[cwcarper]

Nice post Garp. Now why couldn't we have more level-headed responses like that? It would make for a much better discussion. Sometimes you can't even frame a question from the opposing side without getting jumped on for being an anti. Same goes for those who can't discuss the topic without jumping all over the bowfishermen for being (add your favorite derogatory terms).

I've been in these "discussions" before, and I told myself I'd stay out of them from now on. It seems as soon as something gets started, crap starts flying from both sides (and yes, half the time it is nothing more than crap). Saying things like "don't criticize it if you haven't tried it" is complete nonsense, and assuming that the people who are against it don't know anything about it (or about carp) is a bunch of balogna.

The truth is, that in all but the EXTREME cases, bowfishermen will have little or no (usually no) effect on the overall carp population. They might think they are helping to thin the population, but they aren't (though local populations on streams and smaller rivers could be temporarily diminished). On smaller waters and where bowfishing is more popular, the effect will be more noticable, but will easily recover within a year or two if harvest is decreased. The only widespread effect will be on the presence and distribution of trophy sized fish (say over 30 lbs). Not all carp have the proper genes to reach this size, so removing these large fish can definitely hurt the chances of a fishery producing trophy sized carp. Even then, this is only on small enough waters where such an impact can be had (say less than 6000 acres, or so), or in waters where the average carp size is small to begin with. I could go into more and more detail on a lot of the biological misinformation spread about carp, but that would be overkill at this point.

By the way, I do not support bowfishing, except in the cases where the fish are harvested for food or bait. However, I've got nothing against those who bowfish, regardless of what they do with their carp (unless you throw them up on the bank or let them end up as floaters, but I know a lot of you don't do this). I also wouldn't want to see regulations that made bowfishing illegal, and would never support this. All I ask for is for carp to gain the respect that they deserve, and for them not to be treated as a trash/garbage fish.

I wish it was possible to have intelligent discussions regarding the support and opposition for bowfishing, but realize this isn't likely, except possibly in a one-on-one or smaller scale group fashion. Finally, anyone willing to spar about the truth and fallacy regarding carp biology, step right up, I've done my research :cool: .

[CARPN-JAKE]

Good point CWCarper....I didn't mean to come across like a a-hole.....my only excuse is that every couple months someone jumps onto one of the forums accusing us of being mindless killers and after awhile most of us get tired of arguing the same point over and over with a different person every time...

[Whit_1]

I'd like to go back to a question raised by Robert..At what point is it to much??If what CW says is true(that we do little to reduce the #'s of carp & or gar)than why should there limits put on the numbers of fish allowed to be harvested..Limits are placed on fish so that the resource will not be over used..My guess that if fewer people fished for bass and walleye that the DNR would raise the limits because the fishing pressure would not deplete the resource..I think that what most of this is about is someone trying to place their moral values over someone elses..If for some reason you do not like a particular activity I would think that the best thing to do would be to try and distance yourself as far away from it as possible, not seek it out..I have no problem with a man voicing his opinion but when you come into a forum and start telling people that what they are doing is IMMORAL what do you think is going to happen??I for one am not going to sit back and let somone tell me what my morals should be!!If you do not agree with what it is we do than don't put yourself around it..The bottom line is that BOWFISHING is a legal means by which to harvest a SELECT speices of fish!!!

[Ðe§perado™]

Ok, Guys enough of this. Let's hit the water and stick a few, what do you say guys!!;)