ok im new too bowfishing ive never tried but the idea of it seems real badass. Ive looked at bowfishing bows but with a kid on the way and two new trucks to pay for my girk is never going to let me buy a new bow so heres my questions.Can i buy a bowfishing reel and mount it to one of my compounds? (pse bowmadness and buck saber) is there anyway it can wreck my bows? Aside from the reel and fancy arrow what else would i need? The guy at my local shop said that muzzy bowfishing kit is made to mounted on a compound hunting bow but a couple guys i practice with said its just a replacement kit/kit for bow only bowfishing bows;so who should i beleive? and the most important question if i do have to order a bow how can i hide it from her hahaha well that was long winded but if you guys could give me some info that would be great!
Start with an AMS Retriever reel. You can put the reel on any bow, the retriever attaches where the sight would bolt on. (you don't need sights for bowfishing) If you get a spincast reel instead of a retriever reel, the spincast attaches to a special short reel seat that will screw into the stabilizer hole. (but really... start with the retriever!) The problem with using your hunting bow is that you don't want high poundage for bowfishing and bowfishing is tough on equipment. But it would work. Anything that flings an arrow will work.
i use the retriever pro, go with that! you dont want a spincast reel, they suck! and with the retriever you dont have to push any buttons, and all you need is an arrow with a bowfishing tip! i never never use my set up on my main hunting bow, its way too hard on it i suggest using a spare bow, or buying a cheap genesis or something like that you dont need more than 50lb draw weight unless you shoot gators or big gar ive shot 20+lb carp with a pse deer hunter at 45lbs/28" draw
Here are my two most recently employed bowfishing bows. Blue one is an Oneida Osprey. I have it set at about 27lbs. The little bow is a TNT Revolution bow. That one is set at about 30lbs. Here's the the tnt with a 19lb carp. :D
If you want to get down to the bare basics of bow fishing. You can buy a cheap recurve off of eBay, take a coffee can to wrap the string around and bolt it to the stabilizer insert, attach a string with an arrow and go. I like my Bear spinner reel. It has served me well for 20 years. http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h21/VAbowbender/Video/Snakehead.mp4 This was shot with my Blackberry while wading in a creek looking for gar.
I have to agree, I have killed more fish with my Dad's old recurve and a metal spool. If I'm going to shoot big gar I use my old whitetail II with a muzzy tip and let 'er rip. If you are shooting really big gar or stingrays you can go to a jug line to save your fingers from gettin' cut off! There is no need to buy expensive gear, especially starting out. That's the great thing about bowfishing, it doesn't require a fancy set up. P.S. This post is not meant to offend or upset anyone who has an expensive fancy bowfishing rig.
I couldn't agree more, with one caveat. I started out with a hand wrap reel aka drum reel aka metal spool. So did Christine and almost all the folks I know who bowfish. They have all gone on to the "fancy" set-ups because they just are less hassle and therefore more fun IMO. If you were to ask me, I would say get an AMS retriever, arrows with safety slides, find a bow you don't mind getting wet, slimey and muddy and go for it.
I started off a few years ago with just a string tied to a regular wood arrow that i had made a barbed tip for. I would set the string in a circle and then shoot it was so much fun but also a pain. I shot that little rig out of a martin rebel that i got for my birthday a few years ago. I got a cheap recurve and an ams retreiver and 2 arrows and now i have even more fun shooting fish. This year i killed well over 200 fish (carp and gar). Including a 40lb carb earlier this year.
Check out a used cheap old oneida bow low poundage...also check out sage recurves very very cheap takedowns that shoot pretty well
