I was reading up on those and AMS doesn't recommend fighting fish with them, instead to pull in the line hand over hand. I was really looking to keep that "fighting" rod and reel feel with bow fishing so my plan was to go with a reel seat and rod that screws into your stabilizer mount. Does anyone have any experience with both of these? Something like this: Cajun Bowfishing Reel Mount Rod | eBay
Never seen something like that used but I would be skeptical having all that pressure (fighting fish) against bow like that all the time. That's just me.
Yeah that's very true, didn't really think about that. I'll have to do a little more research and check some stuff out. That reel seat and rod would be ideal though since I already have a bunch of button push reels laying around. I'll have to look at that pressure thing though, thanks
Without reading the responses... for some reason bh.com is being quirky for me. Do not leave fish laying around where other people will see/smell them!!! Doing so is usually illegal and just plain rude. Take the little extra effort to carry them back away areas used by others. Of course eating them or donating them can be an option for some. We gave fish away to wildlife rehab places to feed their critters. We smoked some common carp, fried up a lot of bigheads, buffalo and grass carp (those fish have mild, white flesh). Fried up gar. (Pretty good but hard to clean) We also put a few thousand pounds into our garden/field. We drilled holes with the auger attachment on the tractor... dropped in some carp, backfilled it and put a tomato plant over it.. drill another..plant some more carp.... In some states you can sink the fish back into the lake/river it came from. If you don't have other plans for the fish, this is probably the best option. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk
I've used both extensively. If shooting lower volume of bigger fish like carp, the AMS is hands down the way to go. Less snag ups, equipment breakdowns, messing with drag, etc... And the fight with a gloved hand on a 60 lb carp is as exhilarating as you can get. The reels are designed for high volume shooting. You can reel in the arrow for a follow up shot in 1/3 to 1/4 the time when you get good with them. It is frustrating as you get used to them though because every single time you forget to click the button on the reel before shooting, your arrow snaps the line and goes off into oblivion. Expensive mistakes to learn from. Guys that shoot the volume tourneys (like several hundred gar in one night being entered) typically use reels for the speed knowing they wont be shooting and fighting large fish. Everyone going after larger prey and not in need of a fast 2 second follow up shot typically goes with AMS for hassle free bowfishing. I have 3 or 4 of each setup still, and I'd go AMS bottle retriever hands down.
Thanks for the info. I'll definitely will be shooting lower volume of as I'll just be walking the banks of a few rivers around here that are loaded with carp. And I do like that idea of not having to click a button. With the AMS, does that mean you have to set your bow down to pull the fish in? It wont be a problem because like I said I'll just be on the river bank, just curious.
I recommend the ams as well. We usually have four spincasts and two ams rigs on our boat. The spincasts are faster and can shoot father but the ams is far more dependable...and you'll lose far less arrows. You'll want to hand line in big fish with a spincast anyway. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk
Okay I appreciate all the info everyone. On the MI fishing guide there is very little info about bowfishing besides which species are legal. I'll have to contact the DNR and see if I can sink them back into the water. If not I'll see what I can do, I don't live too far from the Detroit Zoo and a few nature centers who might want them. I am super pumped to get into it, I've been watching a ton of bowfishing videos the past few days and it looks like a blast!
Something to kill some time in the summer! We have a ton of cattle pastures around here with small ravines running through them that are money! Backs of sloughs and edges of lakes are also very good. Another great spot to look is culverts or anywhere there is flowing water as they will "herd" up, for lack of better word, in those areas and area easy pickin.
Will the AMS retriever fit on properly on this bow? I'm not sure exactly how it goes on. Will that bar with the cable slide get in the way?
I've been thinking of getting the AMS for a few years. I would put it on one of my longbows. What kinda poundage do you need to shoot carp? I have a couple 48-50 pound longbows but was thinking of getting a light one about 35 -42 pounds for shooting fish.
Got my arrows in the mail today (AMS with Chaos XL point) and just ordered my AMS Retriever Pro. Thanks for all the help guys!
