I have a 2010 pse bowmadness that I Previously used for deer hunting, until my wife bought me a Mathews for Christmas this year. I'm curious if it'd be possible to retrofit this thing into a bow fishing machine? What kind of accessories would it take to do so if possible?
Absolutely possible if you can shoot a fairly short ATA bow with fingers though many people do use a release. Keep in mind you will have it dangling in the way all the time if you do. You can shoot with or without sights and I have seen people do both equally well. Just watch your string snagging on the sight if you choose that option. You will need a bowfishing rest, a reel of some type which runs the gamut from the very simple 20.00 attachment to a 100.00 + retriever. I prefer the Muzzy heads on the arrows though there are other brands. Muzzy and AMS both sell kits that should get you started. Good luck and let us know how it goes. *Footnote* My first few times (over 20 years ago) I tied a 20 foot heavy string to my bow directly and pulled fish in by hand. The line was coiled loosely under foot. Yeah that's ghetto but it worked better than you may think. I don't recommend it much though as tangles were pretty constant and I cut my fingers up a lot.
Depends what poundage it is. I wouldn't want to be pulling over 50# for bowfishing. You could lose a bunch of arrows shooting that much plus making 100+ shots a day at that poundage won't be fun. But yes it is possible.
Ditto what JM said. Anything that flings an arrow can be used for bowfishing. Some things are just better than others. I have a 22" axle to axle bow that I love for bowfishing and I shoot it fingers... but it's only set at about 30lbs (and I have a 26" draw). Too much poundage is a bad thing in bowfishing but a high poundage bowfishing bow is still better than no bowfishing bow. You'll need a bowfishing reel, a bowfishing rest and some bowfishing arrows.
I shoot a recurve for fishing but I can see a lot of advantages to the short ATA. If 22" will work, there's no reason 32" won't work also. If you can't turn the draw weight down enough... Rubber grommets from Autozone or Lowes can really help prevent shoot throughs. That can be a big problem on gar as their hide will cut your line, especially monofilament. Shoot throughs can also be a big problem on Catfish as you end up pinning them to the bottom and a big blue cat can snap an arrow... believe it.
