Hey Guys. Alright I have never bow-fished before, but I would really like to try. I have a PSE Rally compound bow with a whisker arrow rest. Can I but a retriever on it and use it for bow fishing? Are there any places to bow fish in NJ or should I look towards Delaware and Maryland? Basically how can I set myself up for bowfishing? Thanks!
Yes a retriever will go where your sight goes, and you can either get a bowfishing rest or put a heavy black bristled insert in your whisker biscuit. You will want to turn the bow down to low draw weight. I might recommend that if this is your hunting bow, you get another old compound or recurve for fishing. Bowfishing is extremely hard on equipment, and you dont want your hunting bow slimed up and rusty with mud filled cams and bearings. Trust me, no matter how hard you try it will still happen. My Oneida fishing bow got scuffed, beaten on, shot into knee rails on the boat, hung up wet, covered in slime, dropped in the creek... But it killed hundreds of carp and keeps on shooting. I do nothing but shoot carp with it, so i dont mind that it is dirty and ugly. Hope this helps, let me know if you have any more questions i can answer
That was very informative, I was thinking about getting a PSE kingfisher and slapping on a AMS retriever because I would much rather my Rally not get destroyed. Thanks very much that helped a lot, also I have one more question if you are familiar, do you know if you need a bow hunting license to bow fish in NJ. Much appreciated!
I went with the PSE Kingfisher for bowfishing, and its an awesome bow. I have beat that thing to death, and it still shoots just like when I bought it. Definitely go with the AMS reel, you will thank yourself the first day.
In most states you only need a fishing license, but everywhere is different, so its up to you to check your fishing digest and find out. The fishing digest should also shed some light on bodies of water that you can bowfish.
I prefer a recurve for bowfishing. I also put rubber grommets on my arrows right behind the head to prevent pass throughs, especially on gar. The retriever is great.
I have only heard excellent reviews about it, and when it comes to recurves its one of the cheapest from what I have seen so it is a win win. Thanks for your input.
Thats what I keep seeing and I cannot find anything that says I need my bow education card or a bow hunting license for fish, but on the other hand I keep hearing stories of people being kicked out of lakes because people just don't want bow hunters there, but Ill take a look at fishing digest, thanks a lot for the help man.
I am not sure if there are Gars where I live (seen them a lot at Little egg harbor as a kid, but they were babys and the arrow is probably a lot bigger than them) But thanks for the input Muzzy.
I live in nj too. As far as a know you don't need a license. Just call the department of fish and game and ask them Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
