Well I entered my first bowfishing tournament Saturday. It was put on by The Illinois Bowfishers Club on Carlyle Lake in Illinois. I ended up getting partnered up with a local guy named Phil and he put us on some good fish. We shot in the shallow waters in a few different coves, mostly getting gar and a few carp with one buffalo added to the mix. The way the tournament was set up, you could weigh in 15 fish with 5 being carp, 5 gar and 5 buffalo. We had no problem getting 5 gar. They were in the shallows spawning everywhere. The carp and buffalo were off shore just enough that you couldn't see them in the murky water, it had stormed Friday night muddying the lake. We ended up shooting around 30 fish total, but could only weigh in 5 gar, 5 carp and the 1 buffalo we got for a total of 59.6 pounds. Which was good enough to finish in 6th place out of 18 boats. I was pretty happy with that and had a great time shooting fish. It was a lot of fun being out there with all of the fish in the shallow waters, just wish the water was a little clearer so we could have seen the carp and buffalo better. Most of them were seen as wakes out in front of the boat or mud swirls as they took off. I didn't take too many pics, not wanting the camera to take a drink like my partner. We were trolling on high across the cove when we hit an unseen stump. I had the troller to hold on to, but Phil ended up in the lake with his cell phone and wallet in his pockets. My rig, minus one railing that went in with Phil. A bunch of boats waiting in line to weigh in. Our barrel of fish to weigh in. The rest of our catch. The final tally.
Christine was too busy running the tournament to shoot any fish. Actually I think they did take out the "Fantoon" for a while to check out the latest upgrades and she shot a big gar. Yep, they had a big hole dug out in a field for fish disposal.
