Bow fishing with crossbow??

kinger · Post by **kinger** » Mon Jun 16, 2008 7:54 pm

Hey everyone, is there a way to get a mount and stuff to bow fish for carp with my exocet 175 ?? wanting to get into it Rice lake is crawling with them !!! any info is appreciated thanks

Evan · Post by **Evan** » Mon Jun 16, 2008 10:55 pm

http://www.amsbowfishing.com/product_in ... cts_id=241

dick195252 · Post by **dick195252** » Sun Jun 22, 2008 2:17 am

What a neat Gadget

Evan · Post by **Evan** » Sun Jun 22, 2008 10:25 pm

Yep, works great. Used it with a slotted Retriever to shoot stingrays with my Exocet in Florida last summer.

ManX · Post by **ManX** » Wed Jul 09, 2008 6:58 pm

Evan wrote:Yep, works great. Used it with a slotted Retriever to shoot stingrays with my Exocet in Florida last summer.

Hi EVAN,
could you send me as pic of your fishing bolts? please

TYE · Post by **TYE** » Wed Jul 09, 2008 7:13 pm

Jesse, when I worked at Saugeen's we carried them there. Go ask Tim or Bill about it.

Wanna come up to the trailer fishin this weekend?

Evan · Post by **Evan** » Wed Jul 09, 2008 11:39 pm

ManX wrote:Hi EVAN,
could you send me as pic of your fishing bolts? please

Sure, will do first chance I get. Muzzy makes a Predator crossbow arrow, also Sully (Sully's Bowfishing Stuff) will make them for you. Or you can make them yourself using a 2213 shaft, 5/16" fiberglass shaft, your favorite point, and a 22/64 AMS safety slide. You can use a 2216 shaft in place of a 2213 but you have to turn the fiberglass shaft down a bit in a lathe before gluing it into the 2216.

Evan · Post by **Evan** » Fri Jul 11, 2008 11:51 am

Here are pics of some of my crossbow bowfishing arrows.

The first pic shows the entire arrows. I use 22/64 safety slides on all my arrows.

The second pic shows a closeup of the heads. From left to right:
1. A 3-barb Innerloc grappler point.
2. A Cajun Li'l Stinger point.
3. A Muzzy gar point. The gar tip unscrews and can be replaced with a carp tip which is more rounded.
4. A Cajun Li'l Stinger point with the tip removed and a piece of 1/4" threaded rod ground off to a point to use as a practice arrow
5. A Gene Davis 4-barb point.

sumner4991 · Post by **sumner4991** » Fri Jul 11, 2008 1:36 pm

Evan,

My brother-n-law and I just spent a couple of days shore fishing in the Gulf. I saw several stingrays and flounder that just sat there as we cruised by them. I sure would have like to have had a fishing set-up for my crossbow.

Which set-up would you use for the Gulf fishing? What is too deep to shoot? What is too shallow(hitting the rocky bottoms)?

Thanks,

Scott

DropTine · Post by **DropTine** » Fri Jul 11, 2008 4:06 pm

Anyone have the regs on where you can bowfish in Ontario?

Evan · Post by **Evan** » Fri Jul 11, 2008 7:34 pm

sumner4991 wrote:Evan,

My brother-n-law and I just spent a couple of days shore fishing in the Gulf. I saw several stingrays and flounder that just sat there as we cruised by them. I sure would have like to have had a fishing set-up for my crossbow.

Which set-up would you use for the Gulf fishing? What is too deep to shoot? What is too shallow(hitting the rocky bottoms)?

Thanks,

Scott

For salt water I use my Exocet, for fresh water I use my Vixen with lite limbs. I use 20" (not the length of the entire arrow, just the shaft) arrows with the Vixen and 26" arrows with the Exocet because of the longer rail.

For stingrays you will need the AMS crossbow bracket I posted the link to above, an AMS slotted Retriever, a float (I use the small float), and 400 lb test line. Don't use the 130 lb test line that comes standard with Retrievers. Last summer my son shot a Southern stingray that was about 20 lbs using 130 lb test line and it snapped the line like it was thread. We couldn't believe it. Stingrays are very strong swimmers and have a lot of surface area. Also, tie the line completely around the float, don't tie it to just the cross pin inside the float.

To handle stringrays safely I tie a hunting knife on the end of a long stick and debrain the rays when I pull them next to the boat. Make sure they are dead before you bring them on board. A stingray's barbs are like a razor sharp double edge dagger with reverse pointing barbs. Also use heavy leather gloves to pull in the line by hand or the line will burn your hand when they take off. You will not be able to reel them in using the Retriever.

I shoot rays on sandy flats (no rocks) in 2-4 feet of water, usually on the bottom. The problem shooting deeper than this is gauging the point of aim due to light refraction. As the water becomes deeper they become much harder to hit because you have to aim so far below them to hit them. Plus the power bleeds off pretty fast when an arrow enters the water.

Southerns are great eating. In fact I've heard that some meat sold as scallops is really cubed stringray meat cut to look like scallops.

That's me below with a Southern I shot with the Exocet.

sumner4991 · Post by **sumner4991** » Fri Jul 11, 2008 11:24 pm

Thanks Evan . . .I've been told the same thing about the stingray meat. My brother-n-law hooked a large one, got it to the boat and cut it loose. We didn't have the guts to bring it into the boat with that stinger pointed at us.

We will be ready next trip. Any skinning tips?

I did bring home a gallon bag of scallops! Sweet!

Scott

Evan · Post by **Evan** » Sat Jul 12, 2008 9:35 pm

Go to http://www.illinoisbowfishing.com/. Click on "Fillet a Stingray" and "Fillet a Stingray Part 2" in the "How To's" section in the lower left pane of the page.

sumner4991 · Post by **sumner4991** » Sat Jul 12, 2008 9:55 pm

Great information, thanks Evan!

ManX · Post by **ManX** » Mon Jul 14, 2008 10:57 am

Really thanks friends,

I have just a precisation: so you attach the wire on a hole behind the place of vanes (but you do not use them), than under the arrow and above the bracket

I need for this f######g beast: