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Spring/Summer 2002 Rough Fishing In Mississippi You stop the trolling motor. Draw your bow. Aim. Release. Splash! It's a hit!
Bowfishing is not only exciting, but it is also inexpensive. The equipment needed for bowfishing can be obtained for less than 20 dollars. That is, if you already have a bow. Either a compound or recurve bow will work. There are advantages and disadvantages to both. Personally, I prefer the compound. Other than the bow, another piece of needed equipment is the reel. The two best reels are the simple bowfishing reel and a spinning reel. The bowfishing reel looks like a spool that is about 8 inches in diameter and has a clip on the side of the reel to prevent line from stripping off It is attached to the bow either by a bolt that screws into the stabilizer hole or by taping the reel to the bow. The spinning reel works best because you don't have to worry about the line getting tangled. And there is very little down time, or the time between the shooting and nocking of the arrow. With a spinning reel all you do is remember to press the release button. This is very important because if you don't, you can either damage your reel, break the line or cause the arrow to bounce back and possibly hurt yourself. The reel can be attached to the bow by a special adaptor similar to the handle section on an ordinary fishing rod. Due to the heavy line that must be used for bowfishing, a large reel like a Zebco 808 or 888 is essential. For the reel you need line. Braided nylon or dacron line is the best. Monofilament line doesn't work well since it will stretch, kink and break easily. The best strength line is 60-100 pound test. Since there is a lot of stress on the line, high test strength line is essential. Forty to fifty feet of line is plenty. If you are using a spinning reel, it may be necessary to use less line. To prevent shooting the line off the reel, tie the line either onto the reel or the bow. Another piece of essential equipment is the arrow which consists of a shaft and a barbed point. There are two types of shafts: aluminum and fiberglass. I prefer the later because it is very tough and its weight makes it possible to shoot accurately through water. A point is needed for the arrow. Arrow points used for bowfishing are barbed to prevent them from pulling out of the fish. With some points, the head can be unscrewed from the base in order to remove the fish. Others have barbs that can be reversed for easy removal of the arrow from the fish. Some points are only one piece and they do not allow removal without cutting it out of the fish. There are many ways that line can be attached to the arrow. One way is to attach the line to the point and then go up the side of the arrow and tie the line at the hole near the nock. Then attach the line to the reel. Another way is to attach the line directly to the end of the arrow near the nock. Take a pen clip and slide it over the shaft 2 to 3 inches from the point with the clip pointed toward the nock end. Before shooting, run the line down the shaft and under the clip. This will prevent the line from getting tangled. If a clip is not available, a rubber band can be used. Wrap the rubber band around the shaft a few inches from the point. When using this, double the string and place it under the rubber band. Make sure the string is tight against the shaft. When the arrow is released, the line will be pulled out of the clip (or rubber band) and the line will trail the arrow. From my own experiences and from conversations with other bowfishermen, this method seems to work best. A piece of equipment that will increase your number of shots afield is a pair of polarized sunglasses. Although these glasses are not necessary, they are helpful. When sun causes a glare on the surface of the water, these glasses eliminate the glare and enable the bowfisherman to see into the water. A boat about 14 feet long will be helpful if the area you are planning to bowfish is deep, or if it is deep getting to the area. If the boat is equipped with a trolling motor, you can approach fish easily and quietly. Now that you are familiar with the equipment needed, what about times to go and places to bowfish? Let's face it, Mississippi is full of places to bowfish. Whether you are on an oxbow, river, slough or lake, the Mississippi offers some excellent bowfishing opportunities. The Big Black, Mississippi, Pascagoula, Pearl, Tombigbee and Yazoo rivers are excellent places to bowfish. During spring floods the best place to bowfish is in the fields and other shallow water areas betWeen the levee and the bank of the river. Locate grassy fields covered with about 6 to 18 inches of water. A few years ago, a friend and I were bowfishing in a flooded field south of Greenville. We shot enough gar, buffalo and carp to fill 5 thirty-gallon garbage cans in about 2 hours. The gar looked like log jams on the water's surface and the carp and buffalo were on the bottom in the grass. Some of the best lakes are Tunica Cut-off near Tunica; Lake Washington, south of Greenville; Lake Whittington, north of Greenville in Bolivar County; Lake Lee and Lake Ferguson at Greenville; Moon Lake, north of Clarksdale; and Albemarle, Chotard and Eagle Lake north of Vicksburg. Some of the best reservoirs are Arkabutla, near Tunica; Enid, south of Batesville; Sardis, near Oxford; Grenada at Grenada and Ross Barnett at Jackson. Eagle Lake offers some of the best bowfishing in the Delta. Although gar is the main species of rough fish in Eagle Lake, most of them are small in size. The average size is about 2 feet long. Gar can be found in spring in the shallows during spawning, but in the summer I have shot them in open water as well as in the shallows. On other oxbows, the best places during the spring are in the shallows around trees and grassy areas. At this time, buffalo, carp, gar and grinnel (bowfin), which are the only fish you can legally bowfish, are spawning and can be easily approached. Gar, which is the predominant species shot during the summer months, are usually around trees and m open water. Once you know something about the equipment needed and the times and places to go, you are ready to learn to bowfish. Whether you are bowfishing from a boat or wading, it is best to go with a partner. If you are bowfishing from a boat, one person needs to stand in the front of the boat and bowfish while operating the trolling motor (or paddle), while the other stands in the back. Standing will enable one to see into the water. Troll and look carefully for fish. Once it is spotted, try to get within about 20 feet of the fish before shooting. Remember, when shooting in water greater than 1 foot, be sure and compensate for the light refraction in water. This means that in order to hit a fish in deep water you must aim below the fish. Once you shoot a few fish in deep water, you will get better at judging this refraction distance. If a big fish is shot, let your partner shoot it again so it won't possibly get away. I have saved many fish by shooting them a second time. Once the fish is in the boat, get ready for the next fish and proceed. If one is wading be extra careful and avoid making noise and waves. Although wading can be productive, bowfishing from a boat is better because you can see farther, and shots are easier to make. "Bowfishermen need to practice extreme care, because when the excitement starts one seems to forget that he is in a boat", said Kennie Prince, my former bowfishing partner, and now with the Mississippi Department ofWildlife, Fisheries and Parks. "When your eye is on the fish, stumps seem to get overlooked and you seem to get wet." So wearing a personal flotation device is recommended. Bowfishing at night can produce some excellent fish. The best way is to use a spotlight to shine the fish. By doing this, fish don't spook very easily. You can read all about bowfishing, but you have to experience it before you actually "know how." Once you have been bowfishing a few times and feel that you have the hang-of-it, take a kid bowfishing. He or she needs to learn, too.
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