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Hey everybody, I recently read the article in the newest ood mag and still had a couple questions, do you know if there's an age restriction at all? Or any draw weight restrictions? Reason I ask is its know my little guy would love to try this and have a few spots where we often can find course fish cruising the top waters. Please school me on the ways of bow fishing
I used to bowfish on the Ninth river outside Ayr. I do not recall any restrictions on the equipment or age at the time, but you are best to contact your local CO and verify the regulations. Btw there were always a lot of carp in that river.Quote:
Originally Posted by NormD2
The guy in the article, Kevin Wheeler, is a member here. Goes by the forum name "wheelie". Get ahold of him and I'm sure he'll be able to answer any questions you have.
There are no bow or restrictions the regs state any longbow recurve compound or crossbow may be used. As for age general fishing rules apply. No licence needed under 18.
Crossbows are no longer legal for bowfishing in Ontario.
Lots of ways to setup a bow. Cheapest would be a hand wound bowfishing spool. They are like $20. Cheap to see if he enjoys it or not. They screw into a stabalizer hole. For a kid I would go with a retriever $100. Screws into sight holes. If no holes on a recurve they made straps to strap it on a bow. You go by fishing rules. Bowshop in Waterloo sells bowfishing stuff now. Feel free to contact me with any questions. Here is a video of some of last summer shore action wearing a Gopro on headband.
http://youtu.be/sD5_cYh-WW0
Crossbows CANNOT be used, they say it was in regulations for 10 years by mistake. They removed it last year.Quote:
Originally Posted by oaknut
You must be itching Wheelie :)
Big time JBen! Have not even shot my new Mission Craze yet. LOL Got a righty Mission Menace all setup for you now.
I bought a recurve for this year, in previous years I used a compound which was too much at times. In the shallows it would often go though the fish much too fast and get caught on logs etc under the dirt. This year I am going with a fishing reel instead of the hand spooling type to hopefully avoid some problems I had previously also. Its pretty fun and I'm introducing a buddy to it this year.
Residents and non-Canadian residents with a valid recreational fishing licence may fish with one dip net, one seine net, one spear or a bow and arrow for the species and during the periods outlined below.
Bowfin
Bow and arrow
(during daylight hours only)
May 1 to
July 31
10, 13, 14, 19
No limit
No open season
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20
N/A
Carp
Bow and arrow, spear and dip net (during daylight hours only)
May 1 to
July 31
5, 6, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15
(except Algonquin Park),
16, 18, 19, 20
No limit
2nd Saturday in May to July 31
17
No limit
No open season
1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 11, Algonquin Park
in Zone 15
N/A
The only additional info needed is that you cannot bow fish at night. The "encased" rule for the bow is still in effect half hour before/after sunrise/sunset.
Go have fun!
Blutck.
LOL We posted at the same time klums. The info you quoted shows what I was talking about.
Thanks for the info. I was reading off a pdf from last year. I wonder what difference it would make. Why not allow crossbows.Quote:
Originally Posted by wheelie
Wheelie great video and good tunes .
Would like to give this a try sometime this spring, looks like a lot of fun .
Thanks guys some great info here. We'll have to hit the bow shop and get us both set up on the recurves!
Excellent video Wheelie, and thanks for the great article too! We get up OS way quite a bit so if your ever up to showing a couple newbies how its done we would love to watch or join ya.
Aim low, lol.
Give me a pm come May 1st. I have right and left handed bows here for company. You guys can do the shooting and I will help you's along. Phone number is on the video if you rather. Any question you can phone me as well.Quote:
Originally Posted by NormD2
that looks like a hell of a lot of fun
Also want to give this a try! Looks like a lot of fun and a good way to keep shooting all the time!
Damn......
The video was out of this world. Some amazing shooting.
Have a Excal which I can't use but my old PSE Compound should do.
Love to connect with someone in or around Oakville area to show me the ropes.
Thanks for starting the thread Norm.
Cheers.
I have a older compound that I use, but I been keeping a eye for oneida bows... They are the best compound for bow fishing. you can find them cheap if it is older model, bow fishing is dirty anyway, no need for new stuff.
I have no interest in a lever action bow (oneida). Even the new ones look like they came from a museum. LOL I like my compounds. Browning Micro Midas 3 with no letoff cams and 30 inch draw, 30 to 40lbs. Shoots like a recurve and a short ATA. Just built a Mission Craze to add to the fleet this year. Got it new from Wolf's Den for $250. Broke a bow limb last season, broke 2 bowfishing reels and lost about 6 arrows so it is not a cheap sport. But other than my target bow, I shoot my fishing bows more than I do my hunting bow or my crossbows. But I also shoot fish almost daily for the three months.Quote:
Originally Posted by red x
http://www.independentont.com/images...hoyt/Craze.JPG
http://www.independentont.com/images...t/Browning.jpg
It has evolved into this over a few years. I started off with a recurve bow. Kept wanting more power for longer shots over time which lead me to the Craze for this year as my shore bow. 30 to 70 pound bow. 19 to 30 inch draw lenght.
http://www.independentont.com/images...bow/photo1.JPG
For those wanting to try, with the refraction of the water, I missed likely my first 60 fish. :scream: I wondered if I would ever get one. Don't get frustrated and just keep trying. After my first fish I was off and running and improvement came quickly after the first one. :thumbup: A Great Sport and a whole lot of fun.
Edited to add this
It is alot harder to stick a fish in cold May water than it is in July when the water is warm and fish are softer. A 30 pound compound hits like a 50 pound recurve. Middle of May to end of May is the best when fish are at the top sunning themselves and spawning. It is nothing in them times to go to the harbour and see 400 fish laying at the top in shooting range. Sometimes I quit and go home with lots to shoot still but my arm gets tired. LOL
Setup my 14 foot snapper with a foot controlled Minn Kota. I run a scaffold platform up between the seats to stand on. It works well and easy to remove for pole fishing.
http://youtu.be/B_keLF9WaWE
Here is how you make fish look bigger! Picture of my boat and a fish.
http://www.independentont.com/images...hoyt/Carp1.JPG
Then you hold the fish out front and extend your arm out as far as you can and the fish grows. http://www.independentont.com/images...hoyt/Carp2.JPG
Then the bigger fish is much for impressive for hanging the picture on the wall. Harder to do with a big fish but if you get a 10 pounder and put it on a stick and hold it out 6 feet, hide the stick behind the fish and it will grow into a 30 pounder. LOL
May have to head to florida for a trip with these outfitters!
http://www.bikinibowfishing.com/biki...ishing_004.htm
wow no letoff cams or the normal 65%! never shot the oneida bows but they are popular for fishing since the let off is low % it's like shooting recurve bow, like yours. they do look old school and I like the look :D but your bow sounds sweet!Quote:
Originally Posted by wheelie
do you shoot with fingers?
edit: I see you do shoot with fingers since there are rollers! did not noticed 1st.
my compound for fish is martin quest its 50-65lb but lowered the bolt on the limb down, it should be around 40lb... might be little dangerous but.. :D no issue so far.
edit: and I got a younger guy that wants to shoot it... I need to lower the lb even lower... -_-;; not a good idea, I know...
it has short leght 32 ish? and can not be shoot with fingers. I like the idea of getting oneida eventually for fish, since it can be shot with fingers easy, low letoff, it's just a recrve that has cams :D
that is great looking curves... on the bow, that is...Quote:
Originally Posted by ChrisM23
not sure how well I will be shooting with her next to me.
You're from Waterloo, head off to long salut parkway,loads of carp there.
what do you so with the carp after you get it?
Plant them but make sure you mark them because if you don't the wife will make you weed the garden for two months. This is from experiance. LOL Carp are not a native fish to water in Canada.Quote:
Originally Posted by out_door_spaz
Can you Bowfish with a Conservation Fishing License... or only a Sporting License??
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mount Sweetness
No limit no license restrictions..
Just have to be a Bow fishing season the "ROUGH" fish you are after.
All I buy is a conservation licence. No limit on carp in Southern Ontario. Only thing to watch out for are local no discharge bylaws. Some places bowfishing is excempt but places like Owen Sound are jerks about it and tell you they would just fight it in court till we run you out of money.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mount Sweetness
http://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x...zman87/153.jpg
LOVE BOW FISHING!
http://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x...403_220803.jpg
Myles Keller Impulse 60lbs draw weight, 39" axel, 27" draw length.
My bow fishing / 3D shoot / and soon to be hunting bow
One more week and it is bowfishing opening eve! Can't wait as I am chomping at the bit to shoot my new Mission Craze I built over the winter.
http://www.independentont.com/images...hoyt/Craze.JPG
Hey wheelie, how's the carp fishing up there?
Pretty good. I never have a problem finding fish to shoot. Alot of days I quit shooting because my arm gets sore. Some days four or five hundred fish all laying on the top within shooting distaance off the harbour wall.Quote:
Originally Posted by tazman
I shoot Lake Eugenia alot also. Lake Eugenia used to be a well known bass lake but now the carp took it over. Cottage owners love me and tell me where the big schools are. :thumbup: Police and game wardens all know me now, They just ignore me when they are doing boat checks their. :D
Want to take my boat into the clay banks this summer. Boat is the only way in. sixty five years ago my dad and his friends used to walk the shore and club them with baseball bats and axes. Dad said they were so thick you could walk on them. Talked to another guy that said he did it 20 years ago and it was the same. Now a house is built there and the only way in is by boat. Wanted to do it last summer but never made it.
now on my list of spots to go! will have too check it out.
I also wondered if any conservations had a problem having a bow on the boat.?
You guys have got me all pumped up to try this now, Im looking for a used bow. I dont really want to rig up the hoyt alphamax for bow fishing lol
bow shop here in waterloo. they will set you up! lots of used bows too choose from.
I got a new 2012 Mission Craze from Wolf's Den last fall for $250. Could not have been more pleased. Phoned around and no one else could even come close to that price. Got 2 good bows for myself being a lefty and 2 righties for company bows, extra reels and 24 arrows built. Broke alot of stuff last summer and lost alot of arrows. Even broke a bow and a gopro camera. Sport is very hard on equipment if you bowfish everyday as I do. Equipment bounces around in boat and laying bow down in dirt and on cement ect. I quit turkey hunting three year ago because it interfears with bowfishing season. LOL
lmao wheelie. good too hear you are having fun. best source for me is the Nith river. went out tonight to check a few spots out, water still a little high and murky. hoping clears up some more by opening day!
Tazman , the Nith nver clears ! Try the Grand and The Speed more successful .Quote:
Originally Posted by tazman
Glen
last year was the first for me. the nith was more then clear, in fact water was way low! lol and with the dry hot summer we had the carp hardly came out.
any spots particular in the grand river?
In and around Fountain Street any closer and your inconflict with the city bylaws ,it always pays to have the regulations and the MNR phone # handy as someone always calls the cops .Quote:
Originally Posted by tazman
Glen
Quote:
Originally Posted by Deerhunter67
Send me a PM if you want, I am in Dundas and may be able to show you the ropes. I've bowfished a time or two,LOL.
one more night! and of course a day of work.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tazman
Where do you bowfish Tazman? I usually stick to the bigger lakes (Erie, Simcoe). I can't get out for another week at least, shoot one for me tomorrow!
nith river has them all over. depending on how clear it will be by tommorow may have to wait for a few days to be able to spot them. but no harm in scouting
Good luck out there tomorrow guys!
I saw it stated that you "plant them"....do you have to? Can't just toss them in the woods for critters then? Also, what heads are used on the arrows?
TIA!
hey wheelie. did you get out to the harbor today? if so how was the bowfishing? thinking of making a trip up saturday for the day
Don't come Saturday. A few in the rivers. Likely be a week or two before the big schools come in from the Bay. I will post on here when the schools arrive. Once they come in they will hang in harbour for the rest of the summer.Quote:
Originally Posted by tazman
Hope your lab doesn't dig them up after a period of time, trust me it is not pretty:whacked:Quote:
Originally Posted by wheelie
10-4 bud thanks. went out, only spotted a few, snuck up on one but missed.
I have two beagles and a Bloodhound.Quote:
Originally Posted by bogey63
Two months carp are totally decomposed. We have a ton of cats around here and not once has a cat or any animal ever tried to dig them up. This all from personal experience. Did flowers so well, wife asked me to plant as many as I can this summer. :thumbup:
Hey wheelie. Looking to plan a trip up soon. we would like to come up on a Friday and spend the night to fish Saturday. any recommendations on where too stay? Thanks
Anybody been shooting fish? I got a 35 pounder yesterday.
Doing well. Got them planted in flower beds already. all starting to lay on the top in the sun now. Start tomorrow with my Gopro.
carp like too sit in them weeds?
Quote:
Originally Posted by tazman
Yep, sit there and bask in the sun.
Wheelie We may not have to go down to Illinois ! http://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=920779
Glen
OH OH! :eek:Quote:
Originally Posted by G Skinner
Come nighttime just shine a light at the rivers edge using a figure 8 pattern ,works every time!
Quebec you can bowfish at night?Quote:
Originally Posted by STYKKER
Anybody started scouting for carp or suckers for bowfishing, or too early ?
Patience .... Grasshopper ! suckers open Tuesday ..... carp not till first of May 1 st ...... carp being the big target ....want the water temp up around 50 ' F . Carp won't start running shallow till then .Quote:
Originally Posted by MrASM
Glen
Yeah, too early yet. If the weather is nice in the last week in April, you can usually hammer the carp pretty good when the season opens on May first.
Yep, today is a rude awakening that we are still in Winter.
Still like to think positive, the light at the end of the tunnel and whatever I can clinch to.
I know, nobody wants to reveal his secret treasures, but I was planning to scout Eugenia lake since I have never even fished there.
Is it a good place for someone with no boat or should I look at other places.
Thanks.
Along the causeway on Eugenia you can fish from shore. There are some big carp in there but i usually see them in a tucked away section of the lake. Most harbours on georgian bay have big carp. Meaford, Owen Sound etc.
Sent from my SM-G925W8 using Tapatalk
You wanna be carefull around OS as they have a no discharge bylaw .
Glen
Anybody started yet, I did some scouting today in Eugenia Lake, but saw nothing.
MrASM .... still no fish in our local spots either . Waters are clear and shallow just need a couple good hot days and we will be at it .
Glen
Went to Erie today and the carp are in the shallows in pretty good numbers. Murky water makes it very hard to spot them though.
We can't hit Big Creek till the migratory birds are done nesting ...the end of May .
Glen
Anyone shooting any yet? went down to the states last week to get these, much better eating than carp!!
Never had bow fin. how are they? I know they like warmer water, does that effect the texture of the meat( softer/firm)? I know the colder the water the firmer pike meat is, but that is the only fish I could compare bow fin with.Quote:
Originally Posted by gillshot
I'd have to be pretty hungry to eat bowfin!!! Those are northern snakeheads. One of the tastiest fish that swims.
Did well on Erie yesterday .
Glen
Hard to see well on the tablet....image is dark and small. Plus fins are all against body...Quote:
Originally Posted by gillshot
http://fishandboat.com/fishpub/summa...ead_bowfin.jpg
Snowwalker, you are right, the two species are very similar. I was not calling your fish identification skills into question, LOL! Snakehead look just like a bowfin when laying on the bottom except they don't undulate that dorsal fin like a bowfin does. Where I hunt snakeheads there are no bowfin in the area, so identifying your target is easier!
Did you get any big ones? I have never been able to break 30 pounds on Erie.Quote:
Originally Posted by G Skinner
Better picture of a snakehead. In a 150 quart cooler.
No ...we had some big fish ...but would do well to hit over 25 ... it would surprize a lot of people because I've seen them say they were 30 plus ... LOL !Quote:
Originally Posted by gillshot
Glen
Haha, yup, I've seen people shoot lots of 30 pounders, till they actually weighed one!
3 guys ...5 hours .... 40 fish ...well over 400 lbs in the boat ....FUN WOW !
Glen
Quote:
Originally Posted by gillshot
I know, it's like" Can I help you Ma'am. ..Ah SIR...I mean Sir.:ashamed: .
They seem to have a lot in common too, on the sharp end. If you don'T know what I mean try and "LIP" one like a bass.
That's a good haul! Were they spawning? I can't get out till June 6th, I think the party might be over by then.Quote:
Originally Posted by G Skinner
In the warmer water they were , out in the lake just cruising the shallows . You should still be good . I think I might run Georgian Bay next weekend .Quote:
Originally Posted by gillshot
Glen
Fun shooting yesterday Glen. Torn rotator cuff not doing so well today from it. Had some people wake me up at 7am when they should know the fish do not wake up till 10am. LOL j/k CHEERS!
We had a good time too ....take care of that shoulder , July comes soon !Quote:
Originally Posted by wheelie
Glen