Great Deals For Bow Fishing
Bowfishing is a related archery sport that many find a challenging but rewarding activity as well. To fish with archery equipment you will need a special barbed arrow attached to line and reel mounted on your bow. Some of the best fish species to bowfish include several varieties of carp, alligator gar, paddlefish, rays, and sharks. Fishing bows are not usually fitted with sights; this creates the rewarding challenge of aiming by line of site only. Most of these bows have very little let off and only a small amount of draw weight. The arrows used, are much heavier than normal archery bows, and they are usually manufactured from 5/16th fiberglass.
There are also fishing arrows available made of aluminum, carbon fiber, and carbon fiber fortified fiberglass. Fletching is not need on a fishing arrow, because it causes the arrow to flair to one side or the other when it’s underwater. Archers really don’t need fletching for the short ranges they hunt within anyway. Most fishing arrows have a hole in the shaft and the fishing line is attached to that, some use a slide system though. The line is usually made of braided nylon, Dacron, or Spectra. It usually has a test line weight in 80-400 lb range. There are even heavier line weights available for bigger game like alligators. The line is usually colored in bright in neon shades to make it easier to spot in the water.
Bowfishing bows are usually fitted with one of 3 types of reels. These are either a hand-wrap, spincast, or retriever. Hand-wrap reels are just a simple circular spool wrapped onto the hand and fitted into a line holding notch. When the arrow shoots the line comes loose from the line holder and feeds off the spool. The hunter fights the fish by tugging the line hand over hand. Hand-wrap reels are not useful for fighting with arrowed fish alone, but you can combine them with a special system of floats and use them to fight big trophy fish. A retriever reel has what’s called a “bottle” to hold the line. When the line is shot it comes out until it goes too far and runs out of line, or the attached stopping device is activated to keep the fish from travelling out too far.
Sunglasses are very important for bow fishing. The tint of the water you’re fishing will determine what tint color of lens you want to wear. You’ll need a good set of polarized lenses in brown, blue or green. At night sunglasses won't be necessary, but a strong spotlight would be helpful.