Bow Fishing Regulations

[Fredrick]

I'm sure there are not many people on here that agree with the senseless killing of fish. Especially if you like to fly fish for carp and catfish like I do . So out of curiosity I researched the regs on Bow Fishing and noticed that they are not aloud to hunt on special regulation areas which includes most of the susky . Does anyone know if the state is enforcing this regulation on the susky and other waters ?


BOW AND ARROW (including compound bows and crossbows) may be used for taking ONLY carp, suckers and catfish on all Commonwealth waters, day or night, except in stocked trout waters during the closed season and in special regulation waters.

http://fishandboat.com/fishpub/summary/equipment.html

http://fishandboat.com/specreg.htm

 

[Biggie]

This pertains to spl. regs. On approved trout water.

 

[wbranch]

That is very interesting to learn because on Friday afternoon I was fishing just above Rebers Bridge on the Tully and two young guys who were bow fishing for carp about 150' below me. There were trout rising everywhere and one of the fellows looked up my way as if he had intentions of coming closer to me. We made eye contact and I'm sure he saw the look in my eye "come closer at your peril" because he turned around and went down closer to his buddy. The buddy said he shot two carp but I don't know what he did with them as I wasn't watching.

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

BOW AND ARROW (including compound bows and crossbows) may be used for taking ONLY carp, suckers and catfish on all Commonwealth waters, day or night, except in stocked trout waters during the closed season and in special regulation waters.

Does it only pertain to special regulation trout waters?
The way it is worded I would say the Susquehanna and juniata in the no kill bass area is off limits for bow fishing.

 

[Fredrick]

salvelinusfontinalis wrote:
BOW AND ARROW (including compound bows and crossbows) may be used for taking ONLY carp, suckers and catfish on all Commonwealth waters, day or night, except in stocked trout waters during the closed season and in special regulation waters.

Does it only pertain to special regulation trout waters?
The way it is worded I would say the Susquehanna and juniata in the no kill bass area is off limits for bow fishing.

I read it the same way . The special regulation water is linked on the Pfbc website to all their special reg areas

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

Agreed.

However if the PFBC means in special regulation trout waters they need to say just that. To me it is another law open to interpretation of a WCO, which is unacceptable.
The way it is worded right now, you could be fined for doing it from sunbury down river

 

[wgmiller]

It's definitely ambiguous.

And I'll go on record to state that I feel that bowfishing not only isn't sporting, but it's a waste of resources. The state needs to reexamine their allowance of this means of "angling"...

 

[moon1284]

I'd never do it but I don't have an issue with it.

 

[Char_Master]

wgmiller wrote:
And I'll go on record to state that I feel that bowfishing not only isn't sporting, but it's a waste of resources. The state needs to reexamine their allowance of this means of "angling"...

Agreed. Most of the people who do bow"fish" are at least somewhat uneducated to the point where they think that shooting Carp and Suckers is helping the environment. Meanwhile, Carp are no more invasive than Rainbow and Brown Trout and many Sucker species indicate good water quality and healthy streams. Plus, both species are just as good of a sport fish as Trout and Bass are. No sport whatsoever in this wannabe fishing.

 

[Fredrick]

salvelinusfontinalis wrote:
Agreed.

However if the PFBC means in special regulation trout waters they need to say just that. To me it is another law open to interpretation of a WCO, which is unacceptable.
The way it is worded right now, you could be fined for doing it from sunbury down river

except in stocked trout waters during the closed season . I read this as saying that you cannot not bowfish in approved trout water when they are closed before opening day .

and in special regulation waters. This doesn't state that its only prohibited on trout special regulation water. And the link given is of all special regulation waters in the state.

 

[RyanR]

Fredrick wrote:
I'm sure there are not many people on here that agree with the senseless killing of fish. Especially if you like to fly fish for carp and catfish like I do . So out of curiosity I researched the regs on Bow Fishing and noticed that they are not aloud to hunt on special regulation areas which includes most of the susky . Does anyone know if the state is enforcing this regulation on the susky and other waters ?


BOW AND ARROW (including compound bows and crossbows) may be used for taking ONLY carp, suckers and catfish on all Commonwealth waters, day or night, except in stocked trout waters during the closed season and in special regulation waters.

http://fishandboat.com/fishpub/summary/equipment.html

http://fishandboat.com/specreg.htm

Now we have a problem with bow fishermen? Ah the amount of high horses around here never ceases to amaze. Smh.

I have no problem at all with bowfishing. In fact, a post like this actually makes me want to book a bowfishing trip right on the Susky. I'll bet the small # of bowfishers out there & the WCOs are all probably more educated about where they can and can't bowfish than most of us here are.

 

[Fredrick]

Yes that's me Ryan

 

[RLeep2]

From an acceptable sporting standpoint, I'm neutral on bow fishing, even though it isn't something that I'd do or have any interest in doing. But I'd rather the state completely subsidize bow fishing and even offer per-carp bounties than have to endure the half wits that roar around our local (approx. 250 acre) lake on jet skis all day long from May to September or put up with the 100 craft-plus weekend kayak and beer regattas on my local bass creeks.

I keep telling myself: "It's a multiple use resource, it's a multiple use resource, it's a multiple use resource". Its kinda like Tylenol, though. Only helps for a little while.

I'd also note that the last I knew, it was still legal to shoot spawning northern pike in the Vermont waters of Lake Champlain and Vermont seems to have survived the awful embarrassment so far...

 

[SteveG]

Ryan, why is it your concern if someone disagrees with bowfishing?

It's a forum, and people are allowed to have opinions. Do you not see your own ignorance?

 

[Fredrick]

RLeep2 wrote:
From an acceptable sporting standpoint, I'm neutral on bow fishing, even though it isn't something that I'd do or have any interest in doing. But I'd rather the state completely subsidize bow fishing and even offer per-carp bounties than have to endure the half wits that roar around our local (approx. 250 acre) lake on jet skis all day long from May to September or put up with the 100 craft-plus weekend kayak and beer regattas on my local bass creeks.

I keep telling myself: "It's a multiple use resource, it's a multiple use resource, it's a multiple use resource". Its kinda like Tylenol, though. Only helps for a little while.

I'd also note that the last I knew, it was still legal to shoot spawning northern pike in the Vermont waters of Lake Champlain and Vermont seems to have survived the awful embarrassment so far...

I sure that they probably eat the pike after they shoot it though

 

[RyanR]

The bowfishers I heard about would smoke the suckers and the carp. It seems like some folks are assuming these guys just all shoot 'em and toss them and I don't know if that's the case so much. Where I grew up on the Delaware there was a spot on the river that was a popular bow fishing spot and there would actually be 3 or 4 platforms out in the river where these guys did their thing. Neat to watch and I was told these guys smoked their catch. I've heard other bow fishers say the same. If the resource can support it there is absolutely nothing wrong with responsible harvest of fish for personable enjoyment, even including, GASP, trout.

I just had a nice big panfried rainbow trout last week at my BIL's restaurant. Of course that was a farmed fish but it sure gave me a hankering to harvest a couple for the grill sometime soon. Been years since I did that. In the meantime it's time to fix up another batch of Venison steak fajitas from the nice doe I took last December. Yup, I'm a killer.

 

[RLeep2]

>>I sure that they probably eat the pike after they shoot it though>>

http://www.ptitchef.com/recettes/plat/gratin-de-quenelles-de-brochet-sur-lit-de-courgettes-et-creme-de-parmesan-fid-712866

Superior to walleye by a mile according to my Quebec buddies...

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

Most of the bow fisherman I've talked to either toss them or give them to farmers as fertilizer.
I'm not going to debate the ethics of bow fishing, I just think the law is not clear and could leave people open to fines.