Bowfishing

BrookieChaser

BrookieChaser

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As a spin-off to a stream report on the Susquehanna and Juniata rivers, has anyone seen an increase in bowfishing pressure in the last few years? I've seen more private bowfishing as well as charters operating.

Mike, or anyone in the PFBC, is there any enforcement checks, or studies done on the effects of such activities?
 
I have also seen some increases in bowfishing on some of our local creeks. One of my best carp meadows from a few years back saw a lot of bowfishing pressure in a short time period. The carp are extremely hard to catch on a fly rod after they have been bowfished over. I haven't seen anyone bowfishing this spot this year. I fished that stretch two times this summer - saw some fish but couldn't hook up with any of them. It just hasn't been the same since the bowfishing took place. The bowfishers seem to move in and hit a particular spot really hard for a short time period and then just move on - I guess. I have also heard of game fish being shot by bowfishermen, particularly muskies. I'm sure that this happens on both the Susky and the Juniata Rivers.
 
Not sure - haven't been out on the big WW rivers much this summer. I certainly see a lot of BF reports on the MD DNR website as folks are targeting snakeheads.

Over the years, I've certainly seen BF on PA rivers, especially the Juniata. I'm not against BF and am happy to see young country boys enjoying outdoor sports... although perhaps there should be some study of its fisheries impact (perhaps there is, but I'm not aware of it - would be a tough study to do).

Is there a season/bag limit for carp for BF? What about other species?
 
http://bowfishersofarkansas.com/index.php?page=6

This is a copied article from the "Journal of American Fisheries" (if I remember correctly) posted on a bowfishing site. It will allow you access to the entire article without signing up.
 
I definitely have seen it increase where i fish. Prior to a year or two ago i had never actually seen someone do it. I also think it's gotten a lot more sophisticated and probably effective, namely guys using customized boats with powerful lights and trolling motors.

There has been some backlash against it recently. I know there was petition started by a group of carp fisherman who want to ban it and consider carp a sport fish (they're very popular in some parts of the world). There was also an article in Lancaster's newspaper about people living along the river complaining about the lights shining into their homes.

I have a problem with people who just kill them and throw them in a field somewhere or waste them. This carp was just found floating in the river.
 

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Ran into a young bowfisherman and his father (assume it was his father) on the Conestoga recently during the day. Really can't stand that sport . Let's just say I beat the young man ( bow in hand ) and his father (spinning rod) to the only spot I figured he would have a shot at a kill. Wore out my shoulder casting long (long for me) , keeping him out of that spot until they moved on. Dad backed him off for good that day when I hooked into a decent smallie right out of where he kept trying to get to. Don't care what other's think but in the spot's of the Conestoga where I used to like to chase after carp there seems to have been a large decline in their population over the last 3 years. Used to run into groups of 5 to 12 at a time , now I'm lucky to to see 1 to 3 on a good day. I will never understand why bowfishing is allowed. I didn't get it when I was in grade school when my uncle and his friends did it and still don't get it. Anybody I knew that bowfished only ever left what they killed laying on the bank. No point in it.
 
Yeah I cant stand it to be honest, I really dont get it so you shoot the fish and then throw it back in the water or up on the bank?
Recently I read a report about the Delaware of smallies being shot too.
I have carp spots that I rarely fish anymore due to being bowfished as the carp are beyond spooky but I guess if thats what you are into who am I to tell you how to "fish"
 
I don't believe that you should be able to shoot anything you don't eat . Last time I checked there was nothing legal about slaughtering animals for fun.
 
I can't see the fun in the "sport" of bow fishing. Just seems like a waste to me. Do any of them actually eat the carp they kill? Or do something productive with them? Or do they just get shot and tossed on the bank dead?
 
Cody, I know how it is with useless carp spots.

Fredrick wrote:
I don't believe that you should be able to shoot anything you don't eat .
Click to expand...

I agree. Ethically I was raised not to kill an animal unless I intended to eat it, or it was sick. But my ethics aren't everyone's and wanton waste would be hard to enforce.

I hear bowfishers claim they sell, or use, their carp for fertilizer. I think that's a justification in the minds of those involved. Honestly there's enough domestic animal, and human, manure for fertilizer. Now I do know bowfishers that eat their catfish, even though I fish for catfish, I'm fine with that.

When the winners of bowfishing tournaments are in the 150lb range for a night, with multiple tournaments in an area over Spring and Summer, that would take a toll on a resource if not properly monitored. I know there's surplus yield in any population, but when those taken out of a population are not monitored it could create a problem.

Personally, if there's a "Sporting Goods" store that puts on a bowfishing tournament, I won't shop there.
 
I don't agree with putting an arrow through a carp then tossing it on the bank. I think some liken it to "varmint hunting" such as shooting groundhogs. Doubt anyone is eating them either. In either case it's just killing an animal for the sake of killing it which I can't support.
 
What about killing rats or mice and not eating them?

To many, carp are vermin of the watershed. When I was young every time I caught a carp or sucker in a trout stream, out they would go.

I don't anymore. Even though at times they can get out of control, they do have a place in the ecosystem. .
 
There's a difference between killing a mouse that's in your private dwelling and wantonly seeking and killing mice, in quantity, in their natural habitat.

"The last word in ignorance is a man that says of a plant or animal "What good is it?" - Aldo Leopold
 
Carp are an invasive (so are Brown Trout) so I wonder what Aldo Leopold would think about that?

Not a fan of bowfishing either. Recently a guy was prosecuted for shooting a really nice musky over at Marburg Lake. I think that was at night. I used to see guys on the Juniata in winter snagging big piles of big carp. Not sure what they did with them. This thing with the lights really is annoying. Sometimes I just get sick of seeing some of the waters constantly "utilized" day and night. It reminds me of the Amish we have down here who will drive every last wood patch out until they've killed every last deer....and then drive it again just to make sure.
 
In this context the invasive label is moot.

There are plenty of invasives protected by the "sport fish" label that are out of play. It has to do with public opinion of a species, not biotic implications.

I agree on the Amish comment.
 
If you want to use the mouse analogy, mice have predators in the wild. Carp do not.
 

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Not full grown carp. I assume the analogy was full grown mice and not babies. So, no.
 
So a predator is only classified a predator, to a species, when it preys on adults of said species?

I thought recruitment mattered in a population. I'll inform ecologists thusly.

 
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