Bowfishing Essay, Research Paper

Not many people know about a sport called bowfishing. When people think of

bowfishing, they think that you must lose a lot of arrows because the archer has

no way of retrieving his or her arrow after launching it off its rest. This is a

very big misconception in a very misunderstood and mysterious sport. As most

people don?t understand about bowfishing, then don?t know that most

bowfisherman rely on the darkness of night to cover them as the approach their

prey. A specially rigged bowfishing boat with archer aboard the pvc platform, as

the floodlights gaze onto the water?s edge, the archer draws back his arrow

and settles its sights on the unsuspecting Asian carp, the archer releases the

arrow to hear a sound only too familiar as the arrow breaches the soft skin of

the spawning carp. After the adrenaline ceases, the archer reels in his prize

for the evening. Only a true bowfisherman can feel the power it has to know that

he controls the lives of the prey he takes. This feeling can?t be described in

words, but can be felt with the utmost power and audacity of a life being saved

or taken. Bowfishing is a sport that requires both hunting and fishing skills as

well as knowledge of each sport. Bowfishing is similar to hunting because of

it?s use of the archer?s favorite weapon, the bow. The bow is considered to

be one of the most difficult weapons in any hunter?s arsenal. Along with

it?s light weight and easy maneuverability, it also boasts an extreme

challenge to whomever uses it to it?s full potential. Whether you decide to

walk along the primal side and use a traditional bow or a recurve bow, you

achieve the most out of your sport without using sights, a rest or release. Or

if you choose a more modern and faster method of archery, you will achieve a

sense of accomplishment with either of these great weapons. A traditional bow is

mostly what the Indians used when they made their first movement to this great

land. It is a straight ?stick? that is slightly bent back towards the

string. A recurve bow is a more modern version of the traditional bow. It is

massively bent at the end toward the riser or rest, and when at full draw, the

tips of this bow are in line with the string. Upon the other hand, you could

move up with technology and acknowledge the existence of a compound bow. The

compound bow in many people?s minds have upgraded the sport of bowfishing to a

more technological standpoint. Although compound bows have been around for quite

a while, over the last three years, they have boosted themselves to an

unbelievable height. From back in 1975, the average speed of a bow was about 175

feet per second. About a year ago, I bought a magazine the showed the emphasis

and excitement of the ?new bows? of which claimed a whooping 300 feet per

second. These days, in the recent magazines, have showed new and recent studies

on a 400 feet per second bow. These technologies can be measured in many ways to

their successes and failures. The positive side to a bow this fast is that your

arrow can get to your target quicker without spooking it. The negative side is

the infamous question: Why would anyone require that much speed? There is really

no other answer but the fact of ?bragging rights? and that you don?t spook

your target. In this sport of bowfishing, you use an average of 75 to about 150

feet per second, depending on where you are fishing. If you decide to let your

prey reside in a more of a pond setting or a small lake, then you need less

speed. If you require quick shooting in a big lake or the ocean, then you should

decide on more speed, because if you decide on slower arrow release then you

have a chance of missing your target. My current bowfishing bow is set at about

100 feet per second, because I maintain target by shooting at small rough fish

such as: carp, catfish, gar, and small turtles. Bowfishing is similar to fishing

in the respect of your target. Along with it being similar because of fish, it

also maintains a similarity to the reel that it uses. The tools of this trade

lie in the number of items you can fit on your bow. It also depends on which

type of bow you are using. If you shoot a recurve or traditional bow, then you

require less items. With a traditional or recurve bow the archer has lost the

use of sights, a rest, and other implements. A compound uses the implements such

as: sights, a bowfishing rest, and optional release, and a nock saver. The

required items on a bowfisherman?s list should be as follows: a custom

bowfishing arrow, a special cabling system, special bowfishing string, and a

reel. Without any one of these items, a bowfisherman would be not be able to

complete his art. The arrow is one of the most important items on the archer?s

list, it is the single most important thing in the sport of bowfishing. It is

like a normal arrow in looks, but when broken down it is made of fiberglass

instead of graphite or aluminum. One end of the arrow is similar to regular

bowhunting, that is of course, the nock. A nock is a plastic piece that is glued

to the end of the arrow and has a notched end, of which holds the arrow on the

bow cable or bow string. At the other end of the arrow is tip that contains two

straight barbs, which keeps the fish from coming off the arrow while the fish is

being played. After the fish is played, the archer can, on some types of tips,

turn the end of the tip which releases the barb?s straightness. As this

happens it lets the barbs point upward, and the archer can then push the fish

off the arrow without much resistance. As it?s not required by some archers,

but is next to the most important for others, is the cabling system for an

arrow. This contains the ?life support? of the arrow. I firmly believe that

without this system, you would lose a lot of arrows, unfortunately I know this

from several personal experiences. The cabling system consists of a stainless

800 pound test steel wire, 2 beads, a swivel, and two crimps. The wire slides

through two pre-drilled holes in the arrow, then wrapped around the arrow?s

shaft, the into the crimp, and then crimped. After sliding the bead, the swivel,

and the other bead onto the arrow, the wire slides through the other pre-drilled

hole and then again crimped. The archer?s string is then tied onto the other

end of the swivel, completing the cabling rig. This allows the tension not to

rely on the string, but the cable, and also it allows the string to move along

the arrow without friction. The next very important part of the archer?s list

is the string. The string comes in a variety of strengths, mostly for bowfishing,

an average of 300-400 pound test braided line. This is used for most

applications, although when fishing for 150 pound alligator gar in southern

Texas, you would need around a 600 to 900 pound test line. An option on string

is color, a lot of bowfisherman prefer a neon colored string. For ease of sight

and for finding an arrow that has snapped it?s cable, it is a wise choice for

neon colored line. A new string has just been developed for night bowfisherman,

it has a fluorescent ?glow? when a black light is applied to the tip of the

string. The last, but certainly not least important, is the reel, there are

several types of reels, the drum reel, which is a cylinder that the string wraps

around it and feeds off in the same manner. The second type is the AMS retriever

reel, it is one of the most sophisticated reels, it uses a finger brake and

?fishing? type crank. It is made especially for bowfisherman. The third kind

is the Zebco 808 or the 818 models, these are regular fishing reels, but also

double as bowfishing reels. They are mounted on a 12 or 18 inch rod the is

screwed into the stabilizer hole of the bow. This rod and reel combination is

the closest related to the sport of fishing. The last method of using a reel is

that it doesn?t use a reel at all, but is just to lay the string on the ground

and hopeing that it doesn?t tangle when the arrow is released or get caught on

an exterior appendage of your body. Water diffraction is one of the worst

problems a bowfisherman can encounter. Water diffraction is what occurs whenever

something is in the water. If you stick a rod into the water, as soon as the rod

enters the water it gives off the appearance that it?s bent. This is the water

diffraction at work. Especially when night bowfishing, water diffraction takes

place, because most of night bowfishing is when the target is several inches or

feet underwater. Since the target is underwater, then the archer must decide how

deep is the target. Although it may look on the surface it can be several inches

underwater. The formula for bowfishing is for every inch underwater the target

actually is, the archer should aim at least 3 inches below the target to defeat

water diffraction. If an archer can accomplish this skill within seconds of

sight of the target, the bowfisherman can start to consider himself well on the

way to mastering the sport. Most bowfisherman seek targets as small as carp and

gar, but a lot of archers seek bigger challenges. Alligator gars, rays, skates,

sharks, alligators, and several big predators maintain a large portion of

bowfisherman?s time. In some remote areas of Texas, videos have arisen of

bowfisherman landing 150 pound alligator gars. These massive creatures are taken

by the initial arrow of the archer. This arrow is very different from most

arrows, as it has a break-away float or jug that detaches from it?s position

on the bow. This floats along the top of the water as the large creature glides

on the bottom of the river or lake. As the archer nocks a second arrow, when the

crew members pull up the creature to the top of the water, the archer lands a

second and possibly a third arrow into the creature before it?s decent into

the water. This process maintains for sometimes hours, waiting for the creature

to tire and raise to the surface close enough to the boat so that a crew member

can put a gaff into it?s lower jaw and pull it?s massive body onto the boat.

Sometimes this has come with a very heavy price. In one instance, an archer had

seven arrows into about a 175 pound alligator gar, and as they tried to pull the

fish onto the boat, the sheer weight of the fish overturned the boat and

everything was lost except for the lives of the crew and the fish. This can be a

very dangerous sport in it?s own right, so not all bowfishing hunts are as

nice as others, there are several dangers in this sport. There are recorded

instances where bowfisherman have traveled the earth in seek of the great

alligators and crocodiles. In one of these instances, a bowfisherman had shot

several times at 10 foot alligators with the aid of his guide. Unfortunatly he

landed as many gators as he had come with. As the guide pointed his light to a

14 foot gator, the archer landed a perfect shot, but as the archer went for a

second arrow, the gator started his death roll underwater and ?cranked? in

the string. This motion would have been alright, but as the float was not

attached to the archer?s bow, but just sitting on the floor of the airboat,

the archer had no control over his float or other equipment. As the spinning

action seemed to reel in the string on the archer?s line, he nocked a second

arrow, unaware of the danger he was in. As he was about to release his second

arrow into the beast, the line which was wrapped around the archer?s leg,

tightened and jerked him into the water, but not before the shot was anchored

into the gator?s massive head. As some quick thinking by the hunter, he

grabbed his boot knife and cut the line loose. He grabbed the boat as a loud

bang went off and the gator started his final decent to the bottom of the river,

dead. As the archer looked up and saw the his guide, with smoking rifle in hand,

and climbed aboard the 14 foot airboat. They pulled the massive creature aboard

the boat and went home, but never forgetting the memories of the almost fateful

night that could have costed the bowfisherman his life. Bowfishing, as the name

implies, is the sport of hunting and shooting at fish with a bow and arrow. The

arrow has a barbed point and is tethered to the bow with a braided line. When

the arrow is fired from the bow, the line feeds out of a bowfishing reel, which

is attached to the front of the bow. When the arrow strikes a fish, the barbs

hold in the fish, and the fish is played by hand. Another option the

bowfisherman may choose for playing fish, is an 18 inch rigid fishing pole which

holds the reel and attaches to the bow. From the small three pound carp or gar,

to the 150 pound alligator gar in Texas and the sharks in south Florida,

bowfishing is a sport that has no equal to the adrenaline and fun that it

provides.