Today was a spectacular bowfishing experience, albeit a short one. Put another way, I’ll remember today for decades.
Yesterday I was at a reservoir where I’d seen a pod of big carp congregating on the opposite shore from the road I was driving on. I stopped and took a few pictures and a video.
Seeing those carp lit a bowfishing fuse inside me. So, I came back the next day (today).
Arriving at around noon, I parked and saw a handful of carp in the same general area, so I put on my waders and tried to sneak up on the fish. I did see a beast carp meandering in the shallows, but I must’ve spooked the rest because I didn’t notice any others. The huge carp disappeared into the depths, so I walked back to the vehicle and headed upriver.
I ventured farther along the reservoir and stopped at a cove where I saw a lot of tumbleweeds (or dead shrubs) were floating on the surface of the water—blown there by the wind I figured.
My interest was piqued when I heard (and saw) splashing in and amongst the dead floating brush. At first I thought they might be trout or bass working their way through the debris, but then I realized they were carp. Bowfishing serendipity!
I grabbed my bow and sling pack and worked my way down the relatively steep rocky slope.
It didn’t take long for a carp to appear in the flotsam, and I took my first shot of the 2023 season.
Bullseye!
I reeled-in my first fish of the year. It was a nice carp, maybe 8-10 pounds. Here are a couple pictures of the fish.
It was exhilarating! My heartbeat was elevated, and my adrenaline was pumping.
It wasn’t more than a few minutes later that I saw a couple big carp rolling around near the surface. Since the carp never spent more than a few seconds being visible, I knew I had to get a shot off quickly.
I turned, drew the arrow back, aimed, and took my second shot of the season.
I connected and felt the weight of the fish! But here’s what was extra special—it was a two-fer! I had two carp on my arrow. Here are a couple pictures of my first tandem bowfishing shot.
Here’s a quick video I took of the carp two-fer as I brought them to the shoreline. Notice the garbage floating in the water–there was plenty of it.
These two carp were bigger than the first, north of 10lbs each. Could a bowfishing season ever start better than this one? Three fish with the first two shots of the year. Unreal!
A few minutes later, I took another shot but missed the fish. My arrow came back without the nock, as it’d broken right off when the arrow ricocheted off a large underwater rock.
I only had one more arrow (I brought just two), so I tied it on and went back to the water.
Within minutes I was reeling in another nice carp. Four on the day so far, and it’d only been 30-45 minutes!
I took another shot and my arrow bounced off a submerged rock. The metal arrowhead (I was using carp points) was badly bent, and my nock broke off again!
That was it—I had no more arrows, nocks, or points. What a disappointment! I think this would’ve been an epic day if I’d had a steady supply of arrows.
I was a boy scout growing up, and our motto was “be prepared,” but I certainly wasn’t today.
So, I grabbed my fly rod and spent the next few hours catching nice-sized panfish.
While I was fishing, it was impossible not to notice the pods of carp swimming by me at regular intervals. Groups of 3, 4, even 5 at a time.
I mentioned in my bowfishing journal that I must’ve seen no fewer than 250 carp today.
However, there may be a caveat to that number.
I read in a book about carp fishing that they often travel in small pods and swim in circular patterns. In other words, if you’re standing on the shoreline and see four carp swim by, and then five minutes later you see four more carp swim by, they often times are the same four carp making a loop.
I thought that was interesting. I’m not completely convinced, but it seems logical.
Anyhow, my bowfishing lesson for the day: always bring plenty of extra arrows and carp points.
