Today I spent some time fishing for smallmouth bass in a nearby river, but there were some huge carp patrolling the shoreline. It proved too tempting, so I grabbed my bow.

On around my fifth or sixth shot I connected with a very large carp and it took off for the depths, ripping line from my reel. My heartbeat rose immediately.

Around ten seconds later, the arrow pulled-out of the fish.

AGAIN?!

It was very frustrating to lose such a big fish. This is becoming a regular occurrence.

I took several more shots at carp throughout the day, but missed them all as far as I could tell.

Most were deeper shots, with the carp around 3-feet below the surface, sometimes deeper. The carp I shot, however, was only around 18-inches below the surface.

I’m realizing that when the fish are in 1-2 feet of water (or 1-2 feet below the surface), my accuracy skyrockets. This makes perfect sense, of course.

A couple hours later, after I’d gone back to fishing, I saw a huge carp approaching me straight-on.

Clearly it didn’t see me as I slowly leaned over and grabbed my bow. Thank God I had it right next to me for a moment like this.

The carp was only a foot or so under water, and maybe five feet from me. It still hadn’t spooked.

I took the shot and it was a bullseye!

The fish steamrolled for the depths and tore line from my reel.

It was a spectacular, adrenaline-filled moment.

Since the carp had taken out so much line, I rock-hopped to stay closer to it. I was concerned that it would take out all 100-feet of line and then twist around some rocks or weeds.

Eventually though, I reeled and pulled the fish to the boulder I was standing on.

I could see that my arrow had gone clean through the fish, which is clearly why it didn’t come out.

Here’s a picture of the carp once I retrieved it in close enough to grab.

Pulling in the first carp I shot while bowfishing

And here’s a picture of the beast once I hoisted it out of the water.

I didn’t have a scale so couldn’t weigh it, but it was a heavy fish.

In all, I’d say I took +/-25 shots. But, one positive is that I nailed the only two fish that were close to the surface (within 12-18 inches).

Holding the first carp I shot while bowfishing

Here’s a quick video I took of the carp as I was retrieving it after its initial long, deep run.

So now I’ve got a couple species under my bowfishing belt: a largescale sucker (Catostomus macrocheilus) and a common carp (Cyprinus carpio).