Bowfishing first experience...
I know a good number of the folks on TBH are into Bowfishing so I thought I would try to briefly share a few details from my first Bowfishing trip earlier this week. Warning grammatically challenged read to follow which is Long and has some pics.
So this all starts out Monday morning of this week, I finally have the pleasure of meeting Steve, aka GarGuy, who will be my guide in an attempt to go after a giant Alligator, that's right we set out after an Alligator not Gator Gar and in the end I was unsuccessful in putting my hands on an Alligator. I will refrain from too much detail on that quest as it is many years in the making and the final chapter of that adventure is not yet written. The silver lining in this unsuccessful Alligator hunt is that I was introduced to Bowfishing, more specifically Bowfishing for Monster gar.
Early afternoon on a slow day of stalking and glassing Alligators has us standing next to a lake that is absolutely crawling with Gar, huge gar, and huge gar resting on the surface. After seeing three very large gar demonstrate what Steve described as very odd spawning like behavior he managed to convey that what we were witnessing was not normal and had the makings of an incredible gar hunt.
Fast forward 30 minutes and we are sliding down the side of the bank in an airboat and slide into the water. Steve kills the big motor and uses the trolling motor to pull us to the side to give the fish a moment to settle after our 700 horsepower entry. He then patiently walks the through the basics of bowfishing from the shot placement, bow operation, and what to do once you shoot one. Keep in mind I am a lifelong bow hunter but a lifetime of using peep sights and aiming pins works against you with the instinct based style of shooting you use on a fishing setup. He hands me a bow and a pair of gloves, tells me to shoot at a couple floating objects, naturally I shoot a mile over all of them, finally forcing myself to try to aim lower I feel like I had a handle on it.
Steve again takes me through the process, corrected my aim, and then turned the boat to the area where we had seen large fish from the bank. While glassing this lake earlier we spotted three exceptional gar, one that as absurd as it may sound looked to be 7.5' long. The vision of that large fish is in the back of my head as we cross the lake staring at the approaching water as dozens of smaller gar fill our view, most of the gar were on top, many would not even move as we slid through the water. What happened next will be etched in my mind until the day I die, we are 5 minutes into my first bowfishing adventure and at 12 o’clock dead ahead of us the form of a gar appears and its heading directly to the trolling motor, the speed of all this is certainly exaggerated because we were on a collision course. The gar was every single bit of 7.5ft if not longer, it was so incredible big it shocked me, nonetheless Steve and I both registered seeing it at about the same time and no words were needed, I drew back and released, in my mind I just placed a perfect arrow in the middle of the back, the fish thrashed it's tail and was gone, only my line wasn't going with it. Steve was very nice about it but I didn't make the shot, or rather I did not compensate for the refraction, I shot high enough that the angle on my arrow allowed the shot to glance off its back, he explained how the approach was tough because the scales overlapped, I botched the shot.
I am down but generally just in awe of what I had seen but it didn't matter because before we could make it another 100 yards I am sending a shot on a legitimate 7ft fish, not the goliath the first was but still a trophy, and again I shot high making contact with the fish but finding that my placement wasn’t good enough.
At this point I am getting very frustrated with myself, to understand what your doing wrong and making it a point to not repeat that mistake to only repeat that mistake the next time is one we have all experienced. All of that said Steve is very courteous about it, he does convey that encountering one much less two fish like that is unreal, that what I am seeing as we skirt past 4,5, and 6ft fish that we are not shooting at is rare. I do take a certain level of comfort in knowing that it isn't likely I will see one bigger so hopefully this introduction by fire can take on a more paced tone until I hone my shooting skills.
We proceed to make a few laps on the lake, its a sight in and of itself, there are gar floating on top like wood and we are passing fish that are big. I don't remember the details of it but I managed to botch a 3rd attempt at a near 7ft fish along the way, another shot placed to high another arrow that didn't penetrate. Steve remains patient, does't hold back from explaining what went wrong and we move on. Well as we got to the far end of the lake I watch a gar come up and slap the water and am at a loss at the size of what i see. Steve directs our path toward it slowing as he approaches the area and he suddenly directs me to get ready for a shot behind him on his side of the boat, I step back and 12 yards away is the fish I saw jump, impossibly its not only bigger than the 7.5' gar from earlier its much bigger, its back is every single inch of 2.5ft wide, I draw back force myself aim low and release the perfect shot...or so I thought. My arrow strikes the fish dead center left and right and when it strikes the fish violently bursts away and I am waiting for my line to go with it, but it doesn't...I look at Steve in a state of complete confusion, he turns off the trolling motor and takes a seat. I am speechless and he very calmly explains that he watched my arrow strike the hump right were the skull meets the body and deflect...
Did I mention this was my first bowfishing experience??? I released arrows on and hit a 6'9, a 7', 7.5', and an 8'+ in one afternoon and had arrows deflect on every single shot. I was officially rattled, Steve explained that my seemingly perfect shot went that far up because the fish was 2ft under water and it was so unbelievably large that it made me take a shot like it was closer to the surface. We circled around a few more times, we had pressured the fish, I finally decide its time to get a fish under my belt and after having passed 6.5' fish all day I proudly take a 5.5' gar putting a center line shot on it and getting the monkey off my back.
Steve consoles me again as we head off the water, he lets me take a bow home to practice with for the next day, and tries to explain that what we witnessed was rare for this time of year and that it may be tougher tomorrow. I go home and lick my wounds, I am tired but I have to get steady with the bow so I practice over and over again in my pool until I land on a tilted approach much like on a recurve, this allows my shot sight to be less out of line. I came back on the second morning with a new confidence being able to aim finally. Steve directs me to shoot a buffalo in the water and I lean my bow over and release and hear a thud as the arrow fell off the string and the bow slams into my arm. I will attach a picture but the frustration was offset by the pain of the golf ball sized hematoma that was forming on my arm.
Steve again remained patient but day 2 wasn't what we had seen the day before, we encountered one fish over 7' but it rolled on our course and drifted out of site as we got in range. The big fish were gone or staying of sight, the magnitude of what we encountered day 1 was starting to sink in. We finally take a break and attempt a stalk on 10ft gator we had seen earlier the day before, needless to say and bot no fault of anyone but myself I was unable to get the job done on that gator and with no other prospects and having lost a couple hours on the failed gator stalk we ere only really left with enough time to switch gears back to bowfishing for a short 400 yard ride back to the bank where the truck was, I was pretty down at this point, day 2 was winding down but Steve told me to grab a bow and get to the front of the boat and get ready because were going to rally this hunt shortly. I was very grateful for his positive attitude, I didn't deserve it after all the failed attempts but he saw otherwise and about half way through that 400 yards of poor visibility water and sun angle we look down and we are on top of a big thick gar, no sooner than we see it then it bursts the water at the boat going deeper and swimming away, I almost thoughtlessly drew and shot the path the fish would take, Steve began to console me as it had happened so fast and it seemed the fish had escaped but no sooner than he looked over at me to do so then the line starts flying out of my reel...I stuck the fish, we didn't know where but it was a hit.
Steve and I are filled with excitement but we are very aware of the need for a second arrow, after several stressful short runs we land another arrow in the gar, the first in near the midline in the last third of the gar toward the tail. The gar drug the boat for a good while around the lake and after several retrieves and runs we put the fish in the boat. In that moment the fish could have been 3ft long I think I would have been thrilled, but it wasn't this fish was just under 6'6" and thick as they come for that size, the fish was in my eyes PERFECT.
I have an incredible amount of respect for Steve and feel like I gained a friend and a mentor in the process, to some degree it isn't hard to make a friend out of a guy like Steve if you like talking about artifacts and patterning monster bucks! But in all seriousness this unsuccessful alligator hunt turned into one of greatest outdoor experiences of my life and I will never forget it. Hopefully Steve will have me back again soon and I can't wait to get the gar back from the Sportsman taxidermy shot in Grapeland in 9 months or so because that fish represents the incredible opportunity that came about and my introduction to bowfishing for monster gar. -Respectfully Justin Whitworth
Pic of the gar below, my arm a day after the dry fire, and a pig I shot on the same trip.
So this all starts out Monday morning of this week, I finally have the pleasure of meeting Steve, aka GarGuy, who will be my guide in an attempt to go after a giant Alligator, that's right we set out after an Alligator not Gator Gar and in the end I was unsuccessful in putting my hands on an Alligator. I will refrain from too much detail on that quest as it is many years in the making and the final chapter of that adventure is not yet written. The silver lining in this unsuccessful Alligator hunt is that I was introduced to Bowfishing, more specifically Bowfishing for Monster gar.
Early afternoon on a slow day of stalking and glassing Alligators has us standing next to a lake that is absolutely crawling with Gar, huge gar, and huge gar resting on the surface. After seeing three very large gar demonstrate what Steve described as very odd spawning like behavior he managed to convey that what we were witnessing was not normal and had the makings of an incredible gar hunt.
Fast forward 30 minutes and we are sliding down the side of the bank in an airboat and slide into the water. Steve kills the big motor and uses the trolling motor to pull us to the side to give the fish a moment to settle after our 700 horsepower entry. He then patiently walks the through the basics of bowfishing from the shot placement, bow operation, and what to do once you shoot one. Keep in mind I am a lifelong bow hunter but a lifetime of using peep sights and aiming pins works against you with the instinct based style of shooting you use on a fishing setup. He hands me a bow and a pair of gloves, tells me to shoot at a couple floating objects, naturally I shoot a mile over all of them, finally forcing myself to try to aim lower I feel like I had a handle on it.
Steve again takes me through the process, corrected my aim, and then turned the boat to the area where we had seen large fish from the bank. While glassing this lake earlier we spotted three exceptional gar, one that as absurd as it may sound looked to be 7.5' long. The vision of that large fish is in the back of my head as we cross the lake staring at the approaching water as dozens of smaller gar fill our view, most of the gar were on top, many would not even move as we slid through the water. What happened next will be etched in my mind until the day I die, we are 5 minutes into my first bowfishing adventure and at 12 o’clock dead ahead of us the form of a gar appears and its heading directly to the trolling motor, the speed of all this is certainly exaggerated because we were on a collision course. The gar was every single bit of 7.5ft if not longer, it was so incredible big it shocked me, nonetheless Steve and I both registered seeing it at about the same time and no words were needed, I drew back and released, in my mind I just placed a perfect arrow in the middle of the back, the fish thrashed it's tail and was gone, only my line wasn't going with it. Steve was very nice about it but I didn't make the shot, or rather I did not compensate for the refraction, I shot high enough that the angle on my arrow allowed the shot to glance off its back, he explained how the approach was tough because the scales overlapped, I botched the shot.
I am down but generally just in awe of what I had seen but it didn't matter because before we could make it another 100 yards I am sending a shot on a legitimate 7ft fish, not the goliath the first was but still a trophy, and again I shot high making contact with the fish but finding that my placement wasn’t good enough.
At this point I am getting very frustrated with myself, to understand what your doing wrong and making it a point to not repeat that mistake to only repeat that mistake the next time is one we have all experienced. All of that said Steve is very courteous about it, he does convey that encountering one much less two fish like that is unreal, that what I am seeing as we skirt past 4,5, and 6ft fish that we are not shooting at is rare. I do take a certain level of comfort in knowing that it isn't likely I will see one bigger so hopefully this introduction by fire can take on a more paced tone until I hone my shooting skills.
We proceed to make a few laps on the lake, its a sight in and of itself, there are gar floating on top like wood and we are passing fish that are big. I don't remember the details of it but I managed to botch a 3rd attempt at a near 7ft fish along the way, another shot placed to high another arrow that didn't penetrate. Steve remains patient, does't hold back from explaining what went wrong and we move on. Well as we got to the far end of the lake I watch a gar come up and slap the water and am at a loss at the size of what i see. Steve directs our path toward it slowing as he approaches the area and he suddenly directs me to get ready for a shot behind him on his side of the boat, I step back and 12 yards away is the fish I saw jump, impossibly its not only bigger than the 7.5' gar from earlier its much bigger, its back is every single inch of 2.5ft wide, I draw back force myself aim low and release the perfect shot...or so I thought. My arrow strikes the fish dead center left and right and when it strikes the fish violently bursts away and I am waiting for my line to go with it, but it doesn't...I look at Steve in a state of complete confusion, he turns off the trolling motor and takes a seat. I am speechless and he very calmly explains that he watched my arrow strike the hump right were the skull meets the body and deflect...
Did I mention this was my first bowfishing experience??? I released arrows on and hit a 6'9, a 7', 7.5', and an 8'+ in one afternoon and had arrows deflect on every single shot. I was officially rattled, Steve explained that my seemingly perfect shot went that far up because the fish was 2ft under water and it was so unbelievably large that it made me take a shot like it was closer to the surface. We circled around a few more times, we had pressured the fish, I finally decide its time to get a fish under my belt and after having passed 6.5' fish all day I proudly take a 5.5' gar putting a center line shot on it and getting the monkey off my back.
Steve consoles me again as we head off the water, he lets me take a bow home to practice with for the next day, and tries to explain that what we witnessed was rare for this time of year and that it may be tougher tomorrow. I go home and lick my wounds, I am tired but I have to get steady with the bow so I practice over and over again in my pool until I land on a tilted approach much like on a recurve, this allows my shot sight to be less out of line. I came back on the second morning with a new confidence being able to aim finally. Steve directs me to shoot a buffalo in the water and I lean my bow over and release and hear a thud as the arrow fell off the string and the bow slams into my arm. I will attach a picture but the frustration was offset by the pain of the golf ball sized hematoma that was forming on my arm.
Steve again remained patient but day 2 wasn't what we had seen the day before, we encountered one fish over 7' but it rolled on our course and drifted out of site as we got in range. The big fish were gone or staying of sight, the magnitude of what we encountered day 1 was starting to sink in. We finally take a break and attempt a stalk on 10ft gator we had seen earlier the day before, needless to say and bot no fault of anyone but myself I was unable to get the job done on that gator and with no other prospects and having lost a couple hours on the failed gator stalk we ere only really left with enough time to switch gears back to bowfishing for a short 400 yard ride back to the bank where the truck was, I was pretty down at this point, day 2 was winding down but Steve told me to grab a bow and get to the front of the boat and get ready because were going to rally this hunt shortly. I was very grateful for his positive attitude, I didn't deserve it after all the failed attempts but he saw otherwise and about half way through that 400 yards of poor visibility water and sun angle we look down and we are on top of a big thick gar, no sooner than we see it then it bursts the water at the boat going deeper and swimming away, I almost thoughtlessly drew and shot the path the fish would take, Steve began to console me as it had happened so fast and it seemed the fish had escaped but no sooner than he looked over at me to do so then the line starts flying out of my reel...I stuck the fish, we didn't know where but it was a hit.
Steve and I are filled with excitement but we are very aware of the need for a second arrow, after several stressful short runs we land another arrow in the gar, the first in near the midline in the last third of the gar toward the tail. The gar drug the boat for a good while around the lake and after several retrieves and runs we put the fish in the boat. In that moment the fish could have been 3ft long I think I would have been thrilled, but it wasn't this fish was just under 6'6" and thick as they come for that size, the fish was in my eyes PERFECT.
I have an incredible amount of respect for Steve and feel like I gained a friend and a mentor in the process, to some degree it isn't hard to make a friend out of a guy like Steve if you like talking about artifacts and patterning monster bucks! But in all seriousness this unsuccessful alligator hunt turned into one of greatest outdoor experiences of my life and I will never forget it. Hopefully Steve will have me back again soon and I can't wait to get the gar back from the Sportsman taxidermy shot in Grapeland in 9 months or so because that fish represents the incredible opportunity that came about and my introduction to bowfishing for monster gar. -Respectfully Justin Whitworth
Pic of the gar below, my arm a day after the dry fire, and a pig I shot on the same trip.
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