[Carlisle]

I went bowfishing for the first time lastnight, and had a blast.

I was shooting from shore out on the Illinois river. and ended up with 4 silver carp. This was the largest of the four, and the only white one. Is this color combination at all common, or very unusual? It was mostly white, with pinkish red fins, but had dark eyes.

I was using a AMS Shure Shot Penetrator Point and had some problems with it. The Barb kept on reversing on me, I lost another 5 fish this way. Next time, I'll try some loctite on the treads, and see if that helps me out at all. I'm also open to suggestions, on maybe a point upgrade.

I got one more question, does anyone use sites for bow fishing? Most bow fishing setups I have seen, the sites are absent. Is there any reason for this? I'm thinking a site would further help me out.

I edited this post, about 10 times already, as you can tell, I'm pretty excited. This was a whole lot of fun.

[img][img]http://www.chitown-angler.com/2fish/albums/userpics/10992/X10_020_%28450_x_600%29.jpg[/img][/img]

[Goheen25]

Very cool, awesome fish!

[Nitewing]

Nice fish! I'm not sure I've ever seen that color. Looks like it might be an albino. I've never used the points you are using. I've tried a number and have found the Muzzy points to be the best. They penetrate well and are tough, especially when you bounce them off rocks. Never had a pull out or failure. Regarding sites, most bowfishing shots are pretty close and instinctive shooting is the norm. I've never seen anyone using any kind of site when bowfishing. That includes a lot of professional bowfishers down in Texas. I would be a little concerned that the line might catch the site and tear it up. I do have one question, were those fish on the surface or sub surface? Fish that big are sure a lot of fun.

[Carlisle]

The fish I shot were all within 15-25 feet out, and within 10 inches of the surface.

I had several shots at closer fish, but the bank was higher in that area, and I don't have the depth to angle judgment right yet. I missed a lot of shots.

[Carlisle]

Edit: I made a mistake post, sorry.

[Strelnikov]

I only use the Sure Shot points when I am shooting around logs or cattail roots (so if the point gets stuck I can twist the shaft and release the barbs) because the fish will sometimes spin around in circles and cause the barbs to reverse. Normally I have been using the 3 barb Innerloc grapplers lately because they seem to do the best job holding big fish. Good luck getting one out of a log or cattail roots though. I have had to abandon several arrows with grappler points because I could not get them out.

I use a single pin sight for long shots or on stationary fish that I have time to aim at. For most close shots instinctive shooting works the best because most of the time there isn't enough time to aim with the sight.

[Carlisle]

I figured out why I was having the problem with the Shure Shot Penetrator Point I was using, and have come to the conclusion that it was my fault.

After looking at another Shure Shot Penetrator Point. I noticed that the point is supposed to have a lock washer, the one that I was using no longer does. I didn't experience a problem until after I shot my first fish. I remember that after I shot the fish. I removed the point from the arrow. I must have lost the lock washer at this time.