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IT'S ON
Apr 12, 2012 20:56:38 GMT -5
Post by ArcherAndy on Apr 12, 2012 20:56:38 GMT -5
That is a productive week. The wife and I had our baby so bowfishing has taken the back burner. I should get out in the next couple of weeks. Just about time to go after those turkeys too.
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Post by ArcherAndy on Apr 1, 2012 12:43:12 GMT -5
I learned the hard way a few years ago. Early spring warmup let me get an early jumpstart on a new plot. I got the soil prepared and planted and as soon as my clover plot was germinating and as turning the field green a late frost killed it. I learned my lesson. Good seed is expensive so I hate to do it over again.
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Post by ArcherAndy on Mar 31, 2012 12:46:09 GMT -5
Not yet. Still a bit too early yet in my opinion. Frost is not out of the equation and that can wreak havoc on newly germinated plants. It's better to wait until closer to May when ground temperatures stabilize and soil moisture is prevalent.
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Post by ArcherAndy on Mar 7, 2012 23:15:11 GMT -5
Oh yeah! Good times!
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Post by ArcherAndy on Mar 1, 2012 21:47:53 GMT -5
Alright Troy! You beat me too it! I'm glad to know it does taste good.
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Post by ArcherAndy on Mar 1, 2012 20:38:28 GMT -5
Shootnfish. Post up some pictures if you can. I have some pictures of you that I took, but I didn't want to post them without your permission. I think I emailed you all of my pictures too. Post away. Team Shootnfish is in the house ya'll !!!!!!!!
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Post by ArcherAndy on Mar 1, 2012 20:33:35 GMT -5
I agree with you. Although I do not eat my carp, I compost them and use them as organic fertilizer for my 60' x 100' garden. The American Indians used fish as natural fertilizer to grow crops as well due to their nutritional value that they apply to the soil and into the plants as the fish decompose. My green beans flourish using carp compost. My wife and I pressure can our green beans and in the past two years we have canned around 230 quarts of fresh organically fertilized home grown green beans and about 50 pints of seasoned stewed tomatoes. I use it for other plants too like my pepper plants. With 12-12-12 fertilizer costing around $15 a bag, using carp compost is a much more economical. Troy (Shootnfish) has his garden soil looking almost black it is so rich, but he had been bowfishing longer than I have too. Carp compost will flat out make a garden grow like gangbusters.
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Post by ArcherAndy on Mar 1, 2012 20:19:22 GMT -5
Hey Shootnfish! Glad you made it! I need your help with getting this bowfishing section up and going with pics and video. For everyone else that does not know, this is Troy. He is my Captain at the fire station and he got me interested in bowfishing and took me out and let me get my first carp with a bow. You can see the picture in the "bowfishing pictures" thread. Troy does a great job with setting up our bowfishing setups. He has worked on my bow numerous times.
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Post by ArcherAndy on Feb 27, 2012 17:52:14 GMT -5
Thanks guys! With spring right around the corner, I hope to add some more pictures.
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Post by ArcherAndy on Feb 25, 2012 17:30:29 GMT -5
Here was my largest Asian Bighead from the Ohio River last summer. It also weighed 43 lbs and required a secondary shot as well as a gaff to get this hog into the boat. These are very powerful fish and typically very spooky. Most of my bowfishing on the Ohio River is done under the darkness of night, however this Bighead surfaced a bit too close to my boat for his own good shortly after sun up and we managed to get off a shot. It was a great way to finish off a night of bowfishing on the river.
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Post by ArcherAndy on Feb 25, 2012 17:24:45 GMT -5
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Post by ArcherAndy on Feb 25, 2012 17:20:25 GMT -5
This was my first carp with a bow a couple summers back when Shootnfish (Troy) took me out for my first bowfishing trip on his boat. It was a 10 1/2 lb common carp taken from Monroe Reservoir which is average for there. The biggest I have seen taken there was 18 lbs shot by Shootnfish (Troy).
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Post by ArcherAndy on Feb 24, 2012 16:16:12 GMT -5
Thanks Troy! Bowfishing is getting much more popular each year. There is another forum that I read religiously that is devoted to all things bowfishing from boats, gear, bowfishing bows, reels, generators, outboards, etc. Here is a link to it if anyone is interested. They have a classifieds section too where some good deals can be had for used bowfishing gear. bow.fishingcountry.com/forums/forum.phpIt is a great forum to gather information about the sport of bowfishing and all things related to it. As many of you already know, bowfishing is currently the only management tool for rough fish as they currently have no natural predators. The Asian Silvers and Bigheads are taking over our native waterways with reckless abandon and no end in site. They threaten to destroy native game fish and disrupt sensitive underwater ecosystems by competing for the same plankton food supplies detrimental to success of native game fish fry. Higher numbers of the "Jumping Silver Carp" or Asian Silvers are also wreaking havoc on the recreational boating community, often times injuring passengers, skiers and tubers as these large fish take flight in response to underwater vibrations created by outboards. On a positive note, bowfishing is affordable once you get setup for it and it can be done with a basic fishing license. Simply slap a bowfishing reel on an old hunting compound or recurve and you're good to go. One other thing, they say Asian Carp are good to eat too. I haven't tried to eat any of those yet, but I plan to try it. Here are some links to some YouTube videos posted up by Kentucky Afield. I love their videos and think they do a fantastic job of shooting video, much like those Bell, Bucks and Beards Boys. LOL! The host of the show suffered a significant injury to his right arm due to a motorcycle wreck as a young man. That is why he shoots a bow while drawing it with a piece of leather in his teeth. Here is a cool video about the Asian Carp as a food source produced by Kentucky Afield in partnership with Kentucky State University. Here is another couple videos from Kentucky Afield. A few more Bighead videos from Kentucky Afield.
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Post by ArcherAndy on Feb 22, 2012 21:55:52 GMT -5
With the weather starting to warm up, I am getting the itch to go bowfishing. Anybody else here on the forum have a passion for bowfishing? It is my intention to take some pictures and perhaps some video on each and every bowfishing trip that I make this spring/summer and post them here in the bowfishing section. I encourage everyone else to do the same. Now let get properly introduced to one another. I am 33 years old and from Brown County, IN. I am fairly new to bowfishing, having only been doing it for about two years now. I shoot a Darton Aquaforce bowfishing bow with the AMS Bowfishing Model 610 Pro Bottle Reel with 200 lb Dacron line. I use AMS Tiger Shark carbon bowfishing shafts with Cajun Piranha Long Barb tips. My biggest fish to date is a 43 pound grass carp taken from a local lake here in Brown County followed by a 43 pound Asian Big Head Carp taken in the Ohio River. I currently have a 1448 flat bottom Jon boat that I use for bowfishing, but I am planning to rebuild/rig up a 1652 flat bottom Jon boat that I bought this winter to be a shallow water invasive species slaying machine. My wife and I are expecting a baby in the next week or two so this project may be delayed before the weather allows it to really get started. LOL! Bring on Spring and those 60 degree+ water temperatures. I'm looking forward to a good spawn this year after last spring's cool temps , slow warmup and high water levels. Hopefully things will be different this year.
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Post by ArcherAndy on Jan 10, 2012 20:51:17 GMT -5
I shot a 45" 8.5 pound longnose gar while bowfishing this past summer. I skinned it, pulled out those backstraps, cut into nuggets, coated them real good in a well seasoned dry batter and deep fried. I made a white horseradish dipping sauce and fell in love. Wow! It is awesome! This was my first time ever eating gar and it won't be my last. I have never had alligator tail before either, but many on the internet liken it to eating alligator. I liken it to a cross between chicken and snapping turtle. It is really good!
Skinning that gar was a bit like stripping an armored truck. I did the same thing by using tin snips and a good fillet knife to get the job done. Now that I know what I'm doing, I'm sure the next one will go much quicker.
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