Bowfishing – combining two pastimes into one sport

Roy Beasley grew up fishing, but when he discovered bowhunting, he changed his technique. He became a bowfisherman.

“I still bass fish at my parents’ cottage or with the guys at work,” he said. “But I like doing this more.”

A research vessel captain with the Department of Natural Resources, Beasley is one of a growing number of sportsmen and women who like to combine hunting and fishing, using bows and arrows to take a wide variety of fish, including many that are generally not targeted by hook-and-line anglers.

Bowfishing is legal for bowfin, bullheads, burbot, carp (including goldfish), catfish, cisco, drum, gizzard shad, longnose gar, smelt, all species of suckers – including buffalo and quillback – and whitefish.

Beasley has taken most of them, including a number of Master Angler fish of six different species. But he particularly likes chasing gar and gizzard shad, because their narrow bodies make them more of a challenge.

Except in the spring, when a number of species are in shallow water spawning, most bowfishermen go out at night, using lights to see down into the water. Beasley said going at night “is easier and your shots are closer,” but he likes going in the daytime “because it’s more challenging.”

“A lot of people associate carp-shooting with night, except in the spring when the fish are spawning and wallowing around on the surface,” he said. “You can still shoot carp during the day in the summer, but they’re spookier.”

Bowfishermen prefer clear water and calm days with sunny skies.

“You can shoot them on cloudy days, but they usually see you before you see them,” he said.

Bowfishing is a shallow-water sport.

“Five feet is pretty deep,” said Beasley, who mostly plies the Great Lakes and connecting waters of southeastern Michigan. “To get shooting more than five feet deep, you’ve got to be pretty much right above them.”

Beasley said the transition from bowhunting to bowfishing is fairly seamless. Seth Rhodea, president of the Bowfishing Association of Michigan, agrees.

“If you’ve got an old hunting bow lying around, you can buy a kit with a reel and a line and an arrow for around $40,” said Rhodea, who also is a DNR conservation officer in Sanilac County.  “You don’t need a boat – if you’ve got a place to wade in the spring when the carp and gar are up shallow, you can have fun all day chasing them around.”

Rhodea, who started bowfishing half a dozen years ago, isn’t a bowhunter. He said a buddy took him, and he enjoyed it and got into it. Lots of people have the same experience.

“In the last three years, it seems like it’s growing,” said Rhodea, who added there are about 175 members in BAM, but more than 2,000 “like” its Facebook page. “In the spring, it’s not uncommon to see half a dozen boats from one of the launches out bowfishing. A lot of guys have gotten into it in the last few years. Seems like every time you take a new person out, he gets hooked, gets his own boat, and gets going."

As a conservation officer, Rhodea says he gets a lot of complaints about bowfishermen – lights bothering riparians or the sound of generators disturbing their peace, for instance. And there are complaints about improper disposal of fish.  That isn’t a problem for most bowfishermen, who put the fish to use, often for fertilizer in their gardens.

Beasley says he has no problem disposing of the fish. He’s given some to bear hunters for bait, some to raptor rehabilitators to feed the birds, and even some to the Department of Environmental Quality for contaminant testing.

“And I’ve eaten some,” Beasley said. “The gar aren’t too bad. The drum is a little bit different texture – sort of reminds me of alligator.”

Beasley gets started in April and bowfishes into December some years, adding that spring is usually the best time.

“You can do big numbers,” he said. “My best day was about 40 fish – I shot until my cooler was full.”

But bowfishing is as much about quality as quantity. Of the five state records that have been set so far this year, three of them – a blackmouth buffalo and two quillback carpsuckers – were taken bowfishing. In the last two years, six state standards have been set by bowfishermen.

The DNR doesn’t have any data on how many anglers participate, but there’s reason to believe the number is growing because of increasing submissions of fish taken by bowfishermen in the Master Angler program. Either that or those doing it are just getting better at the game.

“I’m usually pretty successful,” said Beasley, who says he’s had 100-shot days. “But it’s like anything else...you don’t always get them.”

To learn more about fishing in Michigan, visit www.michigan.gov/fishing.

# # #

/Note to Editors: Photos to accompany this story are available for download at www.michigandnr.com/ftp/outreach in the folder marked “Bow Fishing.”

(Michigan DNR photos)

Captions:

roy2 – DNR Fisheries Division boat captain Roy Beasley shows off a longnose gar he arrowed on Lake Erie.

roy3 – Roy Beasley, DNR Fisheries Division, surveys the shallows from an elevated platform on his boat at Lake Erie.

roy4 – Roy Beasley, DNR Fisheries Division, shows off a carp he arrowed at Lake Erie.

roy5 – DNR Fisheries Division boat captain Roy Beasley hauls in a carp he shot with his bow and arrow at Lake Erie.

roy6 – Roy Beasley, DNR Fisheries Division boat captain, takes aim while bowfishing on Lake Erie./

Thank you for your interest in Showcasing the DNR. See past editions at www.michigan.gov/dnr-stories. Questions or comments? Please contact DNR public information officer Ed Golder at 517-284-5815 or goldere@michigan.gov.