Wondering if anyone has had any experience bowfishing out of their kayak, canoe, or pirogue, especially in Florida? I think when I get my pirogue finished, I am going to give it a try on the shallow flats of Tampa Bay. Mullet, sheepshead, black drum, rays, flounder and even cobia are commonly seen swimming close enough for a shot. Out of those mentioned, the rays are the only one I haven't eaten much of, but they are alright if you clean them promptly. I know some fish are off limits, (snook,redfish, trout, & probably a few more)as are sharks, but I would really like to give it a try. I need to call the fish & game people to clarify what can be shot with a bow. Any thoughts on the subject?
Pirogue bow fishing
- Thread starter captaindoug
- Start date
Done a lot of bowfishing from a freighter canoe,its a blast but you better learn to sit down fast 
Ron
Ron
You should talk with our very own jdupre'.......he's the man when it comes to dancing in a plywood box and shooting over the side:
piper
piper
Ha! That's about the only angle you can comfortably shoot, too. You can probably shoot a few degrees to one side of the bow to past 90 Degrees on your left. Anything passing on your drawing hand side is pretty safe. It's doable, but would be much better with a couple of outriggers.
Joey
Joey
Take a good look at the side of his Pirogue and the water mark on it , he almost shipped some water in there.
Best to check with the Marine Patrol for salt water. I went down to Marco a long time ago and took the bow with me. On past trips we saw a lot of Leopard Rays and I wanted to get one on this new trip. Planned on skinning the wings and punching out a lot of scallops , from them , for a meal. Believe it or not , in the old days some of the commercial fisherman did that and sold them as scallops , you could not tell the difference from then ray wings over the real deal.
Guess what ... you can not use a bow to take them. This was back in the middle 60's , I hate to think what the rules are today.
Chuck.
Best to check with the Marine Patrol for salt water. I went down to Marco a long time ago and took the bow with me. On past trips we saw a lot of Leopard Rays and I wanted to get one on this new trip. Planned on skinning the wings and punching out a lot of scallops , from them , for a meal. Believe it or not , in the old days some of the commercial fisherman did that and sold them as scallops , you could not tell the difference from then ray wings over the real deal.
Guess what ... you can not use a bow to take them. This was back in the middle 60's , I hate to think what the rules are today.
Chuck.
Joey is demonstrating his famous "shadow shot" here. He aims at the reflection of a bird, sitting in a nearby tree. The arrow ricochets off the water, neatly nailing the surprised bird who, up until that time, had been bemusedly watching and chuckling under his breath.
On that trip, he brought in two humming birds and a cuckoo. Piper San, who usually cooks in a cast iron Dutch oven, fricasseed both humming birds in a tuna can.
On that trip, he brought in two humming birds and a cuckoo. Piper San, who usually cooks in a cast iron Dutch oven, fricasseed both humming birds in a tuna can.
Chuck, I did ship a little water testing how stable the pirogue was. You had to pay attention but that little boat was really predictable.
Kayak Jack said:
Jack , do you mean a shot like Byron Ferguson did with the long bow in the one shooting match when he ricocheted a arrow off those three panels set up in front of the target going down range and hit the bulls eye on the target. Well he did start with one panel to bounce the arrow of of , then went to two and finally used three panels , never missing the bulls eye any time.
If you missed it , it is on the History Channel at times along with Tom Knapp and the magic he can do with a rifle or shotgun.
Chuck.
That's about the only angle you can comfortably shoot, too.
You can probably shoot a few degrees to one side of the bow to past 90 Degrees on your left.
Anything passing on your drawing hand side is pretty safe
You can probably shoot a few degrees to one side of the bow to past 90 Degrees on your left.
Anything passing on your drawing hand side is pretty safe
islandpiper said:
Not like his lazy brother-in-law, Paddy O'Furniture, who just sits around in the sun all day.