Bowfishing scientific impact paper

[MoCarp]

https://blog.nature.org/science/2020/10/21/an-overlooked-threat-to-freshwater-fisheries-bowfishing/?fbclid=IwAR3slk2ouMpUGRY4zx7q_vZUHsC7Md2SUSyxMacrcvxkNQ1QDYRrpOH_d_o

[MoCarp]

 

[oneshot 1]

Buffalo are not Carp they are Native Fish and very good eating.

I like using a Rod and Reel.

oneshot

[MoCarp]

[MoCarp]

https://www.ndsu.edu/news/view/detail/37752/

[MoCarp]

 

[MoCarp]

People will travel a great distance to fish for buff....many even from across the pond. You can even hire guides to fish for them....Missouri has or did have monster buff...took a 50 to be a big un...now 30s is a nice fish...since the early 2000s seems far fewer than before....in Oklahoma black buffalo are a species of concern just like Alligator gar, one a day limit and it must be reported to the state...a rule broken every night from March till fall....

[fishinwrench]

Seems to have been a passing fad around here.  4-6 years ago a bunch of guys (and gals) were big into it.  They've all sold their bowfishing rigs now and have gone back to rod/reel fishing.  I've only had one bowfishing rig brought to the shop this year, and it was a pair of guys from Booneville.  

Never see them out over the flats at night anymore either.  Several years ago there would be 2-4 out there every single night.    Still tons of gar and buffalo cruising the flats. I thought for awhile that they had really decimated the population....but they certainly didn't.

[MoCarp]

1 hour ago, fishinwrench said:

Seems to have been a passing fad around here.  4-6 years ago a bunch of guys (and gals) were big into it.  They've all sold their bowfishing rigs now and have gone back to rod/reel fishing.  I've only had one bowfishing rig brought to the shop this year, and it was a pair of guys from Booneville.  

Never see them out over the flats at night anymore either.  Several years ago there would be 2-4 out there every single night.    Still tons of gar and buffalo cruising the flats. I thought for awhile that they had really decimated the population....but they certainly didn't.

I agree it seems to have declined in numbers of people practicing, It is a lot of work to dispose of 300 pounds of fish after a long night shooting, yet only a handful of BFers can devastate the larger fish in a population...It seems the most  pressure is during the spawn, when the biggest fish are concentrated and less wary....
 

The fish definitely act different now, at least the bigger fish seem to be running run deeper...that or the fish populations that ran shallower More vulnerable to getting shot....are gone...... I have noticed more waters said to be “shot out” On the BFer FB groups/pages and increasing hostility to lights getting shined into lakefront property owners at 2am...
new regulations in Texas have given additional protection for Alligator gar...impact on the buffalo population is unknown and unstudied...anecdotally Anglers are Not seeing the really big fish as much...with the new information on aging we can’t know the long term effects...

[oneshot]

I caught a 35 pound Buffalo over at Pomme de Terre Lake on Rod and Reel.

But I use to Bow Fish in Central Missouri during the day time along the river and creeks.

Thinking of catching more Carp for Freezer and Canning.

oneshot