Going Bowfishing in June for stingrays, decided I don't want to take my hunting bow. So looking for opinions and options.
Here what I've found so far;
Samick Sage - $140
Samick Red Stag - $150
PSE Kingfisher - $125 w/ a drum and arrow $150. Found the older (new in bow) kingfisher bow (no holes in riser to lessen weight and no rubber grip) for $108 bow only.
Cajun Fish Stick - $150 set up w/ drum and arrow.
Not seeing anything in that price range in the classafied.
I already have the a strap on mount for a reel. The guide is supplying the ams reels.
Which one? Suggestions?
Anyone of them should work fine. I'd say it's just a matter of which one you like best.
There is a early 70's Bear Kodiak Hunter in the classifieds for $150.00. That's what I would buy. Can't beat an ol' Bear for Bowfishing.
I have the PSE Kingfisher, and while I would not like it for a hunting bow, it works great for bowfishing. I use a Retriever Reel and shoot off the shelf.
Bisch
I've used a Journey (Samick) the last couple of trips, plan to use it again this year when we go. AMS for the reel. Biggest I've shot so far was around 80#, but we saw bigger.
Muzzy Addict recurve, metal riser, nice laminated limbs, 58" and 40@28in and shoots great, retail about $170 new.
I have a Ragim Impala 58" that pulls 50 lbs @ 28". It is cheap and I have no problem using for bow fishing. PM me if you'd like to try it out / borrow it for your trip.
Whatever you buy is going to get beat all to heck. I would rather shoot a reel than a retriever on big rays, but that's me.
I did that last year and used a PSE Coyote,I liked the metal riser for that kind of stuff and it worked great only problem was that it wasn't a bow i shot all the time and I missed a few at first but once I got the hang of it,all was good..Get a good arrow,I was using just an old carp arrow and they was getting off then I switched to the Muzzy broadhead and started landing them.I'm going back to Wrightsville beach in June for the same thing again but I upgraded to a Hoyt Dorado with 45- 50lb limbs my old Coyote was 55lbs an although I only draw 27" my shoulders felt like they were falling off by the end of the night..
Be hard pressed to beat an old bear. K mag would be good or a grizzly
I just went thru this with my kids are bowfishing bows. All bows we looked at were good bows.
Bought them each a Martin Jaguar elite. Great bows. Also bought them each a samock sage 2 weeks ago as they want to hunt with recurves this year (needed heavy weight that the Martin's I just bought were).
If i was to do it again I would of just bought the sages. They love the sage bows and they a great shooting bows. The Martin is good too but designed for a rest so I had to pad the shelf out half an inch to get arrows to fly right.
The king Fisher is the only bow niether kid liked due to the weight. Good robust bow but also heavy.
After shooting all these different bows with the kids I think the Martin is great if you like a bow similar to the Hoyt Buffalo style bow and the sage feels and shoots very similar to a good custom recurve.
All of these bows will let you shoot a reel or a retriever.
Good luck and have fun with those rays!!
What ever you get your going to want to have a stab bushing or riser bushings so you can mount a retriever. A good arrow is the key to getting penetration and hold on those rays that can pull pretty hard.
Are you going for mainly southern rays, or cownose. For big southern rays you will most likely be using a float it's tough to reel one of them in. For cownose either reel will work. I use an AMS reel for cownose and just give my bow a pitch and hand pull them in, just remember if they take off to LET go of the string! Who are you going out with?
Here's a big southern ray. What ever rig you use get ready for some fun!
(http://i.imgur.com/Br2USEv.jpg)
A couple cownose.
(http://i.imgur.com/busHSPD.jpg)
Man, I want to Bowfishing for rays! That looks like it could be a blast.
Bisch