Bowfishing from canoes

captain caveman · May 15, 2013, 08:30:00 AM

As turkey season winds down my mind goes to bowfishing. I do most of mine from canoe. Some planned modifications for this season:
Rig - removable front and rear bed side racks to transport canoe using a hitch mounted set up now which is tough be yourself
Anchor - switching to Bruce anchor on a trolley system will post pics if I figure out how
Boat - need to add foam or some flat floor on front to make level shooting platform
Light - I would like to find a powerful headlight and not have any light attached to me bow
Just some of my thoughts would love pics, tips, Input, and suggestions form the gang on bowfishing from canoes

landman · May 15, 2013, 09:46:00 AM

Wear a life jacket.

lt-m-grow · May 15, 2013, 11:06:00 AM

Not a ton of bowfishers here or at least not a lot of shared stories relating to bowfishing...some but not much.

Might want to google this... I have seen some serious canoe rigs for bowfishing that include PVC out riggers and all...

Centex · May 15, 2013, 11:23:00 AM

I am considering the canoe method. Question about your light idea. Will your bow and bow arm obstruct the headlamp too much?

ChuckC · May 15, 2013, 12:33:00 PM

Check out the pontoon thing. It helps with stability.

ChuckC

Centex · May 15, 2013, 12:54:00 PM

QuoteOriginally posted by ChuckC:
Check out the pontoon thing. It helps with stability.

ChuckC

Anybody have pictures of DIY pontoon?

ChuckC · May 15, 2013, 01:44:00 PM

I bought one that is OK. It fits onto the center thwart via a set of rod holders (fishing) and a 2-3 ft PVC tube, and so is adjustable for angle. They can be pulled up for distance paddling, then lowered for use. I Like the design but not so much the materials. You can make a set that are stronger. I will post pix later. I also think the float or pontoon portions need to be more substantial than these are. I will be working on fixing that in the next week or so.

These are best used during the day I think, although having a couple 50w LED lights on the front and side of the canoe might be nice. Fed by a battery in the center of the craft, it could add to stability. Keep the lights on your shooting side, so you aren't tempted to keep turning to both sides.

ChuckC

PRK · May 15, 2013, 03:14:00 PM

You should check out the ethafoam canoe stabilizer floats made by Spring Creek Outfitters in Mountain Iron, MN. I have used a set for years standing and flycasting from a canoe and never dumped the canoe but use a life jacket also. They have a web site.

VTer · May 15, 2013, 08:28:00 PM

This is my home made rig. Made the pods out of plywood and fiberglassed over them. The frame is all plywood as well and is bolted to the center thwart.

Centex · May 15, 2013, 08:43:00 PM

VTer, that is awesome.

captain caveman · May 15, 2013, 09:03:00 PM

Ok vter that's exactly what I was hoping to see. Is that a platform in center to shoot from? Would love to see how it's attached to canoe. Lighting? I think could push pole in the shallows from that platform. You definitely reduced the biomass of that pond. Impressive

VTer · May 15, 2013, 09:23:00 PM

With the outriggers, I've had 3 guys and 1 would be on the center platform. Two worked better. Naturally I'd be the one running the trolling motor putting everyone else into the fishies. I never ran lights or been out at night with it. Its attached by just 2 carriage bolts on each side that went thru the center thwart with wing nuts. We would generally start out paddling with the pontoons facing up and attached them when we got to where we were going to fish. I did do a lot of poling before I got the trolling motor, which worked well but not as nice as the motor, except in the reel weedy stuff. The picture is not a pond even though it looks that way. Its actually a setback from Lake Champlain which has some great bowfishing. These are pictures of my origional model and fiberglassing the pods of the new updated model in the first picture.

Gen273 · May 15, 2013, 09:28:00 PM

Wow, that is a cool idea VTer!

ArrowCraCra · May 16, 2013, 04:10:00 PM

Sweet! That is a great slime busting rig.

FerretWYO · May 16, 2013, 04:50:00 PM

Shooting fish is so much fun

that is a pretty cool rig to do it in

bretto · May 17, 2013, 08:51:00 AM

If you don't have the tools or the skill level to build the outriggers like Vter you can use a couple of 5 gallon buckets. A 4 ft long piece of 8-10" PVC pipe on each side will add a lot of stability also.

bretto

May 17, 2013, 10:52:00 AM

We have used Spring Creek Outfitters lashing bars and clamps to tie two canoes together. We can get eight feet of spread with them, this is as stable as a pontoon boat. Spring Creek also has the stabilizers that are adjustable, but I just convert one of my lashing rigs into a float clamps.

VTer · May 18, 2013, 07:23:00 AM

bretto, you are right. My origional float system had 2 pails per side. Talk about a tug boat going thru the water, but it was rock solid.