Posted by Jerry Long, February 22, 2010

I don’t always hear all that well, especially with background noise, but I’m sure I heard Seth say, “This will be the best Valentine’s Day ever,” as we pulled the sled through snow and ice towards our first winter bowfishing adventure. 

A Quest

Since posting Winter Bowfishing I’ve been on a quest to shoot fish when the ice and snow are hanging about.  With the closing of deer season Seth started working intel on Lake Links while I worked logistics and dates.  As Seth will testify; once I pick a date I stuck to it like a pit-bull on an intruder – come heck or high-water, literally.  Gathered intel indicated we had two regions to pick from; central Wisconsin along the river (a 3.5 hour drive) or eastern Wisconsin along the lake front (a 1.5 hour drive).  Seth wisely advised taking the shorter drive and saving the longer trip for Camp Pug’s annual ice-fishing outing which I’d be up for anyway.

A Trip Turned Scouting

When the chosen Saturday arrived 8-9 mph northeast winds drove me into the gym for my weekly marathon-training long-run.  That should have been a warning, but as Seth commented on my disposition, “You’re not stubborn, just dedicated.”  Thanks buddy.  He once again warned me the effects that northeast winds would have on the lake, but I was dedicated (stubborn) and chose to drag us both along.  With some detailed directions from a generous Lake Link’s user we headed towards the designated spot.  We were greeted with lots of ice and 18-24 inch waves that definitely did not look safe to wade in.  After some scouting from different directions we determined we’d come back again when the wind was more from the west and slower.

Success, Finally

With commitments through the following Saturday I decided to return the following Sunday pending wind conditions.  As all looked well we loaded up and headed out.  A mid-week snowstorm had laid down significant amounts of ice along the lake front – as much as 2-3 feet.  It was absolutely not safe to enter the water along most of the shore.  Once in a person could never ascend the 2-3 foot ice walls and the waves would batter you to exhaustion.  We looked south to see two people and a dog in the misty fog so we headed in that direction.  As we arrived they were no where to be seen yet there was no where for them to go.  Magic, it seemed, turned out to be a stairwell we’d not noticed before.

The foggy, wavy lakefront. 

We climbed the stairwell and followed a cat-walk to find two trout fisherman dunking lures beyond carp 7-10 yards away.  Ahh, the one piece of intel we didn’t have was to climb the stairs and follow the cat-walk.  With hearts a-pumping we returned to the truck to gather equipment. 

Equipment

Our intel indicated we needed waders, that we’d be in the water shooting fish (shooting at fish…).  Having no experience with waders I consulted Seth (a waterfowler and sometimes trout fisherman) who recommended neoprene boot footed waders for general use.  Of course everything was too large for my short legs, but I found a pair of size 8, neoprene, $99 waders on sale for $59 at Gander Mountain that would do.

My first winter carp with ice and snow in the background.

Other than that the normal equipment discussed in Anatomy of a Bowfishing Rig served us well.  One major difference was the need to transport the fish between 1/4 and 1/2 mile from point-of-harvest to the truck.  In the short term we decided on a plastic sled with our normal carp bucket inside.  For the future we may go to some sort of cart for this location. 

Bowfishing, WI style.

With an air temperature at less than 30 degrees our AMS retrievers would freeze up and so would our hands, but due to the warmer water temperatures in this area we could dunk them in to unfreeze or warm them up.  I ended up wearing a heavy winter glove on my bow hand, but I can’t stand to wear anything on my shooting hand.  The AMS safety slides would also freeze to our arrows in undesirable locations, but would usually break free when drawn across the rest.    

Strategy/Technique

Shot opportunities came in two kinds; from the top of elevated structures along the lakefront and in the waves.  The carp would frequent and congregate in certain areas visible from the elevated structures offering us 5-10 yard shots.  That is a 5-10 yard instinctive shot at a moving target, with 12-18 inch waves while considering refraction.  A challenging shot indeed.  My first shot managed to find the eye-ball on a nice one.  However, despite a head-shot normally being a good anchor, the fish pulled off when I tried to retrieve it up to my level.  Disappointing.  From then on the shooter would drag the fish into the shoreline while the other person would help to retrieve the fish from below – teamwork.  The other problem here is that carp aren’t totally dumb.  A couple of shots were all a shooter would get off before they stayed away for a little while.  That was a little boring.   

The other shot opportunities came while taking a walk through the waves.  We’d circle down the beach to the south, enter the water and stalk back to the north in about 2 1/2 to 3 feet of water.  Shooting like this has always been a challenge for me due to my short carcass and the need to keep the bow’s bottom limb out of the water at the shot.  We learned to face our right sides to the waves to keep from being battered.  Doing this we also learned to look in the trough or slack water following a wave to spot fish.  Shooting from and into the trough allowed me to keep the bottom limb out of the water.    

Danger

Ice, snow, freezing temperatures, water, waders and intent to enter the water.  If that doesn’t sound like a recipe for disaster I don’t know what would.  Seth’s better half and mother caught on pretty quickly, labeled me as crazy and wished Seth not to go.  Mrs. dustyvarmint caught on a little later, but we both promised to be safe (and made sure our insurance policies were up to date).  As with any adventure having a partner to look out for you, notifying people of your intended location and employing common-sense go a long way.  There is no chance I’d enter the water in many sections of beach in that stretch, but in this particular location I have no fear of the conditions.  

Good “In-Between Season” Adventure

Eventually the wind kicked up the waves too high and we grew tired of waiting for the carp to come back to the elevated locations.  In total we took five fish with the largest being an 11-pounder.  We lost three-to-five more trying to retrieve them.  It was a blast.  If you are looking for something to do with your bow between deer and turkey season keep an eye out for an opportunity like winter bowfishing.  We had a great time, plan to go back and had, “the best Valentine’s Day ever.”

Seth poses with the results of our first winter bowfishing adventure. 

happy hunting, dv

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