Night Bowfishing Adventure — 19 Oct. 2012 — Stillhouse Hollow






Tonight I welcomed aboard Andy M., his son Trent, and Trent’s high school buddy and football teammate, Andy A., all from N. Austin. Tonight’s trip was a bow fishing adventure. Trent has been bowfishing several times and, in fact, holds bowfishing records on Stillhouse, whereas this was Andy’s first go at it.


Trent (L) and Andy (R) and a nice night’s catch.

We got on the water around 6:30p so we could do some target shooting and pin/sight adjustment in the failing light. Once darkness set in we were off hunting carp, gar, and smallmouth buffalo.

My last bowfishing trip was in August with the water temperature at its annual high and there was noticeably more shad in the shallows than we witnessed tonight with the water now a full 12 + degrees off of that high.

The sighting/shooting was pretty consistent with roughly a 5:1 ratio of carp to buffalo.

This was the second full day of calm conditions with the winds light from the north until around 5pm, then going flat for about the first 2 hours of darkness. Unfortunately, after that, around 9:30pm, a light southerly breeze kicked in, but, as you know if you’ve ever tried this, even a light wind plays havoc with light penetration and your ability to spot fish.

By the time the winds came up too strongly for us to escape it, the time was 11:30p and we’d managed to bag 3 carp and 1 buffalo. The largest of the four was one of the carp which, on a certified scale, weighed in at 7.25 pounds.

While both boys shot at about as many fish as the other, tonight was Trent’s night, bagging all 4 of the fish that came aboard. Andy A. was a good sport and, despite missing, didn’t get discouraged or frustrated, but rather stuck with it right to the last shot. It’s not uncommon for “rookies” to go without a hit until their minds “grasp” the concept of how light bends (refracts) in water and how objects simply are not where they appear to me. Finally, it “clicks” and then the learning curve flattens a bit from then on.

Go Warriors!!








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