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There is no need for anymore education, just action. Im sick of this [censored] and am doing something about.

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Switch to decaf?

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Fact:

During a MN Senate hearing in 2009 MNDNR Director of Enforcement Col. Jim Konard testified they see no more or less violations with the sport of bowfishing when compared to other hunting and fishing activities.

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Just to clarify anything that may have come across wrong in my posts (can’t speak for anyone else).

My statement about the maturity of bowfishers is neither fact nor emotion. It is an observation. Over the years I’ve come across many people acting unethically (and/or illegally) in terms of fish and game laws (I’m sure most people have). Percentage wise, my observations show a higher number on the bowfisher end. Now, that could be chance or it could be that anglers and hunters may be hiding it better.

Quick question because your fact is a little foggy. Does Jim Konard state that the total number of violations is the same? or that the percentage (relative to the number of participants) is the same?

I’m curious because the percentage would be the telling statistic, as you well know there are fewer bowfishers than anglers in the state.

I’m not calling you out. I’m curious and like having as many facts as possible. I honestly have no wishes to see bowfishing ended assuming it is managed properly.

Unfortunately, not everyone in the world is honest and as such laws will always need to exist.

The thing that scares me is misinformation. There are plenty of people in MN who honestly think that native roughfish are damaging to waterways, some people even feel the same way about pike, catfish, sturgeon, bass, you name it. Heck, bowfishing opened up for SM Bass in MN arrowhead region you’d see some guys rushing to get into the sport (where they are an exotic species, and can harm other species populations in some of the lakes).

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schollmeier, I don’t know many bowfishers, but all the ones I do know, know the laws and are very watchful of their actions because…well, they don’t want their privilege taken away.

However, you are correct that their is a stigma that goes with bowfishing. One would trust that they would follow the 5 or 10 channel cat limit as catch and kill anglers do.

I think sometimes we forget that there are people that still keep fish.

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I keep fish (of many different species) but I cannot say I can remember the last time I kept a limit of anything. It was probably stocker trout from a put-and-take lake.

Repeated taking limits of any species isn’t responsible. I know bowfishers who would be responsible and I’ve talked to some that would likely not be.

Plain and simple it is a tough situation and the ultimate management tool will always be personal choice. I just hope we can improve the numbers of Anglers, Bowfishers, and Hunters to responsibly use their power of choice.

Unfortunately, I run into individuals on a regular basis that make me question their ability to handle responsibility with our natural resources.

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Being the pot stirrer I am…

Wouldn’t the release in bowfishing be passing on shooting a fish? It’s not being caught so there isn’t anything to release.

Like when a hen pheasant jumps up and you don’t squeeze the trigger on your shotgun or in deer hunting letting the doe or small bucks go?

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True.

The one issue I see is an attitude that persists in too many bowfishers. This is an attitude that was common in angling and hunting in the past but has become a rarity. However, in bowfishing it seems to still be quite common.

The attitude is that success is measured by the body count. Once upon a time you could only judge a good day of fishing or hunting by taking home a “limit,” and the bigger the limit the better.

It maybe because bowfishing has not been popular for very long, maybe as it grows it will “grow up.” Mind you taking out large numbers of exotics is one thing, but stacking barrels full of Cats, Walleyes, Buffalo, Redhorse, whatever is something else entirely.

I know for a fact there are responsible bowfishers who would use this opportunity well, I’m just not convinced yet that the “average” bowfishing population has matured enough yet.

Back on topic…

The way I see it… make bowfishing all species (honoring bag limits) or make it all exotic species (goldfish, carp, trout, salmon). Stop screwing around with meaningless definitions.

I’m serious, what would be the harm done on opening musky and walleye to bowfishing? Everyone tells me bowfishing is harder than angling anyway so the impact should be minimal.

It should be noted that Texas opened a Catfish bow season in 2006 and by 2008 they closed it. This is Texas a state with tons of cats, I’d be curious to find out the exact reasoning behind closing the season back up (I don’t have time to look right now)

<tangent> Sorry Hanson, with all due respect, I call BS. Find me one recent, empirical study showing the “benefits” of removing a native species like Buffalo from our waters. The is only one difference between removing Buffalo and removing walleye or channel cats with bow. That is that very few people target buffalo (they are tasty but boney) so the species can handle some extra harvest.

What really chaps my hide is that MN is behind the times on protecting rare species. WI has been protecting several rare “roughfish” for many years (black buffalo, goldeye, black redhorse, river redhorse, greater redhorse, blue sucker). MN is behind on it because they didn’t think those fish would get harvested but it is happening and that is a problem. </tangent>

Bowfin are native and pretty widespread across the central and eastern parts of the continent.

Snakeheads look somewhat similar, but are completely unrelated.

To the OP – Nice ‘fin!

Sportsmen? I’m sorry I can’t call night bowfishermen sportsmen. Day bowfishermen maybe. Should we make ground swatting ducks and spotlight shooting deer legal? Then it’d be easier to be a “sporting” deer hunter or waterfowler. Maybe open up a snagging season for walleyes, those @#$@ things are always stealing my bait…

Don’t worry pug I know enough to keep at least one open can of stinkbait between myself and Brian….

I’m not sure I should be taking advice from a guy who catches smaller flatheads than I do…

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After you mix the carp and the dough, do you bake before eating, or fry? I would think a good side dish would be some 7 lbs bass, or maybe even a eagle fillet

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Usually we stuff the Carp (with a 7lb. Bass inside) into a Muskie. The doughball helps keep it together. Then you put it on an 16/0 hook and your ready to catch sand sharks…

Tony

I live in Prescott and can say that the pier does produce both channels and flats if only a bit on the sporadic side. Sprind/early summer are more consistant than mid/late summer. Anywhere on the pool where you find concentraitions of baitfish can produce cats, otherwise the advice the others have put forth is pretty good.

I’ll probably be down there tonight to drown some bluegills, you can keep the stinkbait Brian… that stuff doesn’t go in my boat. It does work though, I’ve had pretty good success using it from shore in summer. It also prevents people from crossing your lines… or at least doing it more than once

If you want I can bring down some homemade carp doughbait, smells a lot better than the stinky stuff.

Hey farmboy, good to see you found a fish, my only cat for the night was a 9″ channel caught baitfishing. Once I had my bait my starter on the boat promptly locked up, while fixing it the spring jumped ship so I figured I’d call it a night.

Tony

I’ll be there sometime late this afternoon to pick mine up. See ya later.

Tony

No pictures, but I did release all of them… with a good shove to get them moving downstream where some other lucky angler can catch them. The 40″ was pretty skinny, not like some of the sticks I catch when the water is high…

You have nothin’ on some of the spots I’ve found for sticks, I’ve been prefishing P3 all year for them. The other night I got 2 in one cast, not to mention a dandy 40″er earlier in the day…

I’m in, although I may be going in alone the way things look at the moment. That’s alright, I’m planning to take first in the stick, turtle, and jet skier categories…

There are Muskies in the St. Croix but they NEVER go south of Afton. The rest of the river is all speed boats, 13″ walleyes, and 10″ sheepies…

Mmmm… Guinness… I like my beer like my river.. thick and dark. If you can find it “Mississippi Mud” beer is pretty decent too.

That could be seeing as carp are not a native specie. The problem comes when people confuse the native buffalo with carp, two completely different fish (buffalo are suckers and carp are minnows) that look fairly similar, and if that once was a law it is no longer. Not that anyone should release a bighead carp or a silver carp, those should go straight to the nearest DNR office for reporting.

It is not currently illegal to return any fish to the water unharmed, and it is infact illegal to “waste” fish or game (as in killing them and tossing them in the water or on shore). I was told by someone that once upon a time it was once illegal to return roughfish to the water alive but I really think this is probably false. This is a rumor that seems to still exsist in some areas amongst people who can’t seem to understand that sheepies, doggies, gar, suckers, bullheads and buffalo are a part of the ecosystem. Carp are another story all together but it is still illegal to “wantonly waste” them.

It hasn’t been illegal to return roughfish to the water since a long time ago, if that ever was a rule. Quite honestly I doubt it was but it may have been back when there was a bounty on muskies and northerns because they eat “more desirable” fish. There are laws against “wanton waste” in both MN and WI. Basically it is illegal to kill a fish and throw it on shore or back in the water. The smaller ones are pretty good eating if you want a meal. They also eat mussels (like zebra mussels) and have been swimming in the ‘sippi for as long as the Walleyes have been so they are a pretty intergated part of the ecosystem. Stop the hating of roughfish, besides roughfish make good bait and are easier to hook than a walleye.

Yeah, I’ve seen it quite a few times as well. They are weird fish, I think this goes under the same category as following baits (low and slow, hot fish are different), sitting motionless just under the surface (like a gar), and hitting the bait belonging to the newbie. This category how muskies attempt to drive musky fisherman nuts (more than we all ready are).

I’ve had good success with stinkbait from time to time. I don’t usually make it to pool 5 but I have caught channels there on stink. I’m a fan of sonny’s bait, for me you just have to re-apply every 15-20mins and wait… and wait… Usually a decent amount of current helps, the fish seem to smell it and work their way towards it. You dont’t catch anything for a hour, and then start catching them as they start to find it. That’s been my experience at least. I haven’t caugh too many big ones though on it though. I’ve caught several around 10-12lbs but none bigger and most are smaller (2-5lbs). The stuff works just keep it downwind and in the water for a long time.

Oh yeah, and when shore fishing it works great to keep people away who like to fish too close and cross your lines.

If you have a fly rod you could use any fly that looks like a cottonwood seed if there are any in the water. This time of year Buffalo and Carp of will eat these seeds off the surface. They are a ton of fun on a 5wt. However, if they can see you odds are you wont catch much.

There is was about 8″ two days ago in the bay by Maiden Rock. I didn’t get any fish, be carefull if you do go ice on the river a vary a lot. Your probably better off taking the boat out if you goal is ‘eyes.

Thanks for the info. I haven’t posted on this site since before they changed the format, however long ago that was. College has been eating up too much of my fishing time the last couple years. Anyway, I’ll check out the dike road and finger lakes on Sat. most likely and I’ll watch out for the springs.

Tony

Any update on the finger lakes? Is there going to be enough ice to fish them this weekend?

Thanks,
Tony