Quote from: Latimeria on July 27, 2025, 05:25:21 PM

Quote from: Dark_Knight_9C1 on July 27, 2025, 08:05:56 AM

Quote from: Latimeria on July 01, 2025, 08:38:09 PMDamn, you're getting pretty good with that bow!

Your next goal should be shooting them mid-air in a jump.  

Funny you should mention that. When the carp are spawning they start jumping a lot. I've spent a couple sessions trying to hit them when they jump.
I mostly would shoot where they go into the water because by the time I shoot and the arrow gets there they are in the water.
Occasionally one might be jumping multiple times and I'd be able to shoot mid air.
Never hit one. Although that was the first season I was bowfishing. If they are jumping again I may get one now.

- Keith

Quote from: jrodda on July 30, 2025, 11:01:06 PMCleaning up one lake at a time! Have you tried eating one of them ever?

I'm  not that brave.
In the past I've eaten an opaleye perch which got me extremely sick, so I'm very picky about the fish I eat now.
The smell of the carp reminds me of the smell of the perch when I was cooking it, a little fishy but slightly sweet. It didn't smell bad but reminds me not to go there again. Lol.

- Keith

Quote from: Latimeria on July 01, 2025, 08:38:09 PMDamn, you're getting pretty good with that bow!

I was "practising" all morning on the ones with there backs sticking out of the water. Lol...
Got better when shooting at the ones further out and under water. Also seems to help when I'm shooting at a single fish.

- Keith

Went again to Lake Elsinore sunrise of 7/26/2025 and found the carp were actively feeding along the shoreline again. Lots of groups of carp in the shallows with their backs sticking up out of the water.



They were on the shoreline for about an hour after sunrise and then went further out like last time.

This was only a recon trip since I haven't found a place to easily dispose of them yet.

I did bring a fishing pole and some corn but even casting into the middle of them and dragging my line across there backs didn't get much reaction. Maybe a night crawler would've done better.

Anyway, got more intel. Now I need to talk to our local waste disposal company to find out if they can offer a way to dispose of the fish without putting it in my normal trash and stinking up their trucks.

- Keith

Quote from: Tim524 on July 18, 2025, 06:24:54 AMThat looks like a skill that takes lots of practice but it looks pretty fun too, not as easy as shooting fish in a barrel

Right. I practice on a target at 30 ft. For the closer shots I have to compensate a little. But, like last time, once I get it dialed in I can pretty consistently hit fish.

- Keith

Yes. There are a lot of tourists on the boardwalk.  I do get a lot of curious looks but most are friendly and asking questions.
The locals all thank you for getting rid of those "damn" fish.
The carp are definitely feeding now so would be a good time to go with some corn chum and get them.
Started seeing schools of baby carp in the lake. They kind of look like a fish moving thru the water but have a less distinct shape.
Last year even saw schools of tadpoles along the shoreline and I saw a carp come up and start slurping them up. A fly fisherman took advantage of this and was casting a black nymph and getting a few.

- Keith

I was up at Big Bear Lake on Sunday and did a little bowfishing for carp. I found the lake was getting lower and the water plants were filling in along the shoreline. This made an ideal place to stalk carp feeding in the shallows of the murky water. There wasn't much wind so you could see the carp moving the plants and occasionally see a fin as they fed in the 6 inch deep water.

I was seeing fish and taking shots at them but couldn't quite get the height of the aim right. Probably nicked a few, since they seriously exploded in the shallow water before they swam off.
There were way more fish in the plants then you could see. Just about every shot would scare a few other carp around it and I'd see torpedo trails as they swam off.
Later in the day they were surfacing in groups by the piling of the boardwalk.

Taking a shot at them seemed like a sure thing at only 10 feet away, but apparently there is a lot of space between them because I didn't hit one after shooting at about ten groups I found. Well, that's bowfishing.
I left with a stripe but enjoyed the thrill of stalking the shores for carp.

- Keith

I was just thinking the same thing.... Crickets.

I'm probably going to head up to Big Bear Lake for a day to fix stuff in my cabin. I will definitely have my bow with me for carpin.

- Keith

Did I hear grass carp?!

Where's my bow!

Went to Lake Elsinore this morning to bowfish.  Conditions were good. Calm air, water was smooth  and 81°.

There was tons of baitfish along the shores making lots of distracting splashes. But when I started watching I could see the backs of carp on the surface along the edge.

Was definitely what I expected to get during a spawn. There were large groups of fish all along the mile of shoreline I walked. Once I shot and missed and scared the closet group I'd just walk 25 feet further along and there would be another group. Could've easily got my 30 goal if I'd had a way to transport and dispose of them. Maybe next time...

Got there just before sunrise so the backs of carp in the shallows was my only targets to start with. Made lots of shots on fish but only managed to hit one or two.

About 7:30 I had enough light so I could start seeing the fish below the surface. Water was murky so that meant 6 to 9 inches but made all the difference. Within less than an hour I had 10 fish.


I stopped at that point because I knew I would have to drag whatever I caught back to my truck.

I weighed them and they were all 3 to 5 lb range. So 40lbs to drag back.

People always say aim low.
My favorite shot is when one is swimming towards me about 6 inches below the surface. I like those shots since you shoot low but if you don't shoot low enough to get the head you have the whole body above it.

This was just low enough. 😁

-Keith

PS Anybody want some fish to fertilize their garden?

Went up to the Eastern Sierras last week and camped at Silver Lake in June Lake Loop. Fishing was very slow until Saturday and I heard they had stocked either Thursday or Friday.
I was using night crawlers while everyone else had powerbait. I knew I had to keep the worms off the bottom so the fish could see them so I was inflating them with a syringe. This worked very nicely and I was getting bites almost every cast. When I reeled in, I either had half a worm or the worm wasn't floating.
I was using circle hooks so I could let the smaller ones go but the fish were inhaling the bait and only one actually was hooked in the lip. Made for a quick limit.
I did catch one unusual trout with darker coloration and blue eyes and a blue tint on its lower lip.

The fish were being brought in from other states due to a lot of the California hatcheries having to start over due to an infection. The load which came the following week came from Oregon.


Also put out Crayfish traps and got about 2 dozen. This was one of the biggest.

Claws were a good 2 inches long.

To see the scale of the lot, the largest one above is in the bottom far right of the group.
Had some wind as usual and spent a couple days in Yosemite. All in all a great trip

- Keith

Big Bear Water District is sponsoring a season long carp removal event this year, 2025 Countin' Carp
Started in May and runs thru end of September. 
They give you a raffle ticket each day you bring in fish to dispose of. They have monthly raffles for cash and two special bonus raffles on holiday weekends.

I went up on Memorial Day weekend. They weren't spawning yet so you really had to look for them. They were staying in the deeper water which made finding them from shore harder.
They pretty much would see me first and all I'd see is them rolling sideways on the surface, flipping me the fin.
I managed one on Sunday which got me a raffle ticket. I got another, which had my name on it close to shore and lumbering in the shallows.
Easy head shot. Sweet!


The bonus for the weekend was a phone call after dropping off a fish saying I had won the raffle for the holiday weekend. 
I went back and found I had won a Muzzy Envy bow!


If your not into bowfishing. You can bring up your pole. You can catch the carp either way. In fact I was up there the following weekend and the day after the spawn the carp were apparently hungry. I saw a guy pull one in less than 5 minutes after throwing in a night crawler.
I was under the impression they didn't eat while spawning but apparently some carp were done and on the chew.
I just thought I'd throw it out there if you want to clean up the lake using poles. Corn doughballs as chum work great to attract a bunch of them.

- Keith

I hit Big Bear Lake on May 30th to bowfish and the carp were spawning. 
The water was boiling everywhere but pretty far off shore, which making for some pretty spectacular long shots and lots of them hitting the end of my spool of line, 100 ft. (None actually hitting fish but exactly where they were.)
It was exciting when a group would start heading towards me with a wake in front and frantic splashing in the back. Most circled or would only go 10 feet or so in one direction. But one group was 100 yds away and was heading towards me. Surprisingly it continued straight at me for 50 feet, prompting me to ready my bow. It continued toward me and the splashing started to get more frantic. (Jaws theme song ringing in my head) I drew and when they were about 60 ft away I aimed and shot. The arrow flew true and hit the water just in front of the wake...
But as with most shots where you don't actually see the fish got nothing on the arrow but did get a satisfying splash from the fish as the arrow flashed past it in the water.
I did manage to hit two that day so no stripe for me.
This was a clean shot threw the gills.

Looking forward to seeing them closer to shore next time.

- Keith

Quote from: jrodda on April 20, 2025, 08:53:06 PMNice, that sounds fun.

It's a combination of fishing and hunting. Probably like sight fishing corbina. But the fish doesn't get a choice whether to eat the arrow. 
During the spawn last year, on a good day, I could've got 10 carp. I got 5 and my bow broke. Saw dozens after that which would've made it easy to get 10. Ultimate goal is 30 in a day. For that you need to have a long stringer or a trash can with a dolly.

I bag them in a heavy trash bag so it's not too obvious.  But I'd hate to be around after the trash truck compactor has run a couple times.
We are supposed to put bad food in the yard waste bin. The only problem would be I  can't bag them. I've filled my ice chest with ice last time to see how long it would last and it took about 5 days to melt completely without topping it off. Next time, I'll keep them on ice and top off with my frig icemaker ice. That'll keep them cold enough to put them in the yard waste can.