Bowfishing Boats plus ideas to create your own bowfishing adventure.
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The Best Bowfishing Boats and How Bow Fishermen Are Rigging Up Their Boats to Bowfish
I used an Allweld aluminum 16'x52" boat that was given to me by my brother-in-law (Free-bee's are always nice). A friend of mine welded up the bowfishing deck with a shin rail to lean up against and mount my lights underneath. I purchased a 36hp Vanguard Prodrive mud motor for moving about in the marshes. Added a few (meaning 8) 150w High Pressure Sodium Bowfishing Lights.
Any boat can be converted for a few hundred dollars to shoot at night. The biggest expense you may acquire would be a small portable bowfishing generator. You don't need eight bowfishlights to get started. I personally started off with the less expensive halogen lights and only had four of them. Then with time and exposure to this fun bowfishing activity I moved up to the ever so popular high pressure sodium lights to improve all of our shooters night vision while hunting down the fish.
What Will Make The Ultimate Bowfishing Boat?
Bowfishing Boats come in all shapes, sizes, price and styles. Most importantly ask yourself what are you bowfishing for and what time in a twenty four hour day will you be bowfishing. Most bowfishing boats are multi-purposed boats to both hunt and bowfish out of. There are the bowfishing enthusiasts out there that do prefer to only bowfish though.A great bowfishing boat is simply put as one that will get you out on the water and have a good time while bowfishing. Breaking down is the only bummer while bowfishing. No buddy likes to breakdown while being out on the water.
You can always use the boat you have with little modifications to create a bowfishing shooting deck. Permanently mounted Bowfishing lights always help when shooting at night. Hand held lights or head lamps are hard to use and are very cumbersome in a boat.
A shin rail is also recommended for the bowfishing shooter since the boat is always on the move.
The Midwest use trolling and fan motors while bowfishing to get around in the grass areas.
Bowfishing boats down in the lower forty-eight are either a true airboat or an aluminum Jon boat with a mud motor. The air boats are very noisy with the large blades chopping the air to move. I personally prefer the Jon/mud motor combination since it is much more quit while operating and I can communicate with my bowfishing shooters. Plus if you travel into a tight spot you can always drive strait out the way you went in with full power reverse.
Most importantly don't forget your bowfishing gear like :
Bowfishing Bows
Bowfishing Arrows
Bowfishing Lights
Bowfishing Line
All in all, any bowfishing boat that gets you out bowfishing is a great boat.
2011 Bowfishing Boat made by: AMS
We can all dream about the the ultimate bowfishing boat!
AMS bowfishing has done it right when building there 2011 tournament bowfishing boat.
If I won the lottery tomorrow (because I have the winning ticket :), I would have the creators at AMS design and build me rig identical to there's at no expense.
Three modes of propulsion would make any bowfishing hunt ideal. A quick outboard to get to the bowfishing location is always nice providing more hunting time and less time making your way to your favorite fishing hole. Looking at the photo they have a trolling motor on the bow of the bowfishing boat so the driver can shoot with all the other shooters and jump into the fun. The small air-boat fan will give that extra thrust in really shallow waters.
The bowfishing light system they installed is outrageously massive. Although you only see half of the bowfishing lights in this picture it appears to have about ten 250w /www.squidoo.com/high-pressure-sodium-bowfishing-lights">High Pressure Sodium or Metal Halide bowfishing lights.
The must have several hundrud man hours in creating this ultimate bowfishing boat and spared no expense in creating a unique and artfully complete paint job to match there rig.
How to install Bowfishing Lights, step by step.
How to install bowfishing lights, pictures are worth a thousand words.
I spent the better part of a weekend installing my bowfishing lights.
I edited a few of the pictures I took while working because if your like me and hate to read the (How To) and would rather start your project and figure it out as you go along, these images may help.
Long shaft bowfishing trolling boat motor (45")
Minn Kota Edge 45/L&D Bow - mount 12V 5 - speed Trolling Motor
Johnson Outdoors MinnKota Edge Bow 45-Pound Thrust Mount Trolling Motor with 45-Inch Shaft
Amazon Price: (as of 05/30/2012)
Works very well with elevated bowfishing decks.
Now the bowfishing driver can drive plus jump into the bowfishing fun.
No need to change out shooting for driving. Enjoy the whole evening as a bowfishing shooter.
Bowfishing push pole
Duck foot push pole
Hunters Specialties Push Pole Foot
Amazon Price: (as of 05/29/2012)
Don't get your feet wet when the water is low and you run aground.
A very nice addition when your running in shallow water.
Attaches easily to most extension poles.
Small Bowfishing Boat Made From A Little Jon Boat
Looks like a small fishing boat that was in grandpas' back yard and was repurposed for bowfishing. Whatever it takes to get you out on the water I guess.This bowfishing was a great idea and it look like very little cost to create with a bowfishing deck with the lights install underneath. Maybe $100 in lights, $200 in a trolling motor and grab the backup generator out of there shed. Bowfishing boat designed foe probably less than $400.
Bowfishing Trolling Boat Motor that is worth metioning for your next bowfishing trip!
- Digital Variable Speed Control minimizes amp draw and maximizes fishing time - fish over 3x longer than a 5-speed motor
- Legendary Great White corrosion protection and durability
-Large diameter 1.25" aluminum shaft for greater strength and durability
-Powerful 3.5" diameter VariMAX Digital motors run cooler and last longer
-Revolutionary intuitive push / pull, forward and reverse speed adjustments
-Precise BluVis integrated speed and battery indicator
-Aluminum Mount with 7-point adjustment eliminates slack
-One-touch, rapid slide-depth adjustment collar
-Extendable Tri-Lobe, soft-touch handle, you set the length for the perfect feel and control
-Easy to adjust with a simple Allen wrench, the VariMAX?s head can be repositioned for use on the bow, transom or even the side of your boat
MotorGuide VariMax V55SW Saltwater TM Trolling Motor - Hand Control - 12V, 55lb, 36" Shaft
Amazon Price: $442.97 (as of 05/30/2012)
This trolling motor works very well when bowfishing for grass carp. We have all experienced the "flying grass carp" from the load noises produced from the typical outboard engines. This will reduce noise when bowfishing and allow you to creep up on prey.
Bowfishing Trolling Boat Motors
Most Popular Bowfishing Trolling Boat Motors Used In the Midwest While Shooting At Asian Carp
Bowfishing Lights on Bowfishing Boats
Learn all about installing and purchasing bowfishing lights
Bowfishing Lights
Bowfishing boat lights that are popular now
Extreme Bowfishing Radical Boat
A bowfishing boat that we all wish we had!
-The installed a elevated shooters deck. (looks like it will hold three bowfishing shooters w/no problems)
-Above the steering control spotter deck. (making a raised shooter/spotter deck for a fourth person)
-Outboard engine to get to the bowfishing hole quickly.
-Trolling motor mounted on the forward deck. (the driver can shoot at the same time while driving)
-Fan motor mounted with forward control to allow the driver the ability to shoot while driving the bowfishing rig.
I wish I had the money to make the ideal bowfishing rig like Extreme Bowfishing. They have given us all many great ideas to get our bowfishing boats ready though. Whether your in the marshes hunting gar and reds or killing carp in the northwest trolling motors and fan motors will work well on any setup.
I have some hand picked items to get most of you started who already have a fishing boat that can be converted to a bowfishing boat located on a new blog - Bowfishing. You'll find some of the basic's like bowfishing generators, bowfishing bow's and gear, and bowfishing lights.
Bowfishing Gear
- Bowfishing Bows
- Zero let-off and recurve bowfishing bows
- Bowfishing Arrows
- Pre-made bowfishing arrows or build them from blanks
- Bowfishing Bow - Rest
- Trophy Ridge , Wave roller, and the Fish hook are all great bowfishing rest. It always depends on what you learn to shoot first when bowfishing and what you are willing to learn from other people who bowfish.
- Bowfishing line
- Muzzy and AMS bowfishing line
- Bowfishing retrievers
- Hand wrap, spin cast and retrievers reels
- Bowfishing Generators
- Suitcase and portable bowfishing generators. Powering up your night with a dependable bowfishing generator.
- Bowfishing Lights
- High pressure sodium and halogen bowfishing lights. Best bang for the buck in my bowfishing opinion.
Bowfishing lights on eBay
Bowfishing Gift Store
New Bowfishing Clothing Designs
Bowfishing clothing created by your fellow bowfishing enthusiast.
We all like to dress the part while bowfishing in are lucky bowfishing clothing.
Carp Bowfishing T-shirt
Leave Your Pole At Home
New Bowfishing t-shirt gift ideas. No reason to take your pole when you have a bow!
Carp Bowfishing T-shirt by bowfishing
Sell art online at Zazzle.
Best selling bowfishing t-shirt to date.
My Prodrive Outboard Bowfishing Motor (brand new)
Prodrive is the only bowfishing motor to handle the marshes and traveling down the bayou
Although bowfishing can be done from the shore, bowfishers most often shoot from boats. Flat bottom "john boats" and canoes are used in areas of low water, as they have less draw, but are unsuitable for open water. Larger boats can accommodate multiple hunters. Many of these boats are highly customized specifically for bowfishing, with raised shooting platforms, and generators to provide electrical power to multiple lights for bowfishing at night. Many also incorporate some type of fan propulsion for operating in very shallow waters. The fan and motor are generally mounted on a raised platform at the stern.
I prefer the mud motor from Prodrive. It offers a very dependable motor and lower unit setup. With the 36hp Vanguard the motor is almost unstoppable in mud and grassy situations. The full power reverse means if you get stuck going into a narrow or shallow situation you can always drive out the way you went in. Since I purchased this mud motor I haven't used my push once to get out of the mud.
What can a mud motor do for Bowfishing?
Get shallow!
-Mud motors work great in lilies.
-Mud motor work great in grassy areas.
To name a couple different mud motor popular engines in the south are the Prodrive and GatorTail.
These two similar but, different engine are tried and true to the south and the favorites among the hunters and fishermen getting it done in the bayou's.
Bowfishing - Love it! or Hate it!
Bowfishing would like to hear about all your bowfishing trips!
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dndcomputerservices
Apr 29, 2012 @ 12:01 pm | delete
- Nice lenses
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greyheadedmarketer
Apr 17, 2012 @ 4:12 pm | delete
- Very good lenses. I like bowfishing a lot better then sitting and waiting for them to bite.
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firstcliq
Mar 4, 2012 @ 11:04 am | delete
- Now this is pretty freaking cool! What is the biggest type of fish that you can bowfish for? My lens is on boat building. I am documenting the build with step by step videos there. One of the plans that I was looking at could be easily modified to one of these bowfish boats. I would love some input on my lense. http://www.squidoo.com/boat-building-will-this-one-float
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OhMe Jan 22, 2012 @ 5:37 pm | delete
- I did not know much about Bowfishing so enjoyed reading about it.
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Boatgone
Jan 18, 2012 @ 5:51 pm | delete
- Great lens! I've never heard of bowfishing before, looks pretty cool but difficult.
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aesta1
Oct 8, 2011 @ 8:41 pm | delete
- This is really interesting.
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pvgglobal
Jul 21, 2011 @ 7:31 am | delete
- Learning more about boats or other kinds of water crafts is important especially if you like spending time offshore. Safety is already important because there are moments that cannot be predicted when on voyage. Water sports, cruising, or fishing is all but fun but you should also learn basic troubleshooting and learn the kind of materials used in building your boat ( www.pvgglobal.com - for instance) In that way, you know that you are in good hands and that your water craft is strong enough to withstand various kinds of weather conditions while at sea.
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totallyclever
Jun 13, 2011 @ 7:23 am | delete
- Hey, nice selection of equipment on show.
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About Bowfishing
Building Bowfishing lenses and everything about living in the south
by bowfishing
Hello fellow online enthusiast. My name Is Sean.
I moved to Louisiana in the later part of 2000. My career as a Commercial Diver brought me to the Gulf...
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