Sunday, July 10, 2005
Shedding some light on night bowfishing
A readin goes here and here and here four decks.
Mark Taylor is outdoors editor at The Roanoke Times.
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The Wild Life blog
Lake Moomaw could use a guy like Joe Pease.
In recent years, the lake has experienced a carp explosion. With their constant rooting along the bottom, the fish turn once-clear coves into muddy messes. It's almost certain that the fish will affect game-fish populations by altering the lake's ecosystem.
Once carp are established, it's pretty hard to get rid of them.
But guys like Pease, an avid bowfisherman, can make a dent.
A big dent.
In one night during a bowfishing tournament this spring, Pease and his partners returned to the dock with 645 fish.
That was high even for these guys, who usually haul in a couple of hundred fish each night.
I connected with Pease on a muggy night in mid-June on Lake Mendota near Madison, Wis., where I was attending the Outdoor Writers Association of America conference.
Pease, who lives in Wyocena, Wis., along with friends Paul Stapelmann and Chris Cass, had agreed to take a few writers out on Mendota for a few hours. Unlike others who host writers at these events, the three weren't trying to get publicity for guiding businesses. They just wanted to give us an introduction to bowfishing in Wisconsin.
These guys are hard core, as serious about their bowfishing as the most avid bass angler is about his tournament fishing.
It starts with their boats, which are rigged specifically for bowfishing.
Pease's boat is a huge aluminum johnboat that's 20 feet long and 6 feet wide. The front features a large raised platform. Between the gunwale and the platform are a series of high-intensity halogen lights, which are powered by a gas generator that snugs into the boat's center console.
"The one bad thing about bowfishing at night is that it's not exactly peaceful," said Pease, a 36-year-old elementary school teacher, above the hum of his boat's generator.
In addition to outboard motors and trolling motors, some serious bowfishing boats feature air fans so they can skim through extremely shallow water. The fan is about the only option Pease doesn't have on his craft.
We started fishing -- or hunting -- along the lake's southern shore within a few hundred yards of the beautiful lighted dome of the Wisconsin state capitol building.
It wasn't easy.
Mendota is typically crystal clear, but the lake was experiencing an algae bloom. Visibility was poor. When we finally found some carp, they were in shallow water and had muddied the water so badly it was impossible to see the fish.
Amazingly, Pease was getting off some shots, aiming more at wakes than at fish.
His speed was impressive. One second he would have his right hand on his trolling motor. The next he would be drawing his Renegade recurve bow and flinging an arrow into the water.
Despite the tough conditions, the quick-draw expert managed to put a few carp in our barrel.
Having exhausted the carp hole, we headed for some weedbeds in the middle of the lake. Immediately we started spotting longnose gar, another non-game fish popular with bowfishermen.
Gar are not as spooky as carp. In some cases they would dart off only 15 feet or so after a miss. That was good for me, and I eventually started connecting.
Off for the summer, Pease could have stayed out all night. Often, that's what he does. But I was flying out the next day so by 2 a.m, I was ready to call it a night.
At the dock we met up with the other shooters. Our total take was pretty paltry compared to what these guys are used to. Among our three boats we had maybe a dozen gar and a half-dozen carp.
I've had better shooting during the day on Smith Mountain Lake, but that's not what this trip was about. It was educational, and it was also about getting to know some new people and gaining a better understanding of their passion.
That passion was so infectious I'm currently trying to figure out an affordable way to rig my boat for night bowfishing. I'd like to make a dent in Moomaw's carp population, even if it's a small dent.
