How to Sight in a Fishing Bow
A fishing bow shoots an arrow with a special harpoon head designed to enter into a fish's body and remain lodged while the bow-fisher retrieves the fish by pulling in the line attached to the arrow. A major difference in bow fishing versus bow hunting is the refractive index of water. The target, a fish, is not really where it appears to be because water bends the light reflected from the fish. When sighting-in your fishing bow, this refractive effect must be taken into account.
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Things You'll Need
- Hunting bow with fishing devices (reel, ring, line) attached
- Fishing arrow
- 12-inch thick, bound with twine (do not use wire), stack of newspapers
- Length of brightly colored wrapping paper sufficient to cover one side of the newspaper stack
- Pair of pliers
Instructions
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1
Remove the heavy wire barb from the arrowhead using a pair of pliers. This is the heavy piece of rotating wire running through the arrowhead; it is easily removed by straightening and then pulling it out of the arrowhead.
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2
Rig your fishing bow as you will use it while fishing and attach the fishing line running from the reel to the fishing arrow with the barb removed. Ensure that the fishing bow has all devices attached so that it will respond the same during sighting-in and during fishing.
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3
Bind a 12-inch thick stack of newspapers together using twine. This will be the target. Using more twine, attach a length of bright wrapping paper to one side to ensure that it can be easily seen while underwater, at a distance.
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4
Place the newspaper target in a stream, pond or lake, at the desired depth, with the bright wrapping paper showing. Back off to the desired distance and begin sighting your bow, using several shots and sight adjustments to obtain the desired degree of accuracy (remember, the target will be lower than is visually evident because of light refraction).
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Tips & Warnings
Keep one bow-fishing arrow, with the wire barb removed, for sighting and another with the barb left in place for fishing because continually removing the wire barb will weaken it.
The deeper a fish is located in a body of water, the greater the refractive effect so additional efforts must be made to compensate for deep fish versus shallow fish (this comes with experience).
Do not allow knots or kinks to form in the line attaching the fishing arrow to the reel attached to the bow as this will result in the arrow rebounding back toward the shooter.
References
- Photo Credit boy hunter image by Katrina Miller from Fotolia.com
