Grass carp / White Amur ???

[richard roop]

#164018

Anyone in the assembled masses have any experience bowfishing these creatures ????

We have them in a local lake and they’re huge. I’ve seen four footers.  Very spooky / skittish and they tend to stay deep or lay on the surface and swirl off before offering a shot. The few shots that I did get were snap shots at deep moving targets from a moving canoe.  No hits which may have been a good thing because I suspect that my usual carp set-up is a bit under-gunned for these things.  Talking Megalodon class carp here.

Any thoughts, comments or suggestions would be welcome.

[Raymond Coffman]

#164019

Richard

I haven’t done any bow fishing in a long time and not much then, therefore I do not have any sage advice..

Maybe using the gear designed for gators would be appropriate…😁  it sounds like if you managed to arrow one, it could turn into a real western sporting event!

Scout aka Ray

 

[Stephen Graf]

#164020

In our area the grass carp are usually protected.  You might want to see if they are in your neck of the woods.

It can be tough on the old brain to make sure you don’t drop an arrow into one around here.  Our common carp (shootable) usually top out about 25 lbs, and so it isn’t uncommon to see grass carp in that size  too.  But when one of those monsters comes lolling by, its easy to salute.

If the grass carp are in a private pond, they are open season.  But in large bodies managed by the state, the carp are protected in NC.

[richard roop]

#164022

The understanding that I have regarding this lake is that years ago sterile grass carp were put in for weed control and were protected. Then common carp showed up in the lake and as mentioned, hard to tell apart in the water. The grass carp grew huge. Bowfishing for common carp was allowed and they got really spooky and went deep.  Where in most lakes common carp will lay in the weeds just under the surface, in this lake it’s really rare.

Then, Game & Fish took over management of the lake and brought it in under the statewide regs.  Grass carp, limit one a day, minimum 30″.

So ……………. I’m re-rigging my gear with a drum reel and a milk jug float.

[richard roop]

#164354

Well ………. The Grass Carp project is on hold despite what two different Rangers at the lake told me until I can chat with the local Game Warden. I’ve found conflicting paragraphs in the Fish Regs so until I know for sure it’s a no-go.

Pity ……………….. They could issue big game tags for these things.

[aeronut]

#164360

As with any gov. agency you will probably get a third opinion on the regs and be even more confused.  Don’t give them any ideas about big game tags, especially here in Kansas.

Here in Kansas if you have nuisance issues with sparrows or starlings on your property you have to have a hunting license to kill them.  As money hungry as they are I’m really surprised they didn’t put mice and rats on the list too.

[richard roop]

#164362

Yeah, and the heck of it is that the booklet they give you when you buy your license is not actually ‘The Regs’.  It is a ‘summary’ of the actual Regs. Think Cliff Notes and you’ll have the right idea.

I had an issue with a Game Warden up in Washington years ago while coyote hunting.  When I went to G&F headquarters in Olympia and spoke to a Supervisor I was told “Well, that’s not in the Regs but you can be cited for it”.  That was the last time I hunted in that state.

>>>>——->  Lest someone think I’m anti-warden, No !!! I consider them valuable sources of information and in my entire lifetime I’ve only ran into a couple that were actual jerks.  I’ve shared my root-beers with more than one of the wardens I’ve met.

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