2008
BOWFISHING JOURNALS
Entries
by Keith
Aug
28 -
MS
& OH River with River
Front Times
by Robin
Aim Low was
contacted recently
about doing a story
about bowfishing for
Asian Carp by Keegan
Hamilton, a reporter
for the
River
Front Times
(a St. Louis based
periodical).
After assuring us
that the article was
intended to promote
the sport of
bowfishing in as a
positive method of
removing the
invasive Silver and
Bighead carp that
have began to
dominate the rivers
in the Midwest...we
were all for taking
him out to see it
first hand. We
started on the
Mississippi River
but were ran off by
storms quickly, just
as Keegan prepared
to shoot his first
fish ever. We
hit the road for a
two hour drive south
to the Ohio River.
Once there, we were
immediately into
fish - and lots of
them! After
just 2 misses,
Keegan had his first
fish by bowfishing,
a silver carp.
Believe it or not,
after the next 6
shots, he had five
more, including a
nice bighead
weighing almost 30
lbs. Keith and
I both shot several
nice fish as well
while Keegan pounded
us with questions
about the fish, our
methods, and also
Aim Low Productions.
It worked out
especially well
because the fish
were very tolerant
of the light on this
night, giving Jerad
a chance to lay down
some fantastic
bighead and silver
footage. Don't
forget to read all
about the trip in an
upcoming issue of
the
River Front
Times.
!
Keegan
Hamilton
Robin
Aug
10-17 - Gotta
Love Texas
Texas is always our
most anticipated
bowfishing trip of the
year. We seem to
pretty much have a consistent
theme...a few things
go wrong at first and
the week ends with
giant fish in the
boat. This years trip
was no different.
Instead of mechanical
or equipment issues,
we had a new problem,
terrible weather
conditions. The
beginning of the week
had us watching high
winds and rain out the
window of our cabin.
Appropriately, we
passed the time with
lots of
"Texas"
Hold'm. We got
out when we could, but
things were looking
grim. Finally,
Wednesday night,
things started looking
up. The winds laid
down and things
started rocking. We
saw five different
gator gar and several
buffalo before
daylight. Robin had a
great night as you can
see. (Click on images
to see full size
photos)
After a little
sleep, we headed out
the next afternoon to look
for some rolling gar.
Things weren't cooking
like we had hoped, but
we did arrow a couple.
After dinner it was
back at it for another
good night of
bowfishing.
A wonderful ending
to what started out as
a disappointing trip.
I was able to shoot
one of my biggest
buffs ever and take
another dandy fish in
what may be the best
footage ever filmed of
an alligator gar.
Cameramen, Nick Govero
and Jerad Wofford,
made it possible to
share all of this
awesome footage with
viewers by laying down
some great camera
work.
Is there any
question as to why we
can't wait to get to
Texas each year?
Aug
3 - Ohio River River
Bigheads
Greg Dykstra, owner
of Dakota PC, flew
into town to visit
Robin and myself, do a
little fine tuning on
our computers, and
slide in a little
bowfishing on Sunday
night. Living in South
Dakota, Greg doesn't
get the chance to
bowfish for bigheads,
so he was noticeably
excited to have a
chance. The outing did
not let him down as we
boated 20-30 bigheads
in the 25-30 lb.
range. Greg spotted a
bighead he is sure was
pushing 60 lbs. that
was out of bow range,
which really had his
blood pumping.
Although we didn't
shoot any monsters, by
Ohio River standards,
Greg had an absolute
blast. Here is a shot
of Greg's trophy and
Robin with a nice
bighead.
July
25 - Kentucky for
Bigheads
Darrell and Tammie
headed South to
Kentucky for a fun
filled weekend of
shooting bigheads.
They had the river to
themselves Friday
night and found a
couple of spoonbills
right away. In 3
nights, they were able
to connect with 19
bigheads, including
Tammie's 1st bighead -
a 42lber - and
Darrell's 39lber. They
tried the lake Monday
night for grassies and
buffs, but the lake
proved to be too green
and tough to see;
although they both
shot their 1st shad.
They'll be back again
next year to give it
another try in the
Spring. Also pictured
is their son, Devin,
with a nice buffalo from a previous
outing.
July
11 - Jake's Ohio State
Record Gar
Jake lands the new
Ohio state record
longnose gar. The gar
was 51 inches long and
weighed in at 14.73
lbs.
June
21 - Mission Mille Lacs
Every year Darrell and
Tammie wait for the
conditions to be right for
the spawn on Mille Lacs.
They had been waiting for
the past 2 weeks watching
the weather. Finally 3
consecutive days of 75+
degrees with light winds
came so they loaded up the
truck Saturday morning and
headed out. They trolled
the sand flats on the
North shore where the fish
should have been and
with some help from one of
the locals, they did find
a few fish. Seems they
were just a little too
early as not all the fish
were spawning. Here
is a great common taken by
Darrell.
June
14 - More Luck at Erie
Once again
Jake's crew headed to Lake
Erie to pursue big common
carp in clear water. Even
though they had to search
out areas out of the wind
and battle 3' plus waves
they were able to take a lot
of common carp with quite
a few in the upper twenty
to thirty pound range.
Jake was also able
to take one fish that was
over 35 lbs.
June
6 - Northwest MO Boys Find
Fish
Clint , Charlie, and Corey
made a quick trip to a
local lake, after hearing
reports that the carp were
working the shallows. The
water was murky back in
the coves, and the fishing
was slow. As the light
faded they made a swing by
the dam. With clear
water they found several
fish working the grass
flats. Being relatively
new to bowfishing, there
were several misses, but
they did manage to boat
several nice commons.
These farm boys are pretty
quick learners! Corey and
Clint show off their trophies.
June 1 -
MN Night Bowfishing at
last!
The MN DNR finally
approved night bowfishing
on certain lakes starting
June 1st 2008. Darrell and
Tammie weren't going to
miss this opportunity and
were on the water at
midnight. They saw a lot
of carp, but were on a
mission for big gar.
Within 10 minutes Tammie
had another personal best
in the boat. They thought
that it might be the night
for a new state record. Unfortunately,
shortly after that gar was
landed Darrell hit a
sunken tree and the
trolling motor shaft
busted in half. They were
able to "rig" it
the best they could to get
a few more fish landed,
but weren't able to be on
the water for a full
night. Luckily, they've
already picked up a new
shaft and will be hitting
the water again this
weekend!
May
16 - Another Crazy Day for
Big Gar
Friday
was pretty much a repeat of
of the 14th. We only had a
few hours in the afternoon
to hopefully find some giant
longnose gar before the
flooded waters start
falling. Once again, we shot
gar that many bowfishermen
dream of. It is hard not to
take fish of this caliber
for granted, but Robin and I
realize that trips like this
can be few and far between.
Here is a shot of a couple
of the better gar for the
afternoon.
May
16 - 1st MN Gar for the
Schreibers
Darrell and Tammie both
had the day off, so
they set out early in
the morning in search of
Darrell's favorite fish -
gar. They only found pairs
swimming together; they
haven't grouped up for the
spawn quite yet. Darrell had
the 1st fish on before
Tammie had the chance to get
the camera ready - he was a
little excited. They took
turns running the camera and
shooting, and by the end of
the day Tammie had landed
her biggest gar to date
45". They boated 13 gar
and 7 smaller carp.
Darrell's big gar also
measured 45", but had a
little bit more girth. They
will be celebrating over
some nice backstraps. For
MN, a 45" gar is huge!
May
14 - First Fish of the
Year
What
started as a reluctant
bowfishing trip in muddy
water with a couple
newspaper reporters
turned into an awesome
few hours of gar
shooting. Once we
got into some protected
floodwater off the main
river, we found water
that was a little
clearer than we figured
for. The gar we
found in that semi clear
water was certainly a
good surprise.
Even though it is a
little early yet, the
big females were in the
flooded timber getting
warmed up.
The first fish of the
year was a dandy 59
inch, 29 pounder and
several other gar were
brought to the boat with
the smallest at 53
inches. The
Piranha tipped Cajun
Yellow Jackets were
perfect for holding the
gar while we fought them
in the flooded brush.
Needless to say, the
reporters felt they had
a good trip to write
about! Robin's giant on
the left just missed the
60" mark. Not bad
for a MO longnose
!
May
11- Special Mother's Day
for Tammie
Tammie
isn't your ordinary Mom.
She chose to spend her
Mother's Day with
Darrell and their son
Devin, on the water
bowfishing for common
carp. With water temperatures
only around 50 degrees,
the fish stayed pretty
deep, but all together
they put 33 fish in the
boat including this
monster that Tammie is
showing proudly. Several
of their fish were over
25 lbs. Happy Mother's
Day, Tammie, glad you
got to spend it with your
two favorite guys.
May
4 - Darrell and Tammie
Get a Chance
Sunday,
Darrell and Tammie had a
chance to go out and shoot
some fish on their own. They
found some fish grouped up
in the shallows. Although
the action wasn't fast and
furious, they did connect
with a few nice carp. They
are patiently waiting for
the water to warm up so they
can go after some real hawgs.
Last week they battled with
18 inches of snow and 2 ft.
of ice on some lakes, so
they were just happy to be
out. Here is Tammie's big
carp of the day.
May
3 - Take a Kid
Bowfishing
Darrell
and Tammie traveled to Lino
Lakes, MN to help out with
"Take a Kid
Bowfishing." Their
local bowfishing club, LLBA,
helps out each year by
bringing teenage kids out
bowfishing. For many of the
kids, it is their first
chance to experience
bowfishing and only
opportunity to do so.
Weather conditions were not
perfect, but the kids had
plenty of shooting opportunities
and a few connected
with fish.
Apr 15-25 - Jake
Heads South to Texas
Entry
by: Jake
As fellow northerners can
understand its always nice
to leave the cold and go
somewhere warm. Throw in the
chance at some 100+ pound
fish and I can't think of a
a better way to say goodbye
to winter once and for all.
Jason Fox, Gary Fogle and I
headed to TX in pursuit of a
variety of fish. After a
total round trip of 3700
miles, 13 species of fish,
and 7 bodies of water I'd
say we all had a good time.
Some of the species taken
were Tilapia, Buffalo,
Longnose Gar, and Alligator
Gar. The biggest fish to
find its way into our boat
was a 135# 6 foot plus Gator
Gar taken by yours truely.
Here are shots of my biggest
fish of the trip.
Buffalo
Longnose Gar
Gator Gar
Apr 4-5 - Getting
it Started Up North
Early season bow fishing, shortly after ice out, can produce some great
bow fishing. This past
weekend Jake Kerstetter and
his buddies planned on bow
fishing several spots around
Lake Erie
in hopes of crossing paths
with some jumbo sized common
carp as well as several
other legal species of fish.
The first night, while on
the
Detroit
River
, Jake and Brent Mcglone
shot numerous common carp,
several goldfish, and a
couple dog fish, despite
numb fingers in the low
30’s temperatures.
The next day, they traveled
to
Sandusky
Bay
and met up with Gary Fogle.
After discovering that the
water was extremely muddy,
they moved to a small marsh,
where they found large
numbers of common carp. At
times there were so many
common carp around, you
could literally shoot into
the school and get a fish
more often than not.
They loaded the boat
about 6 pm and headed to
town to get a bite to eat
and prepare for our night
adventure.
That night Gary, Brent, and
Jake headed offshore to the
Lake Erie
islands. Once again the air
was chilly but the fast
action, as well as hand
warmers and lots of clothes,
kept the cold away. They
boated several fish in the
upper 20 lbs. range. They
fished for several hours
before the wind began to
pick up and build some
larger waves which chased
them back to the mainland.
This was a great trip to
start out the year. Jake and
Gary are off to
Texas
next week.
