FIELD JOURNALS
ARCHIVE - BOW FISHING 2006
This is what it is all about. We love to hunt, but
really love to bowfish! Follow along as we get after
the big ones. We are behind with this year's journal,
but will be getting it caught up very quickly.
Hope you enjoy the entries and the photos!
September 2- Mississippi
River near Festus, MO
Entry
by: Keith
Saturday night was one of
those nights that
bowfishermen live for. The
bigheads were everywhere and
plenty of grass carp were
scanning the banks feeding
on the freshly immersed
weeds. Even though
temperatures had dropped to
long sleeve necessities,
Eric kept the camera rolling
with little time to quit
filming. Before the night
was over we had a barrel
full nice sized carp. Aside
from the fact that we had
GPS troubles, non-stop
interruptions by passing
barges, and two bruise
producing attacks by jumping
silvers, we had one of our
best outings of 2006. We
look forward to sharing the
footage of this fantastic
night of bowfishing.
Here is a couple shots of
the big grassies!!
Keith Riehn
Robin Parks
August
26-27 Ohio River near
Cloverport, KY
entry by: Keith
After hearing about all
the huge bighead carp on the
Ohio River near
Cloverport
,
KY
, we decided that going down
for Carpmasters Classic
would be a perfect
opportunity to see what we
have been missing. We made
it down on Friday night
around 10:30PM, and got on
the water as soon as we
could to do some
pre-fishing. When daylight
rolled around we were very
disappointed in the fact
that we had not put one of
these giant bigheads in the
boat. The one encouraging
thing was that other teams
there for the tournament had
not had any luck with their
pre-fish outing either. We
chalked it up to a bad night
to be hunting fish. On
Saturday night at the
registration we were told
that a select few teams
participating in the
tournament were not happy
with us having a cameraman
in our boat. This was
unfortunate because 90% of
the teams were excited to
have this event filmed to be
shared with others in the
future. We agreed to just go
do our thing and get in a
good night of bowfishing.
Things were very slow again
until close to daylight. We
missed on a few
opportunities but did manage
to finally get a 41 lb.
bighead in the boat. We also
added a few buffalo and drum
to the barrel as things
winded down. All said and
done, we had a great time
and had a chance to share
some time with one of the
new members of the Aim Low
team, Corey Endicott. Corey
got his feet wet filming
fish for the first time and
seemed to have a good time.
Robin holding his 41 lb.
bighead!
August 17-
AMS Bigheads
entry by: Robin
Jeff and Cindy Braun,
the great people from
AMS Bowfishing
(Retriever Reels), took
the time to stop here in
St. Louis and try for
their first bigheads.
They also brought along
their good friend and
staff shooter, Alyssa
Haukom to try for her
first.
The river was in great
shape, and it didn't
take long before the
arrows were flying.
After a few misses, the
first of many bigheads
was brought in. As the
night wore on, more and
more fish were found,
and everyone was having
a great time either
shooting, filming, or
taking photos. I kept
whipping on the missers
while I held the light
and ran the trolling
motor until I was
ordered to put up or
shut up. After a couple
warm up shots (that's my
story), I connected on a
nice bighead as well.
These people are
diehards just like us.
Keep in mind, they
stopped here after
driving all day long.
We hit the water at
midnight and fished
until 5:00 a.m., and
then they had to drive
home (Wisconsin) the
next day after a little
sleep in a nearby
motel. On top of that,
they made a pit stop in
IL for a little silver
carp shooting on the way
home!
I had a great time
fishing with all of
them, and can tell you
that Jeff and Cindy are
some of the best people
in the outdoor
industry.
Cindy Braun
Alyssa Haukom
JULY
28-31 East Coast Rays
entry by: Keith
One of the best decisions
we ever made was to take
good friend Steve Young,
fellow member of
www.bowfishusa.com, up
on an invite to meet him in
southern Maryland for some
sting ray hunting. We were
not quite sure what to
expect, but we were anything
but disappointed. It didn't
take Robin long before he
had the first southern ray
on the end of an arrow. The
fight was on!!! These things
put up an unbelievable
fight. Without the use of
our
AMS Retriever reels, we
would have been in trouble!
Once the ray was in the boat
and we removed the vicious
looking stinger off the
tail, we were ready for
more.
Southern Stingray
A little while
later I had my first ever
sting ray trying to
pull me out of the boat. We
could not believe the size
of these intriguing looking
creatures.
Southern Stingray
Muddy water conditions
denied us from having
any success at night. We
just could not figure out
the effects of the tides or
any other factors that kept
us from finding clear water
after dark. The second day
was by far our best day, as
we landed several southerns
and some beautiful looking
cownose rays.
Cownose Stingray
On our last day we tried
chumming for some sharks. A
passing ray and a crab cage
buoy were the culprits of a
couple heart racing false
alarms. (We found that when
you're shark hunting,
everything looks like a
fin.) All in all we had a
blast, and want to send a
special thanks to Steve
Young, Brady Miller, and
Mike Smith for sharing their
tips and going above and
beyond to make our trip
successful. Robin and I also
want to thank Eric Gregory
and Lance Anders for their
hard work and dedication to
capture some great footage
while battling the heat,
flies, and mosquitos. We
cannot wait to share this
exciting video footage.
Cownose Stingray
JULY
15- Lower Mississippi
entry by: Keith
We decided it was time to
try a spot on the
Mississippi River that
wasn't such a long drive
from home. It was our first
bowfishing outing using
Lumenoks on our fish arrows.
Seeing the nocks fly through
the air and then dance
around as the fish take them
for a ride was one of
coolest things I have seen
since I started bowfishing.
We put about 20 fish in the
barrel. Mostly bigheads and
few silvers. All-in-all we
had a great time. We can't
wait to share some of the
footage with you!
Here is a shot of one of
the bigger bigheads. Notice
the lighted nock!
June
3-4 Campbell Outdoor
Challenge
entry by: Keith
Cambell Outdoor Challenge
television show decided they
were "missing the boat" so
to speak, by not having a
bowfishing episode to add to
their video competitions.
What better of a way for Aim
Low to practice capturing
our bowfishing action than
to compete in the challenge?
Well, things didn't go quite
as well as we would have
liked. Changing our game
plan at the last minute,
being short handed with a
sick "Larry the Camera Guy"
back at the hotel on night
two, and not doing our
homework all added to our
frustrations. All said and
done, we finished 4th in the
competition but had one heck
of a great time. We cannot
wait to have another crack
at winning next year. Along
with having a great time,
Robin and I were able to
take a few nice spoonbill
which are not legal in our
own state of MO. Here are a
couple shots of the spoons!
We would like to thank
the following sponsors for
making the trip possible:
Carpbusters
www.carpbusters.org,
Huntingnet.com, Renegade
Archery, Backwater
Bowfishing, and Illinois
Bowfishers.