Larry R
Old Mossy Horns
Little brother and I went to Rhodhiss on Monday bow fishing. A very slow start for the day. I think we saw three before noon and didn't get near close enough to them for a shot.
Just afternoon we pulled into a long cove and could hear and see carp at the very end of the cove. They were in grass but the grass was still dead and brown and floating basically on top of the water. As we approached the head of the cove we saw "mud trails" where it seemed like hundreds of carp were running. We turned off the sonar and the trolling motor and drifted up to the edge of the dead grass. For the next 10 - 15 minutes it became a free for all. At first fish were just swimming around and we would shoot them (shoot at some of them LOL) as they came into open spots in the dead grass. When we hit one it would begin to flop and splash. That would draw others to the same spot and we would get another shot. This was extremely fast action, couldn't get one in and off the arrow fast enough to keep from missing a half dozen more opportunities. After that business slowed down to a more livable pace. They began to move out of the dead grass and back into deeper water. Good part was that we were sitting within feet of the channel where they would come out going to deeper water. So in essence we ambushed them as they tried to swim out to deeper water. At times both of us would have a carp on at the same time.
Once they had all left for deeper water we backed out and went to another location in the cove. Wasn't quite as exciting there but still had a field day. Wound up killing 90.10 lbs of carp. We shot several that got off before we could get them into the boat. Biggest one was 29.12 lbs which was a grass carp. Bet the coyotes are smelling fishy lately. I put them on one of the bait piles at a friends "condo". lol. Seems like the coyotes like to wallow in them more than they care to eat them. In the past I have noted from my game cameras and from actually sitting in my condo that far more bobcats respond to the bait pile when I put out bow killed carp. To bad they aren't legal to kill at night. They aren't near as nervous as the coyotes. I have actually watched them for half an hour or more. They would eat their fill, crawl up on a log and proceed to lick and clean themselves. Not sure at times that they didn't actually take a nap before leaving.
Just afternoon we pulled into a long cove and could hear and see carp at the very end of the cove. They were in grass but the grass was still dead and brown and floating basically on top of the water. As we approached the head of the cove we saw "mud trails" where it seemed like hundreds of carp were running. We turned off the sonar and the trolling motor and drifted up to the edge of the dead grass. For the next 10 - 15 minutes it became a free for all. At first fish were just swimming around and we would shoot them (shoot at some of them LOL) as they came into open spots in the dead grass. When we hit one it would begin to flop and splash. That would draw others to the same spot and we would get another shot. This was extremely fast action, couldn't get one in and off the arrow fast enough to keep from missing a half dozen more opportunities. After that business slowed down to a more livable pace. They began to move out of the dead grass and back into deeper water. Good part was that we were sitting within feet of the channel where they would come out going to deeper water. So in essence we ambushed them as they tried to swim out to deeper water. At times both of us would have a carp on at the same time.
Once they had all left for deeper water we backed out and went to another location in the cove. Wasn't quite as exciting there but still had a field day. Wound up killing 90.10 lbs of carp. We shot several that got off before we could get them into the boat. Biggest one was 29.12 lbs which was a grass carp. Bet the coyotes are smelling fishy lately. I put them on one of the bait piles at a friends "condo". lol. Seems like the coyotes like to wallow in them more than they care to eat them. In the past I have noted from my game cameras and from actually sitting in my condo that far more bobcats respond to the bait pile when I put out bow killed carp. To bad they aren't legal to kill at night. They aren't near as nervous as the coyotes. I have actually watched them for half an hour or more. They would eat their fill, crawl up on a log and proceed to lick and clean themselves. Not sure at times that they didn't actually take a nap before leaving.