I have been bowfishing for awhile with a compound bow and retriever reel with great success. I have recently set up another bow (Recurve) for bowfishing also so my son or others can go with and shoot carp too. My biggest question is for those out there that have shot carp with recurve, do you just shoot of the shelf? If so, what is used on the shelf as the rest? I will be shooting fiberglass arrows with a safety slide, and using a bohning type spool reel screwed in the front at the stablizer hole. There are no other holes in the bow to put other type rests, and I'd like to shoot from the shelf, but don't know how good it will work. Seems like if you're shooting down a lot, my have problems with the arrow coming off the shelf. Thanks for any suggestions or help.
I shoot my recurve off the shelf. It's a forged-aluminium-riser, so it's cut-out like a regular compound. I filled in the riser with a piece of rosewood (won't rot or swell with moisture), so it's square. Shoots great.
I then put a piece of hair-faced padding on top of the shelf to hold the arrow up a little so when I shoot my hunting arrows off of it, I'll have a little clearance for the feather. You can see it needs to be replaced, but it still works great.
Some use plummers putty, I use quicksteel. They'r about the same thing - comes ina tube, cut off about half an inch or so, knead it together, then shape it on your shelf. Put vaseline or water on your arrow (read the label to see which works) and use it to form the groove. It will dry hard, and will keep the arrow from sliding sideways.
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Personal worst - 20# silver in the nads.
I shoot a recurve off the shelf too, and keep the bow canted slightly to minimize fall-offs. Works fine, you just cant hold it straight up and down.
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Thanks everyone for the great info.Bowman15, thanks for the pictures. I ended up putting a piece of leather, built it up a bit on the outside so there was somewhat of a groove so the arrow would stay on the rest better. I then put a piece of the fuzzy or"loop" side of velcro over it.We went out one time and got a few carp with it. I don't know how long it will last, but it seems to work for now. Thanks again for all the input, and the plumbers putty or quickmetal sounds like a great idea.
Recurve bowfishing shelf rest ???
