You don't need anything expensive.
There are cheap used bows at archery shops and on-line auction sites.
Any bow will work. The main choice is between traditional and compound.
You will need some specialized fishing arrows made of solid fiberglass. There are other kinds, like heavy duty carbons, but they are more money.
Get at least 2 or 3. They do get stuck in logs, and lines do occassioinallybreak. Take a look at some different kinds of points. Some require you to completely unscrew and remove the point to get a fish off the arrow, but with others you just loosen the point 1 or 2 turns and the barbs reverse, freeing up your catch and getting you back in the action quicker without the risk of loosing any parts. I like Muzzy carp and gar points, but use Stingarees with long flat barbs when the fish in the area are very soft and pull off the arrows.
You will also need a reel or spool to hold and dispense the line. The simplest and cheapest kinds are spools that tape or strap onto the front of your bow. I think game tracker makes one, but they are sold in almost all archery stores. Use whatever line comes with the reel or upgrade to fastflight or power pro.
Safety Tip: Be aware that the fishing line can become entangled in you bowstring or snag on your bow's rest. It's called snapback, and can send the arrow coming back at you nock first right after you release it at a fish.
Not pleasant. Use Saftey slides from AMS or cabled arrows to avoid this.
I've had good service from a number of on-line sellers. You can buy arrows with the slides already istalled to save yourself some time.
Here is a a link to info on Snapback...
http://www.amsbowfishing.com/information.php?info_id=6
A member of the Ilinois Bowfisherswrote a nice article about bowfishing basics that you may want to check out...
http://www.huntingnet.com/articles/articles.aspx?articles_id=504
Getting started
