aiming issues

[realtreegator]

i am just starting to bow fish can someone explain how to aim because i miss a lot?

[BCMuleyhunter]

low. Aim low and let'er go. Real low. Low to miss.

Kirby

[Shootstuff4570]

yeah aim low. and your gonna miss for quite a while then one day(or night) your jus gonna get it and get pretty consistant

[jchough79]

Go to the water and take a few throw away pie pans with you and sink then in 2-3 feet of water and shoot away. Make sure the bottom is not full of rocks or you will be replacing tips. When your done pick up your mess.

[Bulzeye]

That's the deal.
Usually gotta aim completely below the fish.
Sometimes several fish-widths lower.
It feels very wrong for an archer to aim THAT low, but that is how it works.

JC has the right idea for practice.
Shoot at things that are submerged preferably on the bottom, and then evaluate where your shot hitbefore you reel it in. Were you on-line left to right? Were you high or low?

How much you need to compensate depends on how deep the fish is, and how far out it is from you. The steeper the viewing angle, the more direct of a shot you can take. That's why everybody builds platforms on their boats -to get up higher and see better into the water, and have less severerefraction to deal with. Even 6 inches of elevation can make a pretty noticeable difference.

Once you get it, it'll become second nature.

[carpsniper]

Easy way...

Aim Low, then aim lower.

Harder way...

Imagine a fish same size as the one you're looking at, swimming right under the fish you see. then shoot the lower one.

If you're still missing fish, most likely you're just not aiming low enough.

Good Luck

[HNI_Christine]

I agree with the aim low thing. Also remember that fish are usually pretty small targets that don't sit still for long.

They're darn hard to hit.

...Even for us seasoned veterans of the sport. (some of us are more 'seasoned' than others.. )

[Desperado]

Just aim like your going to shoot under them and you will hit them. Best way I can tell ya.

[dkhunter8383]

i was having aiming issues my self this year, and i read the article that is on the top of the bowfishing page, called learn the bowfishing basics (right below the 2 carp count posts) i read that article and it brought up the 10-4 rule. essentially what it is is for every 10 ft out the fish is, and 1 foot below the water, aim 4 inches low. it goes into more detail if the fish is futher out etc. but yesterday my buddy and i went out and i not only shot my 1st carp, but i shot 8 total. helped me out a ton you might want to check it out

[CanadaSlammer69]

yeah its true... i get to watch dkhunter do alot of shootin cause i broke my arm so all i can do is opperate the boat, but after he read that carpshooting basics article, he was makin almost every shot