I wear a minimum of a pair of shorts - keeps things from getting caught in the bow string.

Back to the original post. What is your old bow - recurve or compound? Have you shot fingers before? I would recomend some no-gluvs and the slides. Also, for a beginner, a retriever reel. It is very simple to use. If you get into tournaments like Robin, you'll probably eventually want to switch to a spincast for quicker second shots. Muzzy fish tips are good, and a plain white fiberglass arrow. Better make that several arrows for when one gets lost or a nock breaks. The best thing would be to find someone near you who already bowfishes and go with them a few times.