Well none of our group of bowfishers managed to also come home with any ASA top honors. The competition was amazingly tough. I heard the heat index was about 110 degrees. I know some shooters had trouble with heat exhaustion. Despite drinking tons of water I even quit sweating halfway through the day.

There were hundreds of shooters there. From far away too. It amazed me how seriously folks take this sport. They're almost as crazy as bowfishers.

My shooting on day one was pretty rough. I shot much better on the second day. Deb shot just one point under an even score on day two and still came in 30th place. Like I said, there was some impressive shooting.

On the downside, all the 3d competition really cut into our bowfishing time.

We did get some gar out of Mermet but not many. It was too hot during the day and we were just too tired by nightfall.

Sunday after our second round of shooting we headed down to KY. (The Ohio was really muddy.) We launched below Barkley dam and found some fish. It was midday so we didn't expect much. I saw a couple of paddlefish leaping completely out of thewater but we never had one give us a shot. We did get some more gar and some bigheads and silvers.

K with a good sized spotted gar taken on Mermet. This one was spawned out but one of the females was still full of eggs. Look how wide the gar's head is. It looked like a little alligator gar.


Deb with her first KY Bighead.


Below Barkley you have to wear a life jacket.That made shooting interesting.I need a lessbulky pfd.


Got to talk with Dorge and Red for a bit.
No pictures of the shoot because I didn't bother to get a press pass. Just picture lots and lotsof really sweaty people carrying and shooting bows.