The farther away they are the more you shoot in front of them, also allow some if they are deep instead of shallow! Practice makes perfect and the more you miss the better you will get. If you analyze your mistakes and can still have fun eventually after A LOT of missing you will get the hang of it. As for bow wieght anything over 35# is good but I shoot about 50-55#. Carpsniper is right about shooting in shallow water & I get my arrow stuck in the mud alot, but I was shooting 25-30lb carp and they were getting off because my muzzy tip wasn't going all the way through, especially on big carp & on longer shots! If you are bowfishing on rock bottoms lower it to about 35# but if your shooting into mud I would rather have to pull it out of the mud than have a big one get away. Of course you don't get many follow up shots when your busy pulling on a stuck arrow!