It is the most fun you can have not sleeping. I have done it for years and it never is boring!

I use a fifty # recurve, any make will do. I used compound for a few years but found shooting instinctively allowed me to hit more carp, shoot faster, hit moving fish, and hold the bow for longer periods while looking for a fish to shoot. My son went last summer and he shot a thirty-five pound recurve and when the fish were not right on the surface, he got little penetration even with new sharp muzzy fish points.

I would highly recommend the bottle type reels that are available. They have no drag, allow for second shots with the dumber fish, both unlike a closed faced reel that screws into your stabilizer hole. Bottle reels dont accidentally get tripped so that the line wont feed and bring your arrow right back to you. (or break off and be lost forever in river muck)

BUT ANY SET-UP WILL GET YOU OUT THERE HAVING FUN.

Those are some nice carp above! My personal best is 26#.

In NJ, we can shoot any non-game fish and the channel cats are not only big but also great eating.

Greg

Looks like fun, but I do have a question.

What do you do with all of the carp? I didn't think they were good eating.

Almost more fun than deer hunting...especially if you like action. Hundreds of shots per day. A real workout. I actually strained a back muscle last year from over shooting
Here's a picture of one of the Gar I took last spring. This was one of the larger Gar we took that day but the next day I took a carp that weighed almost 50 pounds and it was about a 25 yard shot.

I copied this from the NY DEC web site. These are the Bowfishing regulations for New York State.

Bowfishing
Any person who has a fishing license or a small game hunting license or is entitled to fish without a license may take carp of any size and in any number by longbow from May 15 through September 30 from any water of the State where fishing and the discharge of a bow is permitted. Taking fish by bow is otherwise prohibited.

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Would like to try it this summer, seems like a lot of fun.

wood a 20# bow work it dosent seem powerful enuf

I don't think a 20lb bow is near enough bow. You would not get enough penetration thru water and fish especially on big carp or gar. I use about 55lbs but I think you would need to use at least 35lbs and more if deep water hunting or long shots were anticipated.

What to do with all the dead fish? Well.......I have several buddies who Bear hunt and I usually shoot a plie for them. Next, in some parts of the country pet food manufacturers take them. If you can find a large pig farm, pigs love them! Lastly, most end up in farm fields for fertilizer. We have a local farmer dig a long 100 yard ditch on the edge of his field and we bury them as we shhot them. He moves the row each year.

Good luck!

I spend about 8 months a yr bowfishing all over. I mainky use a Intensity ( Like a oneida but no cams or wheels) set at about 40# and 30% letoff. I also use a some 50# recurves. Here is a link to short video my buddy and I put together last summer. I did mosta the shooting...although my friend shot a few...he did all of the editing and stuff. You need quicktime to view it and it takes a while to load but I think you find its pretty cool.
http://www.happieimaging.com/carpkiller.html