Bowfishing with a Recurve

Bowfishing Reels for Recurves

Most people who use recurve bows to bowfish prefer to use hand reels.

These are the simplest and most basic style of bowfishing reel, they’re a drum attached to your stabilizer mount that you hand wind your line on to.

One of the biggest reasons hand reels are used with recurve bows is because they have a more traditional look.

Hand reels are a budget friendly option for someone who is just getting started bow fishing, but can be more difficult to use than other types of reels

Another type of bowfishing reel that can be used with recurve bows is the spin casting reel.

These are basically a bigger version of the little spincasting reels most people first start fishing with.

Bowfishing Recurve Draw Weight

One of the most important decisions to make when you decide to bowfish with a recurve is what draw weight you’re going to use.

Your draw weight effects how far you can shoot a recurve, but it also affects how quickly you can draw your bow.

Because bow fishing can be full of fast paced action, how quickly you can get a shot off is important, even if you don’t get to full draw (called snap shooting).

A good base line draw weight is 30 pounds.

This is light enough that most archers can draw it quickly without affecting their form.

For archers that are more experienced with recurve bows, a realistic draw weight can be as high as 45 pounds.

Bowfishing Arrows

When choosing arrows to use for bowfishing, the best arrows are ones that are made specifically for bowfishing.

Bowfishing arrows fall into 3 main categories: Fiberglass arrows, Carbon Fiber arrows, and Hybrid arrows.

Fiberglass arrows are the least expensive bowfishing arrows you can get your hands on.

This is where most new bowfishermen start out because losing one or breaking one isn’t the end of the world.

The downside to fiberglass arrows is they are the least durable bowfishing arrow material and can get broken in the boat by big fish.

Carbon Fiber arrows are the other end of the spectrum.

These arrows are extremely durable, but that durability comes with a bigger price tag.

And that price tag is why Carbon Fiber arrows are usually only used by the most serious bowfishermen.

Luckily there is a middle ground!

Hybrid arrows are made mostly from Fiberglass that’s then wrapped in some carbon fiber.

The fiberglass keeps the cost down, but the small amount of carbon fiber adds extra durability to the arrows.

Most bowfishermen prefer to use hybrid arrows to get the best of both worlds!

Bowfishing Arrow Points

Another piece of bowfishing specific gear is the arrow points/ broadheads you use.

In every other situation where you use an arrow, you go pick it up off the ground or pull it from the target.

With bowfishing, you can’t do that.

On top of that, your arrow has to have a way to keep the fish on the arrow while you retrieve it.

Because of this, bowfishing arrow points backwards facing barbs to keep the fish from sliding off when you haul in your fish.

The barbs have a way to loosen them so you can slide the fish off after you get them reeled in.

Each arrow point is a little different in how you get the barbs off, but they all have some way to do it.

For the most part, when you buy a bow fishing arrow, it will come with the arrow point on there, and for most bowfishermen, this arrow point is going to be good enough.

If you decide to deep dive into bowfishing, you might decide to upgrade to a point that’s easier to get fish off of.