FIELD JOURNALS
ARCHIVE - BOW
FISHING 2005
This is what it is all about. We love to hunt, but
really love to bowfish! Follow along as we get after
the big ones. We are behind with this year's journal,
but will be getting it caught up very quickly.
Hope you enjoy the entries and the photos!
Texas Day 6, Another
Record Day!
8/12/05
This day was a day that is
beyond what I ever imagined
possible. After
sitting a while on some
rolling gator gar, we
decided to move to a
different spot for longnose.
Just after we switched our
Retriever reels for
spincasts, a big one rolled
out behind us, like it was
sticking his tongue at us
for giving up. So...I said,
"Let's make one more pass
thru there, and then we can
get out of here." Halfway
thru that pass, we looked
down and seen an absolute
monster right in front of
the boat, only about 1 foot
deep! We both said "Oh my
God!" at the same time and
both shot the fish at
exactly the same time. Both
were perfect hits right
behind the gill and the
fight was on!
I was very nervous trying to
fight the fish due to not
having our Retrievers on. I
did my best to stay on the
trolling motor to follow the
fish on 3 different runs.
The power those fish have is
awesome! Just as we began to
worry that one of our lines
was wrapped up, the fish
floundered to the top, about
15 yards out. Keith jumped
down and grabbed a 3rd bow
that did have a slotted
Retriever on it and put a
3rd arrow into the fish.
With that line, he hauled
her right to the boatside
while I put bows 1 and 2 on
the deck and scrambled to
get the gaff ready. Soon,
the gaff was in the fish and
we could actually take a
look at the fish. WOW, I
couldn't believe the size of
the head. I knew the fish
was a giant before we shot,
but man, this was just
breathtaking!
It took a while to get her
into the boat. We literally
could not drag her over the
side. I was just about to
concede to the fact that we
would have to tow her to
shore when it came to me to
try the very back of the
boat where the freeboard was
less. Finally, both of us
managed to grunt and strain
enough to get her in.
Unbelievable, at least to
us!
Here are a couple of pix. We
got the fish certified at
244.5 lbs, a pending Rayburn
record! She was 8'2" and had
a 44.75" girth. This kept us
busy for the rest of the
day, so we will be heading
home a day early. This day
just can't be beat!
Photo 1 |
Photo 2
We hope you enjoyed
following along with us on
our trip!
Texas Day 5 - Daytime
Gar
8/12/05
Well, since I was a kinda...um...cabin
bound last night , we
decided not to make the long
drive to SC this morning. A
huge thanks goes to Mudfish
(Charles) in SC for all the
information and help. Same
goes to Steve Young over in
VA for some great info and
help. We will be taking
those guys up on their
offers next year for some
stingray and shark shooting.
The upside to staying is
that we found some gar, and
some big ones. We shot 2
different roll holes today
that had both longnose and
gator gar. I shot over the
only good chance we had at a
big gator gar. But, we did
very good on big longose. We
shot 8 longnose, with the
biggest 3 being between
58-59 inches and all well
over 30 lbs. Keith got his
biggest ever at 58.5" and 34
lbs! That one is going on
the wall.
Photo 1 |
Photo 2
We feel that if we get
good weather and keep on the
gator gar, we will
eventually get a shot at a
big one. Our plan is to lay
off the night fishing and
concentrate on getting a
gator gar, and maybe some
more of those huge longnose.
Texas Night 3 - A
Record Night!
8/12/05
Wow, night 3 was exactly
what we come to TX every
year for. Incredible
bowfishing and awesome
footage! We shot about 12 buffalo
that were all over 50 lbs,
and most over 60. We also
shot what we can now
announce as the pending TX
state record bigmouth
buffalo at 65 lbs. (During
our trip, I wrote that we
had a record, but didn't
want to tell what. That was
because we had conflicting
info on just what the record
weight was. Now that we are
home, it is cleared up.)
That buff will be the
Rayburn lake record fish and
the TX state record.
Photo 1
We also shot 3 giant
longose. The biggest was
one that just made 60 inches
and the other 2 were between
58 and 59 inches. All those
fish weighed between 32 and
36 lbs.
Photo
2
One thing to watch for in
the next video is the
unbelievable bugs we had. I
cannot even put into words
just how bad the bugs were
the last hour of darkness.
We literally had to quit
fishing! There is some
funny footage that came out
of the whole thing though!
We are planning on getting
some rest during the day,
maybe fishing tonight again,
and heading to SC the next
day for sharks and rays.
Keep checking in...
Texas Toldedo Bend Day
Fishing
8/12/05
Day 3 and it was forecast
hot and calm. We headed to
Toledo Bend to check on some
rolling gator gar and
longnose. It is the same
spot I shot a 7'2" fish 2
years ago.
Weather man was right and we
did see a few gator gar and
some big ones. None close
enough for a shot though,
and they were not exactly
tearing it up. Oh ya...if
you are wondering about
night 2? Got on the water to
find out we had a dead
battery(s). A closer look
revealed a bad charger. One
dead battery = no fishing
for the night. It did give
us some time to relax and
play some cards back at the
cabin though!
Texas First Day Out
8/12/05
We pulled into Dixon's
Cabins at Sam Rayburn after
driving all night. We got
settled in and got some
needed sleep before heading
out for the first night.
(BTW, Dixon's is THE place
to stay at Rayburn. Super
people and great
accomodations right on the
water.)
Unbelievably, 15 minutes
after turning on the lights,
I looked down and there was
the first gator gar of the
trip. Not a monster, but I
wasn't ready to pass on it
either. After all, I am
averaging only one gator gar
every two years.... The fish
was a decent 5 footer. Now I
can hold for a big one, if
we can find one.
Before the night was over,
we managed to see 3 other
gator gar about the same
size or a tad bigger. Keith
missed getting his first
gator gar ever, but not by
much. In fact, it looked
like he glanced off the
biggest one we saw, probably
a 5 1/2 footer. We
also found a handfull of
those giant buffs we love to
shoot so much and got some
great footage of some in the
50-60 lb range.
Photo 1 |
Photo 2
Mississippi and OH
Rivers
7/23-24/05
Hot sunny days with temps
around 100 degrees are not
good for much of anything,
except BOWFISHING! We
thought we might find some
rolling gar on the
Mississippi so we sucked it
up and put in a few hours
trying to get some good
footage. Gar were rolling,
but unfortunately they were
the smaller shortnose
variety so we focused our
efforts towards bigheads and
silvers. We loaded a barrel
full and sharpened our
shooting skills by
attempting once again to
shoot some silvers out of
the air as they jumped
behind our moving boat. Yoiu
will have to see this
hilarious footage on Aim'n
Low Volume II.
After a couple hours rest
and several bowls of HOT
chili and some AC time we
drove 3 hours to the Ohio
River to try some night
action with the spot light.
We sure did find some
bigheads and once again
filled our barrel. We were a
little dissapointed as we
have been hearing about some
50-60 LB'ers down there and
we did not shoot any fish of
that size. However, we did
shoot several pushing 30 LBS
which was still more fun
than 3 guys should legally
have after midnight.
Have a look at some of
these dudes!
Photo 1 |
Photo 2
|
Photo 3
Headin' South
7/16/05
Cameramen: Eric Gregory
& Larry Prevallet
The Aim Low Team headed
south this weekend despite
the heat wave. Things were
slow as the lake was busy
with water skiiers and
boaters. Night fishing was
OK at best. Lots of medium
sized commons were found but
not the giants we were
after.
Keith
Tries Fishing the Easy Way!
7/15/2005
While Robin is still at it up in a tree, I am on a
family vacation in Florida. I still had to get my
outdoor fix! check out these photos of some Amber Jack and Sailfish.
Going Overboard!
7/02/05
Cameraman: Eric Gregory
We decided to head to
Mark Twain Lake for some
rolling gar. Once we got
there, conditions were not
as we had hoped, it was much
windier than we had
anticipated. We did manage
to shoot a few gar but
nothing to brag about. We
decided to try our luck
below the dam for the last
couple hours of daylight.
Once we got there, we
realized this is where we
should have spent the day.
We could see flooded weeds
moving around in all
directions as the carp
slipped through them. Before
we ran out of light we did
manage to shoot a few carp
as they slipped out from the
cover. The highlight of the trip
was watching Robin do a nose
dive into the river in an
effort to retrieve his bow,
arrow, fish, and gaf as they
all went overboard. You will have to check out
the video to see the results
of his efforts as it is way
too funny to describe!
Playing Hookey for
Grassies
6/10/05
Everything was planned and
ready for a good day on the
creek. That was until Robin
got a call from Zac's school
that he had just lost his
cookies and needed to be
picked up. Zac decided that
spending the day in the boat
sounded more appealing than
laying around the house, so
with an hour's delay we
finally hit the water.
Things started out slow but
picked up as the day went
along. Before the day was
through we managed to get
several decent grass carp in
the boat.
Photo 1 |
Photo 2
First Day Out!
4/21/05
Well, the Aim Low team
finally made it out for the
1st day of bowfishing in
2005.
We hit the Mississippi River
and shot several fish. Robin
landed a couple great
longnose gar (both over 50")
and a big grass carp close
to 30lbs. I missed lots of
fish and (no big ones thank
goodness) but did put a few
in the boat. The Aim Low
team will be hitting the
woods this week with the
bows chasing turkeys. Good
luck to all the turkey
hunters out there!
Here are Robins first two
big gar for the summer:
Photo 1
A Day of Biggest
5/21/2005
What a great day on the
water for filming.
Unfortunately our cameraman
was out of commission for
the day because we found
some pretty nice fish.
Although we had to take
turns shooting and filming,
we were still able to get
some great footage and nice
fish for Aim'n Low Volume
II. Not only did we leave
our cameraman at home, but
our scale as well. We could
only guess the size of this
enormous bighead Robin shot.
Close to 40lbs.? Thats our
guess. More than likely
Robins biggest.
See Photo 1
Gar
were everywhere!! We
literally saw 300-400
shortnose and quite a few
longnose as well. We managed
to put some arrows through a
few really nice ones. Here
is a picture of mine, my
biggest of the year so far.
See Photo 2
Not a
bad days work. Looking
forward to getting back out
there.
