When I first began bowfishing, I used a recurve bow, and I would tie the line to the TIP of the arrow, not the back end, by threading the line through the small hole where the roll pin holds the tip, and tying a knot in it. Even with my limited knowledge at that time, I knew not to tie it to the tail of the arrow, due to the possibility of getting caught in the bowstring.
Then I bought a crossbow, and ordered some bowfishing bolts from AMS. When they arrived, they already had saf-t-slides installed, and instructions on how to use, along with a warning about not using a saf-t-side. So at that point, I started using them on my arrows as well.
As I said before, I think in my haste to load up and shoot at the flounder, I fumbled the line somehow and got it caught on something, and didn't notice it. That had to be what happened, nothing else is going to cause a snap-back. And yeah, the saf-t-slide reduced the snapback power to a level that it was only a flesh wound, but what if it had been a few inches higher and hit my eye? I don't even want to think about it.
I'm not going to argue the semantics of which bow or reel, etc is better....all I'm saying is that I hope my little mishap serves as a wake-up call that bad things can happen, even when you are using the right equipment.
My experimentation with the shock leader (as the video shows) proves that it is a fail-safe method that reduces ALL snap-back, period. You might lose an arrow, but you can buy more. You only have 2 eyes. I won't ever shoot again without one, saf-t-slide or not, you can bet your a$$ on that! I would hate to hear of someone else experiencing a snap-back and being blinded for life, so, whether or not you use a saf-t-slide, I would strongly recommend using a shock leader.