Shooting bigheads

We just got in from the tailwaters of Barkley dam and our first trip out for bighead carp... it most definitely will not be our last. I can't believe that we haven't tried it before now. We didn't shoot any of the jumping fish because I didn't want to get the boat up in the boils but we just caught them cruising out away from the swift current.

Shooting 30+ lb fish in 50 ft of water is a whole heap different than shooting gar and common carp in the shallows. A fish that big in deep water can actually put up a pretty good tussle for a long time after being shot.

We ended the day with 7 or 8 bigheads, about that many gar and a paddlefish before it got too hot for us to stay out there any longer. You can't jump in below a dam to cool off. Well, more than once anyway. :shock:

It may take me a day or two to get the pics from my buddy but I'll post a couple after I do. It was fun enough that I figure we'll make at least one more trip before the extended weekend is over.

Now you've got me really fired up! Jeez, that sounds like fun. I read just a couple days ago that they just found the first bighead carp in the Great Lakes so it's just a matter of time before they're everywhere, unfortunately. It'll mean great bowfishing but they're an invasive species that have the potential to wipe out a lot of native stocks.

I shot the first fish about 15 minutes after we launched. It towed my 17' Triton nearly 60 yards before I got it into the boat. :lol:

I can't even imagine what that would be like. I'm looking at a road map now to see how far away Barkley Dam is from Knoxville. Road trip!

Deadmeat said:

I can't even imagine what that would be like. I'm looking at a road map now to see how far away Barkley Dam is from Knoxville. Road trip!

Click to expand...

Once you get there, Kentucky Dam is only about 3 or 4 miles away so you would have plenty of territory to cover if you drove over.

A couple of today's fish.





I arrowed the biggest two of the weekend today. One of them I have here, the other almost pulled me out of the boat and finally pulled off. I saw a giant white shape about 3 feet below the surface and shot.. that's the last time that we saw it. I couldn't get it to the surface and it about took the bow out of my hands before it almost pulled me out of the boat. :shock:

You're killin' me!

GOOD LAWD :shock:

The population of these things is worse than I thought. I watched 3 boats full of guys today attempting to striper fish below the dam and none of them could make a single complete cast without foul hooking one of these. They finally all gave up and left.

I don't know what this invasive species is going to do to the native fish, but it can't be good.

When you can drift down a large river and just pick them off on the top with a bow (we probably shot at over 30 today in about 4 hours.. and it took us almost 2 hours to find them on top and fire the first shot), there has to be literally millions of the things that you never see. Every time they empty the lock, these fish literally erupt into the air from everywhere.

If you don't have them in your river system or lakes, cross your fingers that they never make it there.

I have no idea why the fish farmers in Arkansas had these stupid things in their ponds... but I wish they had never brought them over here.

HOLY CRAP. Those things are huge!

It's really sad when these invasive species take over. The common carp is a HUGE nuisance in a few of the lakes I fish around here, and I guess they are really detrimental to the local species of fish. The lake I fish closest to home is full of them, and the guy I talk to at the bait shop said that lake used to be one of the best-kept secrets among Walleye and Bass fishermen before the carp made their way in.

Here are a few more pics. One of them is of the fish jumping when the lock is drained. I haven't seen it myself but I've been told that when the dam is actually spilling water now, the scene looks the same for the entire span (500+ yards).

That looks like a great time. I have seen it a couple times on some hunting shows and would love to try it. I have done some gar and carp shooting but never anything that flies out of the water. I is to bad that they are an invasive speicies and the are huirting the enviroment and ohter fisheris. Great pics.

I must admit I originally thought why shoot the fish and it's cruel, until I realized what kind of fish those where. Its sad an invasive fish like that could ruin a whole river.. Its quite a shame. It would be nice if they could shock the whole river and inilate all those fish, but i imagine thats quite impossible. (maybe if they had a thousand volunteers.)

That looks like a blast. I personally never really thought bowfishing looked like that much fun, but I think shooting those bigheads is probably a ton of fun. Do people catch those things on rod and reel? If so, do they jump like crazy?

The ones that spontaneously jump are silver carp, also an invasive species that got loose about the same time as the bigheads. Their numbers seem to be about equal.

I've not seen any of them jump when hooked but they are easy to foul hook when fishing in the tailwaters below the dams. They put up a good fight when hooked in the tail. :lol: