Little Maryland bowfishing

[Delawareriver]

Headed down to the Potomac yesterday afternoon to see if we could find a snakehead or two. Unfortunately water conditions were tough and we only boated one snakehead. On a positive note the gar were up and we're everywhere. Ended with 90 fish mostly gar, a few carp, goldfish and blue cats mixed in. Overall a fun trip with a buddy from Virginia meeting us there and bringing his boat so I didn't have to drag mine down. A few families were happy to receive the gar being their back straps are pretty tasty just a pain cleaning them and another family got the carp and catfish. http://i986.photobucket.com/albums/ae342/delawareriver/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG_20140608_062758.jpg (http://s986.photobucket.com/user/delawareriver/media/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG_20140608_062758.jpg.html) http://i986.photobucket.com/albums/ae342/delawareriver/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG_20140608_063224.jpg (http://s986.photobucket.com/user/delawareriver/media/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG_20140608_063224.jpg.html) p's I love shooting goldies. Like little hidden gems that are tough to hit

[AndyS]

WOW, that's allotta gar !!!

[Mjh609]

Sorry, but to me, this is wasteful and stupid.

[Delawareriver]

Sorry, but to me, this is wasteful and stupid.

Why do think so?

[bassnbucks]

Nice haul,can u come to upper bay and thin out some carp?

[Eskimo]

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Wow!

I don't think we have any Gar where I fish in North Jersey. If we do, I've never seen them.



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[gwl2oneida]

May i ask what the purpose is? Is it food, invasive species control? I gotta say that's a graphic picture sure to get comments. Personally as long as its within legal limits my opinion has no place on any thread.

[gwl2oneida]

Sorry, didn't see you're last few sentences. The pictures had me distracted.

[Delawareriver]

May i ask what the purpose is? Is it food, invasive species control? I gotta say that's a graphic picture sure to get comments. Personally as long as its within legal limits my opinion has no place on any thread.

No problem. Yes carp goldfish snakeheads and blue cats are all invasive species. Gar are native but considered a rough fish with no value. Gar are primarily small fish eaters sucking up thousands and thousands of game fish fry and bait fish. We shoot those gar in 3 or 4 miles of shoreline of a river system that runs 405 miles, not sure how far up river you can find gar but every tributary was also full of them. We guarantee did not affect their population the least bit and left plenty even where we shot. Long sling targets are pretty hard while they are swimming. Plus a few families that asked for them were extremely happy to receive fresh fish. Only thing that was not taken for food was the gold fish

[ScowardNJ]

Any pictures of what the inside of the boat looks like after a haul like that? :D

[Delawareriver]

Any pictures of what the inside of the boat looks like after a haul like that? :D

Wasn't too bad. The fish all fit in a 65 gal plastic drum. Was stuffed full by the end of the night. But yeah needed a good cleaning the next day

[Eskimo]

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I just couldn't figure out why gar could be so common and Maryland and almost non-existent in New Jersey.

I checked a range map for the Longnose gar and it indicates that they do live in New jersey. I've never caught a Bowfin either, and they are supposed to live in New Jersey, too.




http://www.utexas.edu/tmm/tnhc/fish/maps/huggmaps/lepiosse.gif

[Delawareriver]

It is weird, Maryland and delaware have them to the south of us, western Pennsylvania and ohio have them to the west and new york has them to our north. I know at one time they were semi common in new jersey but I have never seen or heard of one

[Delawareriver]

Any pictures of what the inside of the boat looks like after a haul like that? :D

This picture is from last year after shooting stingrays all day http://i986.photobucket.com/albums/ae342/delawareriver/IMG952013062395114652-1.jpg (http://s986.photobucket.com/user/delawareriver/media/IMG952013062395114652-1.jpg.html)

[Mjh609]

So, what is the purpose of shooting stingrays "all day"?

[Delawareriver]

Number one they are good eating especially the southern and Atlantic rays but the cow nose are pretty good themselves. 8 million+ Cownose rays enter the Chesapeake Bay every year and eat millions of lbs of crab class and oysters. Being that's their number one industry down there they appreciate the small amount of population control we do.

[bassnbucks]

They can shoot twice as many all day versus half a day.Get it ?