Don't Be Afraid to Try Something New

Talk About a Blast!  If You've Not Tried Bow Fishing Put it on Your to Do List Next Year.  (Photo Courtesy of Troy Black)

I wanted to share an adventure I had this summer with you guys for two reasons.  One, it was pretty awesome and two, even though your seasons are getting ready or just recently kicked off for the fall maybe you want to try something to bridge that gap between Falls for next year.  Now would be the ideal time to start planning so I’ll give you something to think about.  It all started when I saw a post about someone selling raffle tickets to win a bow fishing trip. 

I have to say it got my attention as bow fishing is something I have only made a few feeble attempts at in my life and wanted to give it a serious try.  Then I saw that the raffle was through Kentucky Blue Grass Adventures and the funds would go towards a program to get kids hunting and fishing.  I was sold at that time and purchased my ticket.  Well, to make a short story long, I won! I started making the arrangements with Troy Black and Hailey Dulaney for my brother and me to head down in July.  We made the 3-hour drive down to Eddyville, KY, and got really excited when we saw the boat in the hotel parking lot.  It was just like you see on TV with all the rails, lights, and platforms. 

We would start on the Cumberland River but ultimately finish on the Tennessee.  The water conditions were excellent for visibility (at least for our area!) with the sun shining when we started.  Our equipment ranged from recurves to compounds and a baseball bat to cameras.  Fishing was slow during the daylight and we moved on to the Tennessee River to light up the night so to speak.  I really enjoyed just hanging out with my brother and the team in the waning daylight sitting in the middle of the river just waiting on dusk. 

The river seemed to cast a spell of peacefulness and the sunset seemed just a little more heavenly that evening.  The night didn’t really start with a bang but a few arrows got launched just not with any real consistency.  Mostly gar were the available targets with the occasional buffalo or carp.  Then we hit the mother load of gar and the excitement level picked up.  There were hundreds between the bank and some industrial water discharges!  Arrow after arrow flew and finally, I had my first fish of the evening. 

I’m pretty sure no skill was involved on my part, just the sheer magnitude of fish allowed my arrow to accidentally hit one!  We continued to shoot at Gar for several hours and just as we planned to wrap up the evening it was decided we would hit up a small tributary to see if we could actually find some of these silver carp everyone is always talking about.  Oh did we!!  I really haven’t had that much pure fun in a long time.  As the boat meandered down the backwater silver carp presented shot after shot.  It was a total blast.  There were several instances where fish were just launching themselves at us and into the boat.  The excitement and action were like nothing I had ever seen.  I feel very fortunate for having the opportunity to spend some time with some fantastic people and hunt in a fashion I never had before.