Give bowfishing a try

Bowfishing for catfish has its detractors, but for those who do it the right way, it’s a fun way to combine archery and fishing.

Cole Poplin with Renegade Bowfishing participates in bowfishing tournaments all over the country, and also guides clients on several waterways in the Carolinas. He loves to fish in the traditional way, but he obviously loves bowfishing as well.

“We still have to follow the same regulations that anglers do when it comes to how many catfish we can keep, and size limit. Also, some bodies of water don’t allow bowfishing at all,” said Poplin.

It’s also not nearly as easy as most people think, at least not for folks who don’t do it often.

I can personally attest to that, as I decided to try my hand at it while on the water one night with Poplin.

Aim low

“Aim lower,” Poplin told me numerous times while watching me take aim.

And when I would adjust my aim lower, he’d say “lower than that.”

More often than not, I’d aim lower again, but not enough.

It wasn’t just me, fortunately for my own ego. Another friend was with us, and like me, he had also never tried his hand at bowfishing before. He’s all the way around a better outdoorsman than most, but he suffered the same inaccuracies as I did.

With Poplin’s coaching, we finally scored a catfish each, but when it comes to percentages, the two of us weren’t setting any records. Not the good ones anyway.

Still, both of us had a blast, and Poplin enjoyed helping us get the hang of it, as bad as we were.

28-pound draw

“I love helping other people figure it out,” he said. “The biggest thing for most people is that they shoot too high. And that’s because of the light refraction in water.”

This light refraction makes a fish seem closer to the surface than it actually is, and it also makes the fish seem in a different position than its true location.

Poplin uses Oneida Osprey bows, and sets them for a 28-pound draw.

“I’ve tried all the latest and greatest bows, but I kept coming back to the Osprey. It’s easy to adjust, it stays true, and it’s smooth as silk to shoot,” he said.

He cautions bowfishermen against using too much draw on their bows.

“Twenty-eight pounds is about perfect. Anything more than that and you’ll shoot straight through the fish and into the bottom of the lake,” he said. “That makes it harder to retrieve the arrow and to catch the fish.”

If you’d like to give bowfishing a try, Poplin has all the proper gear, including a fleet of airboats armed with high-intensity spotlights mounted all around. You can reach him at 803-968-4130.