ATTN Bowfisherman

Alright, anyone with a little bowfishing wisdom is welcome to help me out. I have an extra compund bow that I want to get set up. I am looking at buying the AMS retriever reel. I was wondering if the roller rests are necessary, or if I could use my traditional style hunting rest that I already have.

Also any advice on arrows, tips, and line would be helpful. So far I am reading good things on muzzy arrows and tips.

I appreciate any advice given. Thanks

My personal opinion on the retriever reel is don't use it. I much prefer a large spincast reel like the shakspeare synergy or zebco 808 spooled with fast flight line. As far as the rest goes the roller rest works good (especially the dream rest) as well as the new fishhook style. Even better still is to use plumbers epoxy and form one on the flat part of the riser with a groove for the arrow through it. Muzzy products are great you may even get a reply from the bowfishing guru Mark Land. We love the muzzy stingray tips. the tips are replacable and you can unscrew to release barbs without touching the fish or pushing the arrow through. Our stuff seems to work pretty good for us.

thanks for the tip....i was looking at the reel seats for some of the spincast reels like you were talking about and was nervous of how they held up being they screw into the stabilizer hole. I had a stabilizer hole's threads on a bow stripped out just from putting my stabilizer on and off for hunting reasons. The reason I looked at the AMS reels is because they screwed into the sight holes on the bow. And if you dont mind me askin more questions....

I was wondering do yall shoot by instinct or do you actually have sights??

What pound line do you use for carp and gar?

Anything else you think might be helpful.....Looks like you have had quite a bit of success in whatever setup you have. I bet its a lot of fun too and I can see another addiction awaiting.

Thanks again

Never had a problem stripping the threads out but our bowfishing bows are dedicated for bowfishing. The reel seat we use you can find at Sulley's bowfishing stuff and I'll attatch pic's. Also i'd recommend the third hand which screws in to the end of the reel seat. This allows you to wrap the line around it a couple of times whenever you're fighting a big fish. You wont believe how hard a big grass carp(white amure)will pull. As far as the line goes we use 200lb fast flight line you can get 150 yds for about $9.00 at sulleys. And we do shoot instinctively. We truly enjoy traditional archery and practice often. Remember though you need to Aim Low. We started out using recurves for bowfishing and now we use Oneida bows which are a compound recurve. As far as the addiction part you have no idea. Just wait and see. Sulleys is online at www.sullysbowfishing.com

Here's a different opinion. I've went thru a few spincast reels and they just didnt hold up for me. One problem I had was finding a reel that would work using heavy braidied (100+ lb. line) line in them. Sometimes it take a little pulling to get an arrow out of the mud and if the string isnt heavy enough you'll break off and loose some pretty high priced arrows. Spincast reels didnt seen to shoot the line out freely enough for the line I preferred using. Always seemed to find a reel that would last maybe a year then the bail on the spincasts broke too. Went with the retriever and have never looked back. I would say this reel isnt perfect either but I havent wore it out yet. I dont go as much as I once did but back when I first got the retriever I probably shot fish approx. 4 months a year mostly going on weekends at nite shooting well over a hundred times most nites. I'm still shooting the same retriever I started with with the exception of having to replace the bottle that holds the line (which was my fault for breaking it in the first place).
Definitely go with the rest you mentioned. You can either make one out of a piece of hard plastic on a lathe or just buy the one they have for sale. I made one in the machine shop before I ever saw the ones come out that you're talking about and it is still working fine for me. Those heavey arrow need more than just regular target/hunting rests since the solid arrows are so heavy and there's no need to have to worry about arrow flight since shots are way less than 30 feet anyways.
Tips....I first started out with a couple heads like the Muszzy's but changed quickly. I've always favored the stingerees. They dont have to tear their way thru the fish leaving a big tear for a chance of the fish getting off the arrow. I've tried push point arrows tips as well but they dont work too good after a shot or two into muddy bottoms.

A buddy of mine uses what looks like a piece of solid surface counter top with a groove cut in it attached directly to the shelf. He shoots straight off of it. He's finished top 5 in the world for several years now. He uses the spincast reels and goes thru a bunch of them. They're fast shooters and the reels can't take all the jerking.

The third hand I recommended takes care of the stuck in the mud problem. Just wrap the line around it a few times and pull. It takes the stress off the line pick up in the reel. As far as the retriever reel its just preference but watch any bowfishing video and see how much extra line pays out after the shot and spools up on the deck. Its just something else to worry about messing with in the middle of trying to recover your fish. The spincast enables a quicker and more efficient retrieval for us. Also you will tear up equipment, such as your reel ,on fish but the synergy is durable and only $18 to $19 bucks at walmart.Cheap enough to carry a spare. The fast flight line I talked about is 200 lb test but small diameter and shoots great out of these reels. I also neglected to mention about attaching the line to the arrow. You want to make sure you use a cable or slide to make sure the line stays in front of your rest , reel , reel handle or anything else that might catch it as you shoot. We used to use cabled arrows but now use the AMS safety slides as they are less bulky.

DEFINITELY USE THE SAFETY SLIDES!! If not, the line will twist and sometimes attach itself in a knot around your bow string causing the arrow to fly backwards upon release of the string popping you in the face with the nock end of the arrow. I know!! This happend to me. I was lucky cause I wear glasses. This happened some 15-20 years ago and there is still some slight numbness on my upper lip that will never go away not to mention the scar on my cheek under my eye. It coulda been alot worse.....bad even. Spend the extra few bucks to be safe.

The Muzzy products are good but pricey, I use Lil Stinger heads. I also use a Zebco 888 all metal gears does real good with braided line. You will loose arrows so an expensive arrow can be expensive. I never used the slide system on the arrows. We use to do allot of Saltwater Bowfishing, before the end of the day my friends would loose several arrows that had that system on them. I seeen a friend get the cable that runs down the length of the shaft around the roller rest, it was not pretty. It may be me but I never had a problem attaching the string to the rear of the arrow. Good Luck show us some Photos.

I would say it is about 50/50 on spincast and retrievers as to what I see in traveling around and shooting tournaments. Personally, I prefer the spincast and use our #150 spectra line and can get about 40-45yds. of line in the reel, plenty to handle most grass carp runs and heavy enough to haul those #40 stingrays off the bottom. With spincast reels I tie to the back and always make sure my line is tight before shooting. I normally do not recommend slides with spincast reels as they will allow you to draw and shoot without the button being pushed, but they do work well and are highly recommended with retrievers and hand wrap reels. The Muzzy quick release is still my favorite, but I do use the stingray point on occasion. I squeeze the barbs in tight so they will just pivot around the shaft and use a sharp carp point so it makes a very small hole in the fish and leaves more flesh for the barbs to hold on. The durability of most spincast reels has been a problem and I usually carry a few spares on all trips, but we are coming out with a new reel for 2006 that I personally helped design and it should hold up much better. It will only be a little more than the Shakespeares, but much better drag, anti-reverse, spool support, gears, etc. You can check out our products on-line at Muzzy.com or check with Sully's as well. Thanks and good luck, Mark

thanks for all of the information so far....I think I am getting the idea of what all i need to be doing. Now i guess I will have to make up my mind on what to get.

Thanks again

Roger