Making a fishing arrow

[Moss]

I was curious as to whether or not any of you guys have tried to make a set of arrows specifically designed for fishing out of wood. I am planing on making them out of Oregon as I do with all of my arrows, with an extended knock insert as such, out of Wenge to try and strengthen the line attachment point. So my question was have any of you had tried to make a wooden fishing arrow before and if so do you have any advice. I personally haven't ever done any bow fishing so I was also interested in anyone's opinion who does do bow fishing in terms of durability etc...

[pdccr]

I agree, would love to see some homemade ones.

[otis.drum]

this is a picture graham A put up a while back. you can see their fishing arrows are quite long. especially the one furtherest to the right.

huntingpartyfishing[1].jpg (37.5 KiB) Viewed 4985 times

[pdccr]

Yer wow, its almost like a spear. What kind of heads are the best?

[greybeard]

Hi Moss,

Oregon may be ok in shallow water but you may wish to try spotted gum or ironbark to get better penetration in deeper water. Trajectory is not an issue.

Daryl.

[Moss]

ok so greybeard would that just be because you want more weight to get it further through the water

[TomMcDonald]

Interesting bow there with the guy on the right.

[greybeard]

Hi Moss,

I believe a heavier arrow wil give better penetration in water.

Daryl.

[pdccr]

Just finished half a dozen new arras, first batch that look like they can get a good cluster

[ichiban]

im with greybeard on this one, you would prolly at least want to foot them with a heavy hard wood to stop them flatening out, head wise i think a needle type head with at least 1 barb would be best this would prolly be more efficiant than say a barbed broad head.

cheers,
Dave

[Moss]

Your definitely right about the broad heads Dave. I have played with shooting broad head arrows into water and have found that they seem to go crazy due to the blade acting like a ruder as soon as it hits the water. My plan is basically to make a super sharp field point then weld a piece of steel wire angling back to stop the fishies falling off.

[otis.drum]

you could modify a bobkin or look at spear gun head designs.

[clinton miller]

try this.



garpoon point with a broadhead adapter i turned up. this setup is for shooting BIG sharks, (not that i've got around to trying it yet, but i've been told you have to hurt them a bit ). for fish and stingrays i use the stock standard point instead of the broadhead.

a few blokes i know use speargun points, like otis said, modified to accept a broadhead, again for sharks.

[aaron]

I have spent a lot of time bowhunting for rays in Queensland but am yet to try making a timber shaft as I use a standard alloy shaft (22/16) filled with sand. Do however hunt with a 60# deflex longbow! I agree with the general concensus regarding weight of the arrow - I don't hunt fish/rays with an arrow less than 1000 grains.

The heads that I use (which should translate to timber arrows) are either a harpon on a fiberglass shaft or on alloy's - a sharpened ribtek head with a number 6 (06) fishing hook treaded through the ribs of the broadhead. On both set-ups, the head is connected at the base to a 90# trace running up the arrow with a stopper near the nock and taped to the base of the nock. I also use a 70# swivel running along the trace which is connected to the bow reel. Never had any problems with slowing in the water if it's set straight and true (they have failed miserably when they're not!!). Just remember to connect your line from the bow to the arrow using the swivel.

If you plan a hunt a in Queensland waters than you must have a fixed line between the bow and shaft at all times hence the elaborate way of connecting the shaft to the bow - don't know if this rule applies in other states.

Hope that helps - I'm a mad fisherman/traditional bow hunter and can't wait to hear your results.

[pdccr]

sounds good aaron, how deep are the waters that you hunt in?

[aaron]

knee deep (2 to 3 foot)

[pdccr]

I must give it a go someday

[ichiban]

what do you use the ray for? i know the japanese used ray skin under linnen or leather for the hilts of there 3 swords (that would be a nice bow handle) or are u just avenging steve??

[otis.drum]

you can eat ray wings

[ichiban]

hmmm kentucky Fryed Rays......dosent have the same ring ill stick to chook wings

[rodlonq]

you can eat ray wings

I'm with Otis on this one. I haven't bow shot a ray but I would never throw one back when line fishing. The meat is sweet, usually very clean and quite firm. I have heard of people using a wad punch to make circular piece and passing them off as scallops (probably battered and deep fried ). The leftovers make really good bait for crab pots as well. Just watch out for the barb/s when you are handling them!...

I'm keen to find out how you go with wooden fishing arrows Moss..... Rod

[Dennis La Varenne]

Tom (via Moss),

Interesting bow there with the guy on the right.

The bowmen in this pic are Andaman Islanders from the islands off the east coast of India I think they are. Their bows have that kind of side profile, but have a front profile very similar to the Holmegaard design. What benefit the reflexed lower limb opposing a heavily deflexed upper limb confers, I do not know. The extraordinary arrow length is common throughout Melanesia and Brazil in the Amazon basin both for fishing and jungle use. Many, but not all are flightless, relying on the high forward centre of gravity for stability.

Dennis La Varenne

[matt61]

One of the reasons the arrows are so long is that you can put the first fourty centimetres into the water which eliminates the refraction problem, you just aim the submerged end at the fish.If you watch the Indians shooting fish and tortoises in the flooded Amazon forest from a canoe thats what they do.
Matt

[Moss]

Okay so I got back of the boat a while ago now (few weeks) I was shooting with a 33# hickory self bow. Seems as i did not have time to machine some heavy wooden arrows I just brought some 8mm solid fiber glass and used a normal 125 grain glue on tip drilled a whole through the tip bent some piano wire and glued it in with Weld it (Super Strong Epoxy). than for the string i just used 80 pound fishing string and again wut it through the tip.

Anyway i didn't manage to shoot anything. I only saw 1 school of cocky salmon and they where just out of my range oh well next time

[jindydiver]

I make my own fishing arrows with fibreglass rod. You just have to taper it for a nock and buy a head from a store, no fletchings needed. I run a cable along it to attach a line so I can reel them in

[Stephen Georgiou]

I have found the wooden shaft too light for fishing at anything other than surface fishing. I have tried tassie oak dowels from bunnings 40" long and 10mm diameter then heavily lacquered with a shop brought barb for woods that I got from the bow hut many years ago.
The fibreglass arrows I use are branded Osprey, also from most archery shops.

hard head them carp.jpg (147.84 KiB) Viewed 4367 times

[hutcho]

one idea for fibreglass arrows to connect to the line is that most of the shop bought fishing arrows normally have a small hole less than 1" from the nock. Cut the plastic fletches off as they don't do anything, and get a nail and glue it into the hole with a few mm sticking out. (you need to check that it is pointing up when sitting on the bow) you also need to have enough sticking out that the swivel mentioned next won't slide off it.

Before you glue the tip on (or glue the nail in) get a compression spring that will slide the lenght of the shaft with a 200lb or greater swivel fed onto the spring. slide this on the shaft glue the head on and then you just need to tie the line to the swivel.

Before drawing you make sure the swivel is just behind the arrow head, shoot and the swivel comes back to the nail as the shaft accelerates meaning that you have no line anywhere near your rest or fingers.

easy peasy and keeps the lunch hooks away from line etc. (the other thing you can do is slide an alloy shaft over the end of the fishing arrow that is glued and pinned so that you can screw in broadheads into the alloy insert. this gives you the chance to change heads or unscrew the head so that you can "efish" the arrow a little easier.

Cheers

Hutcho

[Moss]

these are the pics of the arrow i ended up making up

[Stephen Georgiou]

Looks good to me. except I would get rid of the swivel and clamp, you might find it will get in the way Or make a fair old noise when it hits the shaft.

[rodlonq]

It would be interesting to know what the Andaman Islanders in the photo have on the pointy end of their arrows. And they seem to have no line at all, they probably skewer the fish to the bottom (they seem to be in very shallow water) with the long arrows and wade after it quick smart.

Obviously this is not sport to them, they have the numbers on their side to declare war on the local fish population, or at least greatly increase their chance of taking home a feed .