The river erupted into a volcano of mud and water splashing high into the air as the arrow hit its mark and the screams of excitement echoed throughout the Petenwell Flowage.

This was Michael and Tyus’ first bow fishing experience.  They had no idea of what fun was in store for them.  We set up two Diamond Edge bows with AMS Retriever Pro Reels; made a cardboard carp to shoot at and did our practicing in the yard on a Block target.

We met Jeff and Cindy Braun from AMS Bowfishing about 3:30 in the afternoon.  We were a little late meeting them and Cindy was already out shooting fish while Jeff was patiently waiting on the shore for us.  On her return to shore, her plastic barrel was half full.  That really got the boys fired up.

We had made plans several months ago to take two kids who had attended the Kicking Bear camps on a bow fishing outing.  Jeff and Cindy know first hand the positive impact it can have on kids by getting them into the outdoors and involved with something as exciting as bow fishing.  They have been great supporters of Kicking Bear since the first camp eight years ago.

The day was overcast and muggy with spotty rain showers—perfect as far as I’m concerned when it comes to bow fishing.  As we were cruising toward the shallows the fish were boiling everywhere.  The closer we got, the more the excitement built.  Michael and Tyus had their bows in position and their fingers on the strings.  The first few shots they took were more of a learning experience on how to shoot off a loft on a boat. 

We were about 8 yards out from the cattails and two large carp showed their backs.  It was all one motion—Tyus drew his bow and released—and the arrow hit with a load whack and the fish went bezerk.  The line continued to pull out of his reel as the arrow was doing all different kinds of zigzagging and flipping in the water.

Tyus was yelling at the top of his lungs, “I got one, I got one!”  Using his Retriever Reel, he brought the fish right to the side of the boat where Cindy grabbed it and lifted it onto the deck.  Tyus’ arms were straight up in the air with the biggest grin on his face and that’s when the high-fiving started.

As soon as Tyus got his arrow nocked again, there was another opportunity for him and he “pinched” again.  Meanwhile Michael was still getting used to his equipment.  Several shots had been taken with no success.  I told Michael that there was a lot of water around the fish and I think he took me seriously because the very next shot Michael yelled “I pinched! I pinched!”  As the fish hit the barrel, there was a lot of whooping it up and dancing on the deck.

All afternoon we weaved in and out of rows of cattails and across shallow flats.  Several times there were so many fish erupting on the water that it sounded like a freight train coming across the water.  None of us wanted to get off the water when the lightning started to strike but we didn’t want to end up like those fish!

While we were putting the boat back on the trailer, Jeff said let’s go into town and get something to eat and if the weather looks good, we’ll come back after dark.  Sure enough, after our meal we found ourselves taking the boat off the trailer and launching it back on the Petenwell.

Michael and Tyus were asking all kinds of questions like, “How are we going to see the fish at night?”  All those questions were answered immediately after Jeff turned the generator on and the boat lit up with halogen lights all around the bow.  It gave you the ability to see into the water up to several yards in all directions around the boat. 

We found ourselves trolling along the cattails.  Again, it took a little practicing, but before long the barrels were getting filled up. On one occasion everybody on the bow of the boat was yelling "Look at that monster!"  That’s when Michael released his arrow and made a perfect hit.  This fish was huge!  We were afraid that he was going to pull the arrow right back out of it so Tyus gave him an assist.  The second arrow guaranteed that fish was going to be in the boat. 

As I pulled the fish from the water, I could tell it was well over 20 pounds!  The excitement from putting a carp of that size on the boat was overwhelming. It wasn’t five minutes later and Michael caught another monster.  Then it was Tyus’ turn—he too put a monster carp into the boat.  The night water splashed like fireworks as the arrows found their mark!  Hours went by but we were all having so much fun the time just slipped by.  

About 1:30 in the morning as we were trolling into a new patch of cattails all the lights went out and everyone in the boat was completely silent.  Then Jeff said, “I think the generator ran out of gas.”  Taking that as our cue, we called it a night.  I truly believe that if the generator wouldn’t have run out of gas, we’d still be there.

Courtesy of Ray Howell and the Kicking Bear Foundation