The Fine Art Of Stalking the Wild Carp

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It's just as essential to select a fishing arrow that suits the job. The missile's shaft must be made of a material that won't be harmed by water . . . usually fiberglass of some sort. Many such arrows, though, are of hollow-spun construction and are unsuitable for carp. I've seen a stricken 12-pounder snap one in half by flipping against the bottom just as the hunter grabbed the shaft. Solid-cast fiberglass shafts, however, won't break and their greater weight provides better penetration of the water.

The points of fishing arrows are conical and armed on the trailing edges with welded spring steel wire projections (see Fig. 1). The heads can be double- or single-barbed, threaded or not, and the type you choose is a critical consideration.

I recommend double-barbed points. An arrow's head will pass through a carp's body with ease if the fish's spine is missed . . . and if the arrow doesn't pierce cleanly, two projections will hold much better than one.

I also prefer a threaded head, which allows me to remove the point from the shaft before I pull the arrow out of the fish . . . thus causing less disturbance to the water and less damage to the catch. (Ragged wounds tend to collect mud and weeds which must be trimmed out of the meat later on.)

There are several brands of bow-fishing reels on the market and none of them has moving parts. The type I've shown in Fig. 1 is simply an open spool with a clip at the top to prevent the line it holds from falling off before a shot. The hoop type—made with a central opening through which you shoot—functions in the same way.

It's important to keep the clip on one of these reels properly adjusted. If it's set too tightly the clamp will not only slow your shot but also fray the braided nylon line at the point of contact. The sudden breakage that might result could leave you helplessly watching as your $2.50 arrow disappears into the deeps like the periscope of a rapidly submerging submarine.

A second spot where the line is likely to fray is the point at which it's tied to the shaft . . . and just where that is is a matter of preference. Fig. 1 shows an arrow with two holes for the line, one at each end. Some brands, however, have only one hole (near the nock) . . . and in that case I recommend drilling a second (near the point), because I believe that the arrow flies truer with the weight of the line's drag attached to the head end.

The drawback to fastening the line near the arrow's point, however, is that the cord is more likely to be cut by fishbones in that position. (In fact, it almost certainly will be cut if your shot penetrates the bony head of a carp . . . which is one good reason why you should always aim for the median line just behind the gill flap.) In order to hold my arrow in case of such I thread my cord through the hole next to nock and tie a big enough knot—at any point between the holes—to prevent the broken cord from pulling out .

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