# Carpin' Today



## Riverrat77 (Sep 7, 2007)

Going out on an impromptu bow fishing trip to get some fresh carp for next weekends catfish float.. Anyone want to go with? I've got a spot with some pretty reliably easy shots with a bow. I'll be leaving in an hour or so and I'm in Murray. Anyone want to hook up and shoot, PM me or shoot me a text. 801-588-9146 (cell). Potential for shots at jacks as well.... I'll post up pics when I get home.


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## Al Hansen (Sep 7, 2007)

Good Luck River,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Get them all. :wink:


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## chet (Sep 7, 2007)

**** job!

I've been achin to shoot my new carp setup!

good luck bud


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## Nor-tah (Dec 16, 2007)

Man that is tempting! I'm heading to Scofield in about 2 hours and I'm in Orem. Are you coming south to Utah lake or staying North? I just got a new setup and I'm dying to try it out. Let me know next time you go through another thread or PM me!!! GOOD LUCK!


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## Riverrat77 (Sep 7, 2007)

Well, got to the little spot at about eight AM.  I am just shooting my hunting setup (Bear compound set at 67 pounds, 100 gr. Muzzy three blades on Easton Axis shafts)... probably a little overgeared for carp, but I intended to have fun with it anyway. I drove down the little dirt road to the stream/pond I wanted to hunt and sure enough the carp were waiting. My first shot missed so I just kinda crept along until I saw a big ol carp sucking on the undercut bank. I stopped by a bush to draw back and let fly!! Blood flew, water boiled and I had a pass through on my first carp... Yay!! The creek bottom was nice and sandy as well as only holding 1 foot of water so retrieving the arrow/carp was easy. The fish kinda gimped around for a while and then swam off... leaving a bright red trail. I figured... ah hell, I'll come back when its floating. Walked down a little further to sandy bend in the river and saw a group of three of the wary rascals meandering over the sandy bottom. I drew back and let fly. Bingo... another carp, this one pinned to the bottom. I missed with a field tip but then I pulled out another razor tipped arrow to finish the thrashing carp. The second Muzzy stopped all struggles. I waded across, retrieved my carp and took some pics. As I walked down the bank, the stream got really shallow and devoid of carp. I got to a hole with a big stump in it and there in the low water were three nice fat carp. Trapped... so I thought it would be easy. Yeah right... they had other plans. I took a shot and stuck an arrow in the bank. Second arrow.. same result. I waded across to get a better vantage point and finally managed to stick one in a carp, nailing it to the bottom. I now see the need for an arrow retrieval system. :lol: Wading in to get the arrow/carp soaked my wallet and my phone (such a terrible loss, yeah right). Walked back to the truck and saw the first carp I'd shot laying on the bottom, still right side up. It didn't run off so I put a second arrow right through the middle and pulled it off the bottom.... it had been pretty close to dead I guess when I shot it the second time. Can I just say.... the entry and exit wounds these broadheads made... pretty intense damage to the fish... no wonder they didn't go too far. :shock: Anyway, my dog and I walked back to the truck and drove over to another little pond I knew about with a stream running out of it. I walked that creek with my dog but all the carp were carplets so the shooting was a lot tougher. I did manage to hit about three of the six inch targets but missed a lot more of them. I did have a blast though. I managed one more decent sized carp and decided to call it a day. Anyone know if you can bowhunt bass? I saw a couple good sized ones that if I'd known for sure, would have taken a shot at landing some dinner. Anyway... it was fun.... just getting back to simple shooting and fun without any pressure to bring something home. I did butcher up one carp for a catfish outing next weekend though. I think I need to rig up a line to my arrows or something before I tackle Utah Lake... or I'd be losing lots of arrows. Here's some pics.

3 arrows on target









My dog, the rig, the carp









Penetration









Muzzy's









Second fish, exit side









Headache..... or cure.


















Spectator.... one of a few.


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## deadicated1 (Mar 17, 2008)

sweet report RR!! we went to utah lake today, hoping for some carp with a bow, but couldnt ever get a shot  oh well, we really got into the cats, and got one right at 7 pounds. well give the crap, oops, i mean carp, another try another day


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## plottrunner (Apr 3, 2008)

Nice report and Great Pics RR.....


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## LOAH (Sep 29, 2007)

Hey, nice. You've done us all a service. :wink: 

Don't shoot the bass, the game fish will get you in trouble. I bet that little spectator looked tempting too. :lol: 

Looks like fun. I see some guys show up at my lunch spot with their setups quite often. They shoot and then reel them in with the retrieval systems. 

You know my lunch spot...If you're in the neighborhood, hit downstream from there (other side of the freeway by the dump) and you'll have plenty of target practice.

Good luck on the catfishin'. I hope that succulent dirt, er...uh...meat does the trick for them.


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## HGD (Mar 5, 2008)

We went out carpin yesterday too, I got 14 my buddy got 3 one real cow. it was fun, and a good way to spend a morning. Rat can ya run a small boat on Utah Lake? I'm hankerin a trip (mini vacation) what kind of camping is there in that area?


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## dockrot (Apr 14, 2008)

Willard and Pine View are lousy with those dang things! Having killed hundreds in my "career" (canals, rivers, sloughs, resevoirs etc) I would recommend a pitchfork for maximum "killage". I've ruined ($$) lots of arrows and points...hardly worth it in my opinion. If you want to try something different, muddy up the water real good and then kneel down and act like a rock...often as not a big one will sidle up to your leg and you can reach down and grab it by the gills. If you insist on using a bow you should at least invest in the proper fish arrows and points and a decent stabilizer mount reel and line..but that is really hard on your deer hunting equipment.


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## Slipknot (Sep 16, 2007)

Oh man That looks like a hoot! Makes me think I need to dig out my bow and get it set back up. Thanks for the pictures I may have to give it a try real soon.


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## Riverrat77 (Sep 7, 2007)

Man, it was a blast. Of course, today I took my arrows out to the 3-D range to shoot and noticed that I have one tip thats kinda mushroomed (must have hit a rock) and my arrows just flew like crap. This carpin must be hard on em. I do like that they're sealed with a nock and insert so they will float. My dog had a great time fetching my arrows.... at least the field tip ones. Wonder if I should do a toughness ad on these Axis arrows? Dog fetch and rock bounce test... :lol: It sure won't be the last time I do this... I do need to get some fiberglass cheapo arrows though that I can hook a line to so I can do some open water damage.


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