Arrowing Away Invasive Carp From A Ranch

The following appears in the August issue of California Sportsman:

By Tim E. Hovey

I have been working with landowner Roger for over four years now on his property. I originally met the rancher through the local resource agency, as Roger was having varmint problems on his ranch and needed some help.

Happy to provide my hunting services, I quickly removed over 100 nuisance animals off his property during that first season. Since that time, I’ve kind of become Roger’s own personal “cleaner” – to use a mob term – when it comes to eliminating unwanted critters on his ranch. Over the years, I’ve gotten used to calls and texts from Roger asking for help regarding everything from beavers to coyotes, but this call was different.

“What do you know about carp?” he yelled over the sound of some monstrous farm vehicle operating close by. Over the next few minutes, I received the specifics of what was happening on his ranch.

ROGER WATERS HIS CROPS and his cattle using a series of canals throughout his property, all fed from an adjacent river. During this season, carp had found their way from the main river into the canals, stirring up mud and causing issues with water quality – so much so that the cattle on the property had refused to drink from the muddy canals.

Carp are a nonnative fish species that were planted in the West in the 1870s, essentially to supplement a growing public’s interest in consuming fresh fish. They were planted in just about every impoundment and now are one of the most prolific freshwater fish in the region. Unfortunately, their regular placement on the dinner plate never materialized, and they are now viewed as little more than a trash fish. Able to live in water of questionable quality, carp gather during the summer in the warmer, more shallow waters to spawn. Hundreds pack into these limited spaces during the spawn, and in doing so they can churn up and absolutely wreck the water quality in the shallows. I drove over to Roger’s place to see what was happening. Honestly, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Usually tranquil and crystal clear, the canals he used to keep his ranch alive were now muddied brown and completely plugged with thrashing carp. He indeed had a carp problem.

Once I identified the problem canals, I had to locate access to the water. These canals had been providing water for Roger’s family property for over 80 years, and as long as they moved water, keeping them free of overgrowth was not a high priority. They were heavily overgrown and tough to access. After a little search, I found three spots that would serve as perfect bowfishing perches. The next day I returned to Roger’s property with my Muzzy fishing bow and a secret weapon.

I FIRST GOT INTO bowfishing about five years ago on another property that had a carp issue. Not only did bowfishing prove effective, but it was also a heck of a lot of fun. So much so that my wife Cheryl decided she wanted to give it a try. And once she let loose her first fishing arrow, there was no stopping her. With Roger’s approval, that next day my secret weapon and I began the great carp harvest.

Shooting targets in water takes practice. When bowfishermen draw the arrow back on a target in the water, they must deal with refraction, the bending of light through liquid. This phenomenon makes it appear that the underwater target is in a different vertical position than it really is. The rule of thumb for most bowfishermen is to aim low. If a carp is spotted below the surface, the archer must aim below the fish to hit it. It does take practice. But honestly, once you do it a few times, it does become second nature.

I’ll admit that even as a lifelong outdoorsman, I have never been into archery of any kind. Prior to bowfishing, I had never actually picked up a bow. In fact, the very first arrow I ever released at a target was at a drainage canal carp. And that first arrow went right through two spawning fish. But I’d catch on eventually.

While the bows used for fishing and hunting are essentially the same, they do use very different components. Bowfishing arrows are heavy and usually made of fiberglass. The arrow tips are not made for cutting and passing through an animal, but for holding. The tip is sharp and designed to punch through scales and fish flesh. Heavy-wire prongs extend out and back from the fish arrowhead and are designed to be almost impossible to pull out once it pokes through a fish. The arrow also has no fletching on the back. Its weight and construction are made for relatively short shots. A 20-yard bowfishing shot is considered long.

A sliding collar fits on the arrow shaft, where a heavy Dacron fishing line can be attached so the arrow can be retrieved after the shot. That line is held in a plastic bottle attached to the bow and retrieved using an attached reel handle. The fishing reel-like component usually attaches to the bow in the same area where a hunting bow quiver would sit. This component acts just like a fishing reel and the fisher can use it to reel back the arrow after the shot. If a carp is struck by the arrow, the fish can be fought and retrieved using the line reel on the bow.

WE ARRIVED AT ROGER’S place and found the canals full of carp. To spread things out, I positioned Cheryl in an open area at the head of the canal. I moved about 50 yards down the canal at the edge of the waterway. It didn’t take long to let the carp know we were there.

Cheryl scored first and stuck a fat female. Since it was her first carp of the day, I dropped my bow and headed over to help her. After a short battle, we had the 7-pounder on the bank. I showed her how to release the arrowhead and helped her set up for another shot.
I walked back down to my spot, and after a brief wait, I got another female, a 10-pounder, and in short order had it flopping on the bank.

As the morning unfolded, the fish got wise and started hanging out in areas of the canal we couldn’t access. Indeed, this activity is and is not like shooting fish in a barrel. Once the fish are disturbed or startled by the constant arrows slamming into the water, they change their behavior and move to a less disturbed area. You also can’t just walk up to the water’s edge and start slinging arrows. The fish are wary, stay low and wear muted earth tones that match their surroundings. Staying quiet will get you more shots.

Cheryl and I spent the morning moving between three canals loaded with carp. We’d stick a few fish and then move to the next canal once the carp changed their behavior. Roger stopped by to check on our progress. He was more than pleased to see our success. Looking over the dead fish, he asked what we were going to do with them. I really hadn’t thought that far ahead.

“If you don’t want them, I can cut them up and feed them to my chickens,” he said while kicking one of the dead fish lightly with his boot. Perfect!

When we were finished, I helped load up the dead carp into Roger’s side-by-side. “Keep shooting,” he said, “I have 500 chickens to feed!”

He got in his buggy and headed out.

OVER THE NEXT WEEK, Cheryl and I would make trips back to the ranch and sharpen our bowfishing skills. Almost instantly we started to see a change. The canals that were once absolutely plugged with carp now only contained a few. It appeared that they had become tired of being harassed and moved back into the river. A few weeks after we started, all the carp had left Roger’s property.

Bowfishing is a fun activity that keeps you sharp in the offseason. Trading out a few bowfishing components on your hunting bow can have you shooting fish in no time. Stay quiet and stealthy to get close and don’t forget to aim low.

When the water gets warm and the carp spawning season arrives, I can’t wait to get that text from Roger letting me know the carp are back and he needs my help. CS