May 2011 OutdoorIllinois / 5

Illinois sportsmen take aim at exotics, gaining a new sportwhile helping to curb the population explosion.

Targeting Asian CarpStory By Mike GarthausPhotos By Gretchen Steele

Sportsmen across Illinois havejoined the fight against thespread of aquatic invasivespecies. Bow anglers have beenshooting fish for decades and

the introduction of Asian carp to Illinoiswaters has increased opportunities forbowfishing. One shot at a time, bow-fishers are helping to remove invasive,aquatic species from Illinois waters.One may think bowfishers could notremove many fish, but a tournamentheld on the Illinois River in 2009removed more than 25,000 silver carp.

In 2010, the Department of NaturalResources and the Bowfishing Associa-tion of Illinois sponsored the firstDirector’s Shoot. The Spring Valleytournament was held to promote thesport of bowfishing and increase theawareness of Asian carp. Conductedin a “Big 6” tournament format, thegrand prize was awarded to the per-son possessing the heaviest stringer ofsix silver carp.

One of the issues with bowfishingtournaments is what to do with thefish. Fish taken during the Director’sShoot were processed into high-gradeemulsion fertilizer. The same companythat processed the fish for fertilizer canmake a variety of tasty foods from freshAsian carp, as evidenced by the silvercarp fare available to tournament partic-ipants and spectators.Even though many seasoned tourna-

ment bowfishers have elaborate boatswith generators and lights for night

Bowfishers are playing an

important role in helping to remove

rough fish, including silver carp,

from Illinois waters.

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fishing, a novice can walk the shorelineand find plenty of Asian carp activity.Ed Devries, from the Bowfishing

Association of Illinois, said that begin-ners can walk the shorelines near thesmaller tributaries of the Illinois Riverand have plenty of chances to shootAsian carp.

“I suggest people concentrate onsmaller tributaries flowing into theIllinois River between the Fox Riverand Peoria,” Devries said. “One alsocan increase their odds of finding Asiancarp fishing smaller tributaries from acanoe or small boat.”Having a fully equipped boat pro-

vides even more opportunities to bow-fish for Asian carp. Devries splits theIllinois River into two large segments,above the Starved Rock Dam and belowthe dam. The higher concentrations ofsilver carp are below the dam, andDevries encounters more bighead carpabove the dam.Members of the Bowfishing Associa-

tion of Illinois organization utilize threebasic techniques to harvest Asian carpfrom the river.The first technique is used during

the day and involves having the driverkeep the outboard motor down as far asit can go and positioning the bowanglers at the back of the boat. As theboat driver varies the speed and RPM ofthe motor, silver carp in the area willbegin to jump. If you are having troublepicturing bowfishers shooting flying sil-ver carp, think of skeet shooting on thewater with a bow.A similar technique can be used at

night utilizing lights to illuminate thewater. The driver varies the speed and

RPM of the motor while the bowfishersshoot from the front of the boat. Whilemany of the Asian carp will swim nextto the boat, be prepared for large num-bers to take flight. Anglers can opt totarget either the swimming carp orthose jumping out of the water.The last technique is to target big-

head carp and grass carp feeding neargrain docks. Slowly troll your boat withthe trolling motor near feeding areas forcarp, looking for carp feeding at thesurface. Devries noted that bigheadcarp do not like noise or bright lightsand suggested using DC lights insteadof lights from a generator. More detailsof these techniques and areas to targetAsian carp can be found on the Bow-fishing Association of Illinois Web page.Asian carp are not the only exotic

carp found in Illinois. The commoncarp, found across the state, also isfrom Asia and competes with our nativefishes. Bowfishing tournaments areheld across the state on lakes to pro-mote the removal of common carp.The best way to learn how to bow-

fish is to contact one of the bowfishingclubs in Illinois. There are at least threebowfishing clubs in Illinois: The Bow-fishing Association of Illinois, IllinoisBowfishers and the Bowfishing Associa-tion of Southern Illinois. Members of

M any public lakes allow bowfish-ing, but before you head to your

local lake for bowfishing, check thesite-specific fishing regulations.Some lakes are classified as two

poles and line only, a regulation thatprohibits the use of devices other thanfishing poles. To increase bowfishingopportunities, some lakes with this reg-ulation have an exemption to allowbowfishing.Even though a sportfishing license

is required to bowfish, sportfish cannotbe taken by bow. However, carp, carp-suckers, shad, drum, buffalo, suckers,gar (except alligator gar) and bowfinmay be taken with a bow. Current fish-ing regulations can be found at www.ifishillinois.org.

6 / OutdoorIllinois May 2011

Gearing up for bowfishing can be

as simple as grabbing your bow,

arrow, some line and a system to

reel in your fish.

Like other forms of fishing, bowfish-

ing is a great way to introduce youth to

an outdoor activity as old as the ages.

these clubs are eager to share theirequipment and knowledge about bow-fishing. For the competitive type, eachof these clubs also hosts tournamentson lakes and rivers in Illinois.With the assistance of the bowfish-

ing clubs, in 2010 DNR implementedstate records for spear and bowfishing.Thirteen fish species are recognized forspear and bowfishing state records, butcarp, gar and buffalo are the main fishgroups targeted. The current staterecords and eligible fish can be foundat www.ifishillinois.org/awards/bow_table.html.The Redneck Fishing Tournament

held at Bath on the Illinois River hastaken another approach to removingAsian carp. Started in 2005 as a result offrustration with silver carp invading the

Illinois River, the tournament hasturned into a world-famous event.Instead of using a bow for harvesting

the fish, a dip net is used. Since silvercarp take sail, tournament participantscatch the fish on the fly with a dip net,but only one hand-held dip net isallowed per participant. Tournamentrules do also allow keeping fish thatland in the boat. A helmet is recom-mended as numerous silver carp can beairborne at once. Granted, the RedneckFishing Tournament is more aboutrecreation than removing Asian carp,but it has helped spread the wordabout the impacts of aquatic invasive

species and is a perfect example ofturning lemons into lemonade.As we struggle with the issues of

invasive, aquatic species, sportsmen arefinding ways to increase recreationalopportunities in Illinois. If you see alighted boat trolling the water at nightor an angler carrying a bow on a boat,there is a good chance someone is tak-ing part in an effort to remove an exot-ic species from our waters.

Mike Garthaus is a DNR district fisheries

biologist and based in Gibson City. He

can be reached at mike.garthaus@illinois.

gov or (217) 784-4730 ext. 232.

Learn more

To learn more about bowfishing,contact one of these Illinois

organizations:Bowfishing Association of

Illinois: illinoisbowfishing.netIllinois Bowfishers: illinoisbow

fishers.comBowfishing Association of

Southern Illinois: http://ultimateoutdoorsnetwork.com/basiFor details on the annual Redneck

Fishing Tournament, visit www.redneckfishingtournament.com.

May 2011 OutdoorIllinois / 7

Only carp, carpsuckers, shad,

drum, buffalo, suckers, bowfin

and certain species of gar may be

taken with a bow.

Bowfishing tournaments are

becoming popular activities on

Illinois’ rivers and lakes.

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