I endured two days of torture, driving to work past some flooded paddocks with Koi carp chasing each other around, as the spawning season gets started.
The third morning, I went bowfishing.
One of the privileges of being self employed.
These particular flooded paddocks, I have permission to bow fish in.
With the soil on this farm being peat, the water is as black as tea and the fish are only visible when on the surface or very close to it.
As I walked across the paddock to the edge of the flood water, there were a dozen or more fish visible within 50m.
It was 7am and the wind hadn’t got up, the surface was like glass.
I slipped my feet into the water, toe’s first, so I didn’t splash with my steps as I closed the gap to a group of spawning fish. In this dark water, I look at the fence posts to try and judge how deep the water is, until you step in a hole.
These fish weren’t swimming in my direction. So I use a technique I call Rattling. Spread my fingers and shake them in the top of the water like a female splashing around.
It worked a treat, a group of five swung around and headed straight to the sound of my rattling. I picked out a bigger fish and at 6m flicked my pointy stick with a string attached and struck it behind the gills.
What a fight, it was awesome.
Another rattle, and it looked like it hadn’t worked. Then I looked behind me and there was several bow waves heading towards me. At 3m I arrowed another fish and in the commotion from the arrowed fish jumping and splashing, another fish hit me hard in the back of the leg, just swam straight into me in the black water.
There were fish everywhere, but they soon go deep and scatter after getting a fish. So I wait a couple of minutes before rattling or stalking a further away fish.
When I miss a fish, they often swim around close by wondering what the splash was. They will swim against or under the arrow and string, but as soon as I pull on the string to retrieve the arrow from the soil or grass, they dart away.
There were always fish visible somewhere in the floodwater. Splashing and chasing the females around.
Easily 8 or 9 hectares of land were under water.
Four hours later with 22 carp in piles around the edge of the water, I headed home to fillet the fish.
Buzzing from the mornings antics.
