Barnett Safari and Exocet Compound Bows

[c2518]

As I'm into recycling and enjoy little projects, I now am the current owner of a couple of old Barnett Compound Bows which I am fettling. Thinking about setting one up as a fishing bow (I know it is illegal to use them in UK freshwater but I travel to Africa a lot and could use it thereirate Does anyone know what length strings should be fitted? I've tried Google etc. but no luck so far. Any advice gratefully received.

 

[Grebby]

I have a safari somewhere

Once the house move is done I'll measure things for you if your not sorted by then.

Cheers

Grebby

 

[HillBill]

Is it illegal to use them in UK freshwater? I know hunting is illegal with a bow, can't recall there being a law against fishing with one. I stand to be corrected though, and if there is, does it apply to freshwater only?

 

[Goatboy]

Hi Hillbill,

Yup the only bow hunting you can do in the UK is saltwater fish. Used to "hunt" mackerel and the likes off the west coast. Turned the front balance weight (which I never used apart from for this) into a rudimentry reel.

Edit: I had loooked into this about 20 years ago, at the time laws hadn't changed since 1975. Police and environmental agency types said that as long as it was tidal and not considered a public place and there were no permit areas in force then although not smiled upon that there was no legal president to stop you. But with modern firearm laws being open to individual Police Officer interpretation I'd be carefull on reflection. I used to do it in clear water in a small boat off the west coast with no-one about. (Remember, barbed fishing arrows and inflatable boats don't mix well )

If in doubt get in touch with a local bobby near where you intend to fish and see how he/she would interperate the law.

GB.

 

[HillBill]

Cheers mate.

I have 3 compounds coming from the states (trades), think i will convert one into a fishing rig then.

 

[Goatboy]

Our fisheries specialist has advised the use of a bow and arrow to catch fish in England and Wales would be illegal. The bow and arrow would be classed as an illegal instrument under Part 1 Section 1 of the Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries Act 1975 ( since incorporated into subsequent Acts). Please read the extract from section 1 below.

Section 1.
Prohibited implements.
(1) Subject to subsection (4) below, no person shall—
(a)
use any of the following instruments, that is to say—
(i) a firearm within the meaning of the Firearms Act 1968;
(ii) an otter lath or jack, wire or snare;
(iii) a crossline or setline;
(iv) a spear, gaff, stroke-haul, snatch or other like instrument;
(v) a light;
for the purpose of taking or killing salmon, trout or freshwater fish;
(b) have in his possession any instrument mentioned in paragraph (a) above intending to use it to take or kill salmon, trout or freshwater fish; or
(c) throw or discharge any stone or other missile for the purpose of taking or killing, or facilitating the taking or killing of any salmon, trout or freshwater fish."

To read Section 1 in full please follow the link below:

http://www.statutelaw.gov.uk/content...&filesize=5719

You may be intersted in visiting the fishing section on our website. There is useful information on how to obtain a rod licence, fishing byelaws, where to fish and fisheries publications.

http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk...g/default.aspx

 

[santaman2000]

Is it illegal to use them in UK freshwater? I know hunting is illegal with a bow, can't recall there being a law against fishing with one. I stand to be corrected though, and if there is, does it apply to freshwater only?

There was another thread about it a few months ago. The consenseus seemed to be that bow-fishing was legally comparable to spear-fishing.

 

[HillBill]

Is that legal? I recall spear guns being sold in Newquay when i went there years ago/

 

[c2518]

My understanding is that bowfishing is illegal in the UK. My intention is to use the rig abroad when travelling as it all packs down quite nicely. Just found strings in the US on EBlag. Have considered using a spear fishing gun reel rather than a standard closed spinner reel but early days yet. Need to fabricate some arrows too so going to have some fun.

 

[Goatboy]

Hi c2518,

To add weight to the arrows I filled them with sand and then soaked them before fishing, (they were the hollow aluminium ones). This gave extra weight and sinkage and help avoid deflection on the water surface. Modified the screw in tips to have three mini prongs. Line was attached via a resined on loop that the fishing line could quickly tied to. Tried little clips but they got in the way.

Cheers
GB.

 

[c2518]

Thanks for the tips, excellent points. Just ordered a speargun reel and am working out how to fit it to the Safari bow.

 

[Goatboy]

Hi c2518,

If the speargun reel mounts like this one http://www.amazon.co.uk/JBL-Reel-Aluminum-Speargun-Spearfishing/dp/B001N4I9LE/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1359325057&sr=8-7 then it would just clamp/glue onto the removable front counterweight on the safari. Remember when practicing away from water that the arrow is going to accelerate much faster that a speargun arrow and will pull off a huge amount of line (leading to cats cradles of line) when shooting from a low boat into the water the arrow doesn't have time to fully accelerate hauling less line off the real, though some speargun reels have a drag out function which would avoid line spillage, but you may have probs with the initial acceleration.

Cheers
GB.

 

[Goatboy]

Now this is a simple idea that looks pretty good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1mEmRN6X3A

 

[c2518]

Thought I would practice in our pond (it's 5' deep and quite wide) at weighted balloons. this would allow me to work out what to allow for refraction whilst shooting from either a dinghy or sit-on kayak although I'm going to look abit of a muppet to the neighbours

 

[dwardo]

I had my first play with a crossbow at the weekend and gotta say I aint a fan! Scary things they are with all that stored energy just sitting there.
I would be very wary of using them at a target/water that's very close to you. Imagine the line catching and the arrow coming hurtling back at you! The chances of a rik-o-shay may be slim but those bolts have very little weight and travel very fast indeed. Dont know why but it would seem much safer with a heavier longer arrow ala normal bow length arrow.

As far as the sting goes give bow-plus a call and they could probably look them up for you.

 

[Grooveski]

Imagine the line catching and the arrow coming hurtling back at you!

You get little things called safety slides designed to avoid just that.
Tie the line to them rather than directly to the arrow. As you draw the slide is up at the point of the arrow keeping the line well away from the string. Once released it slides back to the tail of the arrow where the drag from the line won't affect flight so much.

 

[dwardo]

You get little things called safety slides designed to avoid just that.
Tie the line to them rather than directly to the arrow. As you draw the slide is up at the point of the arrow keeping the line well away from the string. Once released it slides back to the tail of the arrow where the drag from the line won't affect flight so much.

Thought they must have come up with a solution Xbows are still scary though lol.

 

[Grooveski]

They're for normal bows as well. Same dilemma - can't tie at the front or it affects flight - can't tie at the back in case the line wraps round the string.

I imagine the hardest part of using a crossbow would be aiming. It's hard enough to judge how low to aim with a bow and personaly I find them a lot easier to make snap aiming decisions with than crossbows.
(P.S. c2518's bows are compounds, not crossbows)

Aiming low takes a fair bit of getting used to. Usually you aim above a target and higher again as you increase the distance to target. With fishing it's the opposite, you aim low and go even lower as the target gets deeper. Feels really quite odd at first.

 

[Grooveski]

Thought I would practice in our pond (it's 5' deep and quite wide) at weighted balloons. this would allow me to work out what to allow for refraction whilst shooting from either a dinghy or sit-on kayak although I'm going to look abit of a muppet to the neighbours

Especially wearing shades on a cloudy winters day.
...or driving glasses or the likes. Something with good polarising qualities to help you see beyond the surface.

It's quite tricky to balance while kneeling and peeking over the side of a canoe(the bow seat of a tandem is the place to be).
If your dingy has floorboards you can comfortably stand on it'll be the better platform of the two.

 

[c2518]

Received the speargun reel today and very impressed with Now to fabricate some kind of mount using the existing mounts on the Safari. Strings are ordered from the US so will post pictures when all is here and assembling is complete.