Hickory fishing bow, 75# at 26”

[Mo_coon-catcher]

Here’s how the hickory fishing bow turned out. It’s pulling ~75# at 26”. The stave started with 3/4” reflex, I heat treated in a total of 3” reflex, after shooting the limbs are flat and recover back to 3/4” reflex. So essentially where thenstave started naturally. The limbs are 26” from fade to nock, the are 2”  wide from fade to midlimb then taper to 1/2” nocks. The handle is made extra long to accommodate a glued in fishing reel insert. The handle is 4” plus 1.5” on each side to keep the insert out of the fades, and the fades are 2”. For a total no bending area of 11”. It’s not a quick bow, but seems to be stable, easy to shoot and quiet with a speed of 145fps with 750gr arrows. I still want to put a fiber cord handle wrap, so that as my hands get slimy and slippery I can keep a grip.

Let me know what you think,
Kyle

[Mo_coon-catcher]

Here’s the group I got at 17-18 yards while shooting through a chrony. Not great, but controlled for me.

Kyle

[DC]

Looks very nice. Do you really need that much weight for fish. A 750 grain arrow at that speed isn't going to be stopped by a fish. Or maybe you want it to go right through. I know nothing about bow fishing you can probably tell

[Mo_coon-catcher]

Thanks,
Realistically you barely need half that weight to sink a fishing arrow into a carp.  But I needed a fishing bow, and I wanted a good heavy weight training bow. So I decided to take care of both in one shot. I would think I could about sink an arrow through a gator with this weight.

Kyle

[upstatenybowyer]

Very cool. I always wanted to make a bow for fishing. I'd love to see some picks when the reel is on there.

Is it me or could the top limb bend a hair more right out of the fade?

[Hawkdancer]

Might be able to get a carp with that!  For a gator, I think a long, barbed point, and a rifle backing you up!
Hawkdancer

[Mo_coon-catcher]

Upstate, I’ll try to get you a pic with the reel attatched when I get up this afternoon.
 Your right, amd both limbs are a bit stiff in te inner limb. And the bottom limb a bit more so than top.I scraped a bit much towards the tip making a hinge.  So I toasted that spot to stiffen it up to keep from dropping weight. It helped enough to smooth out the hinge to a safe amount. I could see if flexing in the inner limb, though not as much as I would’ve liked. So I decided to call it good after the set, after going to full draw, didn’t show any more in the outer limb than what the top limb showed. And it shoots smooth enough to make me happy. If the bow was going to someone else, I would’ve fixed it. But it’s staying with me and I just wanted it for getting used to a 10# heavier bow than I had been shooting .

Kyle

[Eric Krewson]

Your top limb is only bending at mid limb, dead straight out of the fade and the last 10" or so.

[Morgan]

Kyle, I’ve wanted to make a fishing bow that will accept a modern reel like that for a while now. I like it. My shoulders are on fire thinking about that weight on a hot trip. Some friends and I shot 100+ fish and missed who knows how many  on a trip a couple years ago and I was sore for a few days shooting a 50lb bow lol. 75 lbs would have me permanently disabled.

[ohma2]

Cant argue with MAKING what you want and need,hope you get some fish with it.