All I got were a couple of gizzard shad today. Ice is still not out. I would think in the next day or two it will be. It’s just open by the shore. We normally don’t get carp spawning till May. Spanked a couple of them and threw the stinky fish on the ice for the Bald Eagles and seagulls. I smoke carp! Would have saved yours for the smoker.

 

I can ship you some..😂🤣😂🤣 Carp are about the only fish in the lower Carson river. Nobody eats the fish from the Carson because of all the mining upstream. The Carson flows by the Comstock, (Virginia City) there’s a lot of mercury still leaching into the water table from all that mining. Only good for gardening. I would gift them to the Bald Eagles here, but they don’t seem to want them.

 

 

For about three or four days in May I can literally walk over them. They’re so thick here. lol. The Buffalo spawn is a few weeks before and is always hit and miss. Sometimes they don’t even break the surface so you don’t know they’re spawning. That buffalo meat is awesome! I never knew they had white meat. Got some a few years back and batter fried them, they were phenomenal.

 

Ice moved out! You literally can walk across gizzard shad today swimming by. It definitely takes some talent and knowing how far you can shoot it. I tried some with the 7 inch dart and I can get them off to 10 yards as long as they’re on top of the water. If they’re down more than 6 inches it’s not happening most of the time. I figured I’d try my 15 inch dart. I could see I was hitting them under the water probably a foot and a half deep but I wasn’t getting them up and that was maybe at 5 yards. I waited until they were with him a few feet of the dock to maybe 10 feet at the most if they were a foot and half under the water. Trial and error that’s for sure. They don’t have a chance if they’re close to the surface or only 2 to 3 inches under the water. The first big one I shot had to be a foot and a half under the water and was literally right underneath me. The other big one I shot was probably three or 5 to 6 feet away and a foot and a half at least under the water.

they fought really good. Took about 3 to 5 min to play they because I didn’t want them to pull out and didn’t have a net.

my poor blow gun is starting to stink like Fish and getting beat up. i even launched my 15” dart at a huge a huge school about 20 to 25 yards out braking water. Stuck one but it of course pulled out immediately….lol. Now I know why I’ve seen Tim wells use 2’ and 3’ darts.

 

Very nice. Those are big fish.

 

I hammered a bunch more dandies this afternoon. I’ll post on my 5 foot fishing blowgun with some more pictures. Right towards the end of the day I missed a giant. I bet it had to be 2 feet plus long! Didn’t know they got that big.

 

Are those Shad good eating? Back in the 80s, some friends of mine and I went to Nimbus Dam on the American River (California) to do some Shad fishing. We actually didn’t catch any, but there were a lot of other fisherman the caught some, and they were very willing to give them to us because they did not want to carry them up the hill. My friend Rocco would smoke them and we would pick at the meat. It seemed like it was a very bony fish. But the Shad of the American river in California I’m sure is a much different than the Shad in your state.

 

No they are super fishy tasting, I tried to smoke a 4 pound 6oz one a few years back. YUCK! I leave them for the eagles and seagulls. Imo they are just fun practice to try out my blowguns and work out the kinks till the carp and Buffalo spawn.

 

Went down there this morning and only saw two! Last night you could’ve walked on them. It looked like bubbling water with them on top of each other thousands upon thousands. They must’ve moved onto newer territories.

 

Yep, I went down there last night again and didn’t see a darn one! Reminds me just like the carp and the buffalo they’re in and out for a day or two and then they’re gone. The carp were around a couple weeks last year, which blew my mind. Never saw the buffalo though. Those are the ones I’m after it seems like it’s hit and miss for Buffalo every year and normally I never see them. When I do, I fill up my freezer since they have great tasting white meat.

 

So my big question is how deep can I shoot under the water? It seems like with my home made darts once the ball gets a half a foot under the dart looses enough speed that it doesn’t get the job done. when I switched to the 15” darts I wasn’t getting complete pass through shots accept for 2 to 3 times. Do the Slockmaster cone darts penetrate fish 3 to 4 feet under the water? Just wondering if the cone style darts have less resistance going through water and can penetrate fish much deeper than my home made sinking rubber ball darts? It seems like my 7 inch darts once they get a half a foot under the water they slow way down. The 15 inch darts once they get 2 feet under they slow way down as well. I’m just wondering if the cone style darts keep their energy going deeper under the water vs mine? I saw Tim Wells had some experimental two footers and three footers which I’m guessing his darts probably don’t hold up as well going deep under the water? I would assume as soon as that cone hits the water it’s like applying brakes in a funny car.

 

The Carp I shoot are usually swimming with their backs exposed above the water, and the river right now is very low, less than a foot deep in some places. When the river is up, I don’t shoot at them. 6” of water slows the dart too much to penetrate their tough scales. My fishing darts are slockmaster, 12” fishing darts. I found my homemade bamboo darts were too light.

 

Thanks for the reply! I just made a 31 inch dart….lol. I shot through a cardboard box at 5 yards and it blows the ball right off and The dart lands about 10 feet in back of the box. It hits about 4 inches low consistently at 5 yards but I’m dead on at 3 yards without a hold over. I would assume that darts good for 3 feet deep. I’m sure it will get twisted like a pretzel the first fish I spanked with it though.lol. I called Slock Master this morning. I asked them if the black mamba was in yet in a true 6 foot and they told me about another two weeks at the most. I then pick their brain on their fishing darts. They basically told me the exact same thing I was experiencing that after about about 6 inches of water penetration with a cone, their dart slow way down to to the point where you’re probably not going to get your fish just like I experienced. So even though I’ll end up ordering some of their darts to try it doesn’t sound like they penetrate Water any deeper using a plastic cone. Good to hear cause my buddy was telling me that they were shooting three and 4 feet deep at fish targets in a pool and going right through their foam fish targets which I had a hard time believing after my experience with the heavy rubber ball darts that I made. I realize the round ball isn’t going to cut water like a triangle wood, but I have a hard time believing that those darts can go down three or 4 feet into water when I’ve shot them with bow and arrows at 45 pounds and super heavy arrows and seen them bounce off fish that deep at distance.

I made it for surely gimmick and entertainment, and found out it actually works awesome…lol. I straightened the coat hanger out the best I could. It is nowhere near straight that’s for sure. Guess it doesn’t need to be because it seems to hit where it aims out to 5 yards pretty good.

 

What type of darts did you use?

 

.625 FSFF whisper razor fishing darts.

 

My original fishing darts. I found the bamboo skewers were too light to penetrate the water and then the fish, so I bought the FSFF whisper razor fishing darts. They worked very well.

 

I figured since I made a homemade blow gun or several of them now I might as well try and make some homemade fishing darts. They worked so far knock on wood. Guess we’ll see when the carp and Buffalo start running because that’s when they’ll get put to the test.

 

I just posted on my other post about asking how far down under the water I’m able to shoot fish. I pretty much come to a conclusion that once you’re cone or ball gets a foot under the water the odds of getting the fish are slim to none. I might have got a few that could have been a little deeper but to me if I did, it was probably luck And with a longer dart. with my dart experimentation, I think the 15 inchers might’ve taken a couple that were closer to a foot and a half under the water but that’s because it’s a 15 inch dart. They’re definitely not like a heavy fiberglass fish arrow used for bow and arrows. They seem to run out of steam pretty quick once the corner dart it’s the water. So once I realized my learning curve and did the math in my head, how long my dart was and how deep I thought the fish was my odds went way up. So a 15 inch dart I would say 2 feet is the absolute maximum you’d wanna shoot it a fish under the water. The little 7 inchers was really pushing it after about a foot or so under the water. I can’t wait to use that 31 inch dart I’m sure it’ll be a one time use and be twisted like a pretzel so I better save it for one heck of a fish! I’ve been hitting the thrift stores looking for wire coat hangers, but haven’t ran into any yet. When I do, I’ll make a couple dozen of them cause I’m sure after each use it’s gonna be a joy to try and straighten one of those things out.

 

Found out yesterday my darts domt stay in on extremely large carp running through flooded timber

 

Got a huge gar today. It was around 38+ inches. I never measured it. Back was completely out of the water and probably an 8 to 10 yard shot. Dart never went all the way through, but it stayed in it the whole time. No picture sorry.lol I had a super short dart loaded. I would say it was maybe 7 inches max. When I shot, I think my dart went in the water maybe 2 inches before I hit the fish it even wrapped around the log underneath the water when I ran up to get a net. I just loosened my drag all the way down when I ran up to grab a net. Probably a good 10 minute fight. So my carp jinx is coming to a halt. The carp started spawning today again too. I left them be since my freezer was full yet and the largemouth bass also started spawning on the bank.

 

I did it! The water went down and they started spawning again today for the third time this year. There’s no flooded timber for them to hide in now. I saw this one under the dock about 45 minutes ago and snuck to about 8 yards. Took three deep breaths before I let the dart fly. I actually thought I missed it for a few seconds, and then I saw the string go ripping. I would say it took me a good 15 minutes to get it in. It went back on fourth across the river twice. I couldn’t figure out why it was so hard to reel until I realized that I forgot to run the line through the eyelet on the pole so I was fighting it directly from the reel. What a circus but I got it in. I fill it down and threw it in the freezer for smoking. Not a big one like the other ones, but I figured it’s the only way I was gonna have half a chance to get it in with my blow gun. I sharpen that dart up razor sharp before I used it so I think that’s the key. Looks like it made it to the ribs, but it didn’t break through the ribs. Pulled back in the harpoon and basically was holding it in place grabbing the skin on the inside. I’m guessing I probably could’ve lifted it out of the water once it tied out, but I wasn’t gonna take the chance of losing my fish. I bent my dart up pretty good too. I straightened the boomerang looking thing back for the photo.

 

That’s a monster

 

Believe it or not that thing is a baby compared to the ones I’ve been shooting!