iStockphoto / KevinCass
The fly fishing community in South Dakota was whipped up into a frenzy over a recent bowfishing record where bowfisherman Ty Smith shot a 6-pound, 12-ounce brown trout on Lake Oahe.
If none of this makes sense to you, let me explain… Bowfishing is a non-traditional fishing method where the ‘fisherman’ uses a bow and arrow (or crossbow) with the arrow attached to a line so the angler can retrieve it. Bowfishing is common throughout the Southeastern United States and Texas for various species of gar. Other common species targeted by the bowfishing community are carps, buffaloes, and bowfins.
Noticeably absent from that list of fish that are common target species of bowfishermen is ‘brown trout,’ which is actually a non-native species to North America and was introduced here in the 1880s but they have since become so ubiquitous in trout streams and have been here so long that most people in the fishing community don’t even know they are non-native.
Native or not, the trout fishing community is very protective of their various beloved subspecies and rightfully so. Trout populations in the United States have dwindled for years. So when the South Dakota Game Fish & Parks department posted this picture of a bowfisherman shooting (and killing, obviously) a trophy brown trout people were up in arms in in the comments:
South Dakota does keep state fishing records for ‘bowfishing‘ and ‘unrestricted’ categories and Ty Smith’s 6 pound, 12 ounce brown trout is the newest record added to the database. Prior to that, the last bowfishing record set in South Dakota was for Atlantic Salmon back on 11/24/23, a 2-pound, 8-ounce fish.
In the comment section on Instagram where the new bowfishing record was announced, people were particularly salty. TheFlyFishingNation wrote “Punisher stickers on this dude‘s car for sure. Just when you think fishing for spawners cannot possibly reach another all-time low…” … Madfishinskillz commented “Ok so if I travel to SD anything is fair game with a bow 😂? I didn’t know this was legal in any state for trout.” and Houstonbeal wrote “What is even cool about this? Nothing absolutely nothing.”
Outdoor Life was first to pick up this story and point out how this has really touched a nerve with some fishermen. They have more comments from angry fishermen over there.
The fly fishing community is absolutely not pleased to see a trophy brown trout held up as a bowfishing record. What this all boils down to is, for the most part, fly fishing is catch and release and fly fishermen have a reputation for being anal about the health of the waterways and fish they target. That’s obviously not the case here, thus the uproar.
What do you guys think, fair or foul? Let us know in the Facebook comments.