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The NC Wildlife currently is proposing a law that will ban bowfishing for half of Lakes James, NC. The lake is 10 minutes from my house and the next closest one is an hour. The area that they are banning is basically the only area on the lake where you can find more than 5 fish in a night. The reason is because they have had 2 Musky that have been reported to have been shot. The games wardens have not even seen the fish in person, they have only had reports ( I know this because I asked them) For all they know they either just died of natural causes, were killed by a fisherman, or was gaffed. Their response to the situation is just to ban bowfishing on half of the lake instead of getting out there, investigating the case, and catching the person if it was even a bowfisher. They just want the easy way out. The thing that makes me the maddest about this situation is that the guy that is pushing this law and reported the Musky is a carp fishermen and him and his family catch carp and sell them to carp ponds. Its obvious that he isn't trying to save musky, he is trying to save the carp. In my mind this law is a ridiculous response to the situation. If there is a bowfisherman that is shooting musky then the gamewardens need to get out there and catch him. They claim that they believe that they know who is doing it, however, they say that they do not have enough information to ticket them. To me it would be the same as banning bear hunting on a section of land because a certain hunter has shot a bear under the required weight limit. Or to ban deer hunting in an area because a hunter has killed over his limit of deer. The muskies could have been shot by a bowfisherman but they very well could have been killed by a rod and reel fisherman that caught them and then took 25 pictures to post on social media before releasing the fish. The person that found the fish just found them floating in the lake according to the game warden and there had been a bowfisherman in the area the day before. In my mind this is not supporting evidence because there is a at least 5 bowfishing boats every week in the area from early spring until late fall. People have bowfished this lake for 30 years (I personally know a few people that have and still do) and tournaments have been held here for 9 years. If bowfishermen as an entire group were a problem then there would be a lot more than 2 musky found in 30 years. Unfortunately we are going to have to take it upon ourselves to police other bowfishermen because reporting them just shines a bad light on the sport to the game wardens.
The proposed regulation states that the reason we are shooting the musky is because they are easily mistaken for grass carp that we are targeting in the area. This is simply not true. I have seen 6 Musky this year and its completely obvious what you are looking at when you see them. It is also not true because there are very few grass carp in the area, it is 95% common carp. Common carp look even more different from a musky than a grass carp. The rule also states that the carp are evenly distributed throughout the lake and that this ban of half of the lake will not limit us. That is also so far from the truth that it makes me sick! If you go to the area that they are wanting to ban in early spring you can fill a barrel in 3 hours with 15lb commons (which is unheard of for NC lakes). If you go to the other side of the lake you might shoot 5 fish during an all night shoot. If the ban occurs on the part of the lake that they are proposing then it will render the lake useless to bowfishermen.
There are several steps to approving a law and this one is just starting around the loop. There will be a public meeting towards the end of the phase that will allow us to voice our opinion. The public meeting date has not been announced yet. The current step is a meeting with the game wardens to see if the proposed law can even be enforced. We have 2 game wardens that bowfish that will be in the meeting, one of which is the captain of an adjacent district. We are hoping and praying that these 2 wardens can stop the law in its tracks. I will keep everyone updated on the status of the proposed law. Hopefully we can stop it. I have attached a PDF of the proposed regulation and a .pdf of the steps the regulation must take to be approved.
View attachment Lake James MK regulation proposal DRAFT.pdf
View attachment PubHearBrochure.pdf
The proposed regulation states that the reason we are shooting the musky is because they are easily mistaken for grass carp that we are targeting in the area. This is simply not true. I have seen 6 Musky this year and its completely obvious what you are looking at when you see them. It is also not true because there are very few grass carp in the area, it is 95% common carp. Common carp look even more different from a musky than a grass carp. The rule also states that the carp are evenly distributed throughout the lake and that this ban of half of the lake will not limit us. That is also so far from the truth that it makes me sick! If you go to the area that they are wanting to ban in early spring you can fill a barrel in 3 hours with 15lb commons (which is unheard of for NC lakes). If you go to the other side of the lake you might shoot 5 fish during an all night shoot. If the ban occurs on the part of the lake that they are proposing then it will render the lake useless to bowfishermen.
There are several steps to approving a law and this one is just starting around the loop. There will be a public meeting towards the end of the phase that will allow us to voice our opinion. The public meeting date has not been announced yet. The current step is a meeting with the game wardens to see if the proposed law can even be enforced. We have 2 game wardens that bowfish that will be in the meeting, one of which is the captain of an adjacent district. We are hoping and praying that these 2 wardens can stop the law in its tracks. I will keep everyone updated on the status of the proposed law. Hopefully we can stop it. I have attached a PDF of the proposed regulation and a .pdf of the steps the regulation must take to be approved.
View attachment Lake James MK regulation proposal DRAFT.pdf
View attachment PubHearBrochure.pdf
