It sounds like the ultimate in Louisiana outdoors fun for many tourists and locals: boats cruising the marsh at night, their passengers taking aim with a bow and arrow at plump redfish lurking beneath the water’s surface.
But, at least in this case, one person’s good time is another’s travesty. With redfish numbers having plummeted and stricter catch limits enacted last month to address the problem, bowfishing is again in the spotlight.
For the fishing guides specializing in it, bowfishing is a harmless good time, not to mention a solid business. They argue there are too few bowfishers in comparison to the overall number of anglers to really make a dent in the redfish population, and contend they are skilled enough to avoid shooting fish that are too small or too large.
But other anglers and conservationists question those assertions, pointing to issues ranging from the methods used to the types of boat motors employed in Louisiana’s fragile marsh. They also note that a redfish that is either too big or too small under Louisiana’s regulations is highly unlikely to survive after being pierced with an arrow and thrown back.
Bowfishing usually occurs at night, with bright lights shining down into the water to illuminate the fish – a concern for some who say it offers an unfair advantage and keeps constant pressure on the fish population.
The state’s fisheries biologists are seeking to answer a series of questions, though some clues have emerged. A new regulation that began this year requiring bowfishers to register for a free permit in addition to their regular fishing licenses is providing the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries with a clearer picture of how many are out there.
‘Blown out of proportion’
Alan Yedor, 55, has been offering guided trips for more than three decades out of Buras with his Southern Style Bowfishing. He says videos posted to social media have given a wrong impression of the sport and disputes the idea that night fishing with lights makes it too easy.
He and other guides are committed to fishing responsibly, he says.
“Since Facebook and social media have come out, everything grows,” Yedor said. “Everything gets blown out of proportion — ‘if you don't like what I like, then you’re doing something illegal’.”
He called successful bowfishers “very skillful” and said only around three undersized fish were shot on his more than 200 trips last year.
“The redfish just don’t sit there,” he said. “They swim and move.”
A basket of 5 redfish are weighed during second day of the annual International Grand Isle Tarpon Rodeo at the Sand Dollar Marina in New Orleans, Friday, July 26, 2019.
But the increasing popularity of bowfishing has alarmed some recreational anglers in the state, particularly fly fishers, who spot redfish by sight in the daytime before casting toward them. While both are technically forms of fishing, the two are in many ways diametrically opposed: a calm, quiet day on the water compared to what can be a party atmosphere at night.
AJ Rosenbohm, president of the New Orleans Fly Fishers Club, said he has no problem with any angler catching and taking home fish to eat. But he said he believes bowfishing “puts the fish at a big disadvantage.”
“You want to bowfish? That's fine. Do it during the day,” said Rosenbohm, 69, who has fished the area his entire life and works at the No Wake Outfitters fly fishing shop in Metairie. “Do it like the regular fishermen do. We go out to fish and we sight fish. We look for the fish and we try to catch them.”
Videos of bowfishing trips are easily found online, including of Saints players taking aim. One video of Jameis Winston, the former Saints quarterback, drew particular attention as he broke into his offbeat brand of humor on the trip.
‘Looking for adventure’
Redfish aren’t the only species pursued with bows, but they have drawn particular concern given the state of the population. A comprehensive assessment released in late 2022 found redfish on their way to being overfished, with the number of 1-year-olds inshore having dropped to the lowest level the state’s biologists had ever seen.
That assessment confirmed what many anglers had already noticed on the water, and eventually resulted in last month’s change in catch limits for redfish, the first since 1988. Bowfishermen are subject to the same limits as traditional rod-and-reel anglers, but they were not required to have separate permits until this year. The permit requirement applies to those 18 and older who bowfish in saltwater.
So far, 731 permits have been issued, including 43 to charter guides and the rest to private anglers, according to the state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. That compares to a total of nearly 167,000 full-season saltwater licenses in 2023, though that number does not include various other short-term permits and licenses for special categories of residents, such as seniors. Some previous estimates have put the state's total number of saltwater anglers at around 400,000.
It is unclear if word has sufficiently and accurately spread on the need for the bowfishing permit. Charter boat customers also do not need one, though charter captains do.
Whether bowfishers are having an outsized effect on redfish numbers is simply not known for now.
The department does not have specific catch data related to bowfishing, but it does have numbers on how many people fish at night, when bowfishing usually occurs. That has amounted to between 7% and 9% in recent years, it says.
"The bowfishing permit was one step in a process to better estimate and understand the impacts of bowfishing to overall harvest of saltwater fish," Jason Adriance, the department’s finfish program manager, wrote in response to questions.
As for whether shining lights into the water at night could make it easier to find and shoot redfish, officially known as red drum, Adriance said: “Aside from anecdotal information about fishing under lights, it stands to reason that if an angler can better see a fish there is a better chance of harvesting that fish. However, this may not be different from fishing in clear water during the day.”
Jeff Plumlee, fisheries specialist at Louisiana Sea Grant, a federal-university partnership on coastal resources, said arguments against bowfishing have included that it is a more efficient way of catching than more traditional methods, plus guides can potentially take out multiple parties a day.
But the other side of the argument is that there aren’t enough bowfishers to really make a difference, said Plumlee.
“It’s not something that we have measured, so these are arguments that exist, but it’s not necessarily that one is more true than the other,” he said.
There have been attempts in the past to ban bowfishing for redfish, including a 2010 bill in the state Legislature that was eventually withdrawn. Among Gulf Coast states, Mississippi is the only other to allow it for redfish.
Yedor, the Buras bowfisherman, worries the new redfish limits will harm his business. The new regulations include no restrictions specific to bowfishing, but prevent all anglers from keeping redfish longer than 27 inches – the trophy size some of his clients pursue.
As for what attracts people to bowfishing, his answer was simple: “They’re looking for adventure. They’ve never done it before, so they want to try to do something different.”