April 26 2008 Hey Russell, I just found your post. I'm an old bowhunter since 1965.  shot fish with everything from 25 lbs to 70 lbs. Use the heavier bows for huge gar or alligator. It is a lot easier to pull your arrow from a sunken log or roots shot from a lighter bow and it allows one to shoot many shots per day without too muh fatigue.  There is usually enough kinetic energy for penetration from a slow moving fish arrow. One 6 foot needle nose gar that I remember was taken with a Browning Cobra recurve 47 lbs pull. 

Shooting from the shelf is great. I never liked shooting with fletched fish arrows as they caused erratic flight.  Hope this info is helpful .

Traditionalist

For adult shooters, we use a 40lb draw weight with 0% let off, but some like the let off and use a 50 lb pull bow. Why I like the 0 let off? When we shoot tournaments, you shoot every legal fish you can and some are very small. I can draw back only what energy I need to hit the small fish without stringing it and taking the time to get the fish off the string. We also use the bow fishing whisker biscuits. Don't use the ones made for hunting becuase the bristles are made of a different material, and when those get wet, they sag and your arrow sags. When you use the buscuit and not the shelf, it keeps the arrow from falling off when you shoot straight down, allowing for those shots. Good Fishing!

A Family that Hunts together, stays together. (unless they leave me home!)