The season for legally taking game fish with archery equipment opens July 1st every year. (can't shoot walleye legally during the dam face spawns) It was moved there for the simple reason it basically moves most gamefish out of the target area as they are no longer in the shallows much(spawning, etc.,check the state records of archerey and see when most of the gamefish archery records were set. It was probably like when the rough fish are in the shallows spawning as well, making easy targets.
I wasn't into bowfishing yet so this is an educated guess as since I have been into bowfishing it is rare to see any gamefish during this current season. I have taken paddlefish and one other species of gamefish during this time. I believe the vast majority of bowfishers target rough fish 100% of the time with a very rare gamefish taken as a bonus. (paddlefish excluded since a specific season is on them)
This musky club sounds like a special interest group in Washington that greases the coffers and such and expects special legislation helping them out in there endeavors. If we need a new law to stop people from taking muskies by bow because sometimes someone makes the choice to illegally shoot a short fish then we better make new laws closing other hook and line gamefish seasons, for example walleye season, bass season because of all the short fish kept all over the state, or dare I say it musky for I'm sure some illegal fish have probably been kept as often as a musky has been shot or died after being released after a tough stressful fight.
Are these poachers prosecuted, sometimes. Like any law, its only as good as it is enforced. There are regulations already on the books that police archery gamefish seasons and such. If the kid shot a legal fish fine, if not fine, pun intended, this doesn't warrant new regulations.
Perhaps we should just ban tourney fishing or sport fishing for the legal fish that die after being released. It is a whole lot larger percentage lost this way than by archery fishers taking legal fish. This won't and shouldn't happen.
Good luck the rest of the season bow fishers and musky hunters alike. Bring on the waterfowl!
BWese
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