Lestrapes, in particular, was still jangling in exhilaration and could barely stand still long enough for the obligatory group photograph. What couldn’t be put in the ice chest was the excitement of the hunt. The final tally was 14 redfish, two black drum and two sheepshead. Shooters pointed out fish they spotted to the skipper by pointing their arms the captain, in turn, shouted to the archers the locations of fish he spotted from his high perchĪrrows flew in all directions from the boat. I rapidly concluded that nighttime bowfishing is well-organized chaos. “When the water is clearer we’ll often fish the middle of the ponds. “The water is clearer there than in the middle, although the bigger fish are in the middle,” Schultheis explained. Lally continued Schultheis’ tactics of cruising the edges of the ponds rather than hunting the centers. In spite of knowing to aim low, many of the shots were instinctive and swiftly taken.Īt 9:30 p.m., Lally and Schultheis swapped spots, putting the latter on deck with a bow in his hand. Sometimes, from his perch up in the tower, Schultheis piloted the boat to stalk individual fish, but a lot of shots were passing snap shots. Surprisingly, the fish didn’t seem to spook from motor noise, even when the aluminum hull of the boat scraped loudly over oyster shells. Shrimp, mullet, and other baitfish by the hundreds skipped on the surface. Lally was next up, with a snap shot taken straight down beside the boat on an 18-inch redfish.įrom then on, there was always activity. Lastrapes scored next, with a slightly smaller but still good black drum. The 42-incher bucked violently, throwing water everywhere. Lindsay nailed it at close range this time. While he retrieved his arrow and re-nocked, Schultheis somehow circled the boat to corral the big fish as it made its own circle. The fish went wild in the shallows and took off, pulling the arrow out. On top of that, he bought a camp in Golden Meadow strictly for use in bowfishing.Īfter reaching our destination, it didn’t take long for the action to start. Lastrapes has purchased a boat even larger than Schultheis’ 20-foot machine. Just as avid as Lally is David Lastrapes, owner of a drywall supply company and a previous customer of the Schultheis’. I grew up in the outdoors,” Lally explained. The 24-year-old bowfishing fanatic (he has the After Hours logo of an arrow through a redfish skeleton tattooed on his forearm) has been bowfishing since he was 14. Roy Lally IV, Schultheis’ regular deckhand and relief captain, was there, too. “She’s my ‘in-a-crunch’ deckhand, too,” her husband explained. We met in Belle Chasse in late afternoon for the short trip to Port Sulphur, where Schultheis bowhunts on leased property, as well as private property on which he has permission to hunt.įour others were joining Schultheis for the night’s hunt, starting with his vivacious wife Lindsay, who books trips for the guide service. It looked like something created by steampunk engineers Schultheis designed everything and built a lot of it. The whole rig was painted in fish skeletons.

Fishing in the dark broken bow