Since it is the beginning of bow fishing season I feel obligated to tell about some hidden dangers in the bow fishing world.

When shooting bow fishing arrows without the use of safety slides you are taking a chance of getting an arrow kicked back at your face or body. If you tie your string to the arrow at the back of the arrow, upon release, the bowstring can pass up the bowfishing string and half hitch a knot onto your bowstring. This can allow the arrow to fly back at you, sometimes with the point coming right at you. This has killed and injured people. If you are going to just tie the string to your arrow without the safety slide, tie it to the front of the arrow. I highly recommend using safety slides. They're tough, you don't have to worry about that. I've landed 7ft gator gar with the safety slide on the arrow. Always make sure your bowfishing string is not hung up on something on your bow.

Also, if you use a regular style fishing reel, don't forget to push the release button. If you're fortunate enough to get into some real big fish, after you have shot the fish, I don't recommend grabbing the line with your bare hand. Use a good glove, preferably leather. I almost lost a finger and a hand by grabbing a line and wrapping it around my hand with a 7ft gator gar pulling like a truck. That line will cut through you like a knife.

When shooting fast at fish, say rolling gar, keep some distance from your bowfishing partner so that y'all don't shoot each other. I use a cut U-bolt to slide my arrow through to prevent such dangers so that the arrow doesn't fall of a rest and shoot out to the side. The U-bolt also keeps the arrow slide from coming back too far. If you use the arrow slide safety system, always put the backstop by the nock in the upper position. Here's a picture of the cut U-bolt that installed to my bow. They work great.

Have Fun and be safe!

Here's a pic of the safety slide system and remember, if you ever draw back on a fish and don't shoot, make sure you reel up your slack. I've seen people draw back on fish and just leave all the slack hanging and then it gets wrapped up around everything on the bow. Thankfully I realized what they were doing before they shot again. Sometimes the string will break when you shoot and sometimes it won't.

You must run through a lot of slides with that metal loop.. why not just use a whisker biscuit?

Iv never used a loop or holder but I wont hunt without the slides they are a game changer

No still have the same ones just keep the slide in front of the loop by the tip and the slide stop is always pointed up. I just have to pay attention to the slide stop every time I knock the arrow. I always glue my knocks to suit the stopper so that it can be pointed up. I like the low resistance of the metal loop. The knocks will get weak after heavy use and on quick draw backs can pop off the string. Then I start biting them to close the pinch point of the knock down. Metal to fiber glass is slick and water resistant.

I have one of the AMS roller rests on a browning barracuda I shoot with the line tied in a loop, feed the loop through the hole in the rear of arrow shaft go over end of arrow twist and go around it again then pull tight, Im not a fan of the sliders.

I hear ya, it took some getting used to but its like its not even there anymore. I shot with the string tied to the back for years until they came out with the slides. The talk about arrows coming back at people and hurting/killing them was enough for me to change over. I think the recurves are more prone to half hitch because of the longer string flexing more towards the riser and then grabbing the string and lauching it back. With the longer bow string comes has more flex, so your bow fishing string wont break and will launch back.

Ive only shot with my two compounds and other barracudas except for 1 recurve. If I ever had a tangle up with the line you could kiss that arrow goodbye, but it wasn't coming back to hit you.

Ive had a few tangles in my day, but they were connected to something more solid than a flexible bow string. I started bowsishing in 1988 and had the rap around style spool for your string. That thing was a pain in the rear. When it did hand up it would break/cut the 80 pound string that I was using at the time. Ive even had some hang ups over the years with the fishing reels and thankfully the 200 pound fast flight broke. A lot of people like to use the 440 pound fast flight in the retrievers and that stuff can pull a truck. If you get 440 hung up on your bow most of the time it doesn't break. The main issue is the half hitch on the bow string when they collide/tying together and the bow string giving and allowing the bow fishing string not break and launching the arrow back at you. Its all about timing and string positions when this happens.