Arrow ?

[Hutch~n~Son Archery]

What causes fishtailing in my arrows for the first 15' of flight. Is it because they are too stiff.
Arrow are Pro series V-maxx by Blackhawk. 4000 = 55-70 @ 27" 100gr. points. weighing 415gr.




Hutch

[Destroyer]

Fishtailing is usually caused by a low nocking point.

[Hutch~n~Son Archery]

Fishtailing is usually caused by a low nocking point.

In my experience that would cause porpoising, not fishtailing. Fishtailing is side to side. Porpoising is up and down.





Hutch

[Ehunter]

I'd say it's the rest. Needs to be moved slightly one way or the other. I did run into a situation where only one arrow out of 6 was fishtailing, and nock tuning cured that. Is it all your arrows, or just a few? One other thing that I'm just throwing out there for everyone is, fletching color combinations can make it look like an arrow is fishtailing when it's actually not. Certain color combinations give the illusion of fishtail.

[alex]

The arrows shot from a compound bow fly too fast for me to tell if something's wrong just by looking. But i'd say an overspined arrow won't cause fishtailing.

[cyclepath]

I would say that if you are seeing the flight of your arrows then you are either torquing your bow or pushing it to the side. There is no way you should be able to see the flight of your arrow the first 15' if your form is correct. Justa thought.

[wscywabbit]

I'm not familiar with the arrows your using, and I could see an arrow that is too limber causing fishtailing in recovery, but not too stiff. So my thought would also be rest failure or centershot is off. Are any of your fletchings making contact with something (rest, riser, etc.) kicking it to the side and forcing a recovery after the fact?

[Destroyer]

In my experience that would cause porpoising, not fishtailing. Fishtailing is side to side. Porpoising is up and down.

With single cam bows a low nocking point can cause 'side to side', did on my Bear. All I did was raise the nocking point and it settled down. Don't know if it was to do with nock travel but it seemed to work.

Does it happen every shot or just occasionally?

[Hutch~n~Son Archery]

I am thinking it was occasionally. But to be honest I would have to check them again. Also nocking point is right. I guess the next thing is to check vane clearance. Time for the foot spray!





HUTCH

[Destroyer]

Good thinking on the spray. If its occasionally it can be hard to diagnose, form, collisions and a 'bad arrow' can cause fishtailing.