it would work in super shallow water 6-8" any deeper than that an you won't get the penetration you need. the AMS fish hawk is a higher poundage genesis. same cam, string lengths and riser.

 

just remember your typical fiberglass bowfishing arrow can weigh up to 1500g setup full length. You can get them bare and cut to a shorter length and they also make carbonfiber ones also, there in the 600g weight range, still heavy and expensive, so for that heavy an arrow on a 20# genesis they wont be ideal, but you will stab some fish in shallower waters like said.

you may check out the Samick Sage series of takedown recurves, they are like $130 new and you could get little more poundage too, even 25-30# will be much better than 20# genesis, i have a 50# hoyt and i sometimes have problems so get as much as you can pull. but i do like a recurve for BFishin myself. Sage is a cheap but perfect for fishing rig, has all the holes to mount to in the riser also

 

I've seen a Genesis Pro used, but it only goes to 25# of draw weight. I'd suggest something that would run 40-55# for the energy needed to project a heavy fiberglass shaft. Best of luck and good shootin'. I tell customers to find those older 50# bows, check the pawn shops, or a pre-set package from their pro shops. Use a rest made for bow fishing, as many people think a Whisker Biscuit will handle a bow fishing shaft, but it's too heavy for the flex bristles of a standard WB.

Best of luck and good shootin'.

 

Here's the thing with genesis bows. 2 of my buddies and I guide bowfishing trips in central Florida. The bows our clients use are the regular genesis bows. They are perfect for us for a couple reasons. No specific draw length means any body can shoot them. Light poundage means you can shoot all night. They are great for snap shops and cheap to fix. We love them. As for penetration, we shoot fish sometimes 5' deep but usually in water less than 4'. We've blown through fish and had some bounce off. The 3 of us "guides" went with a guy two weeks ago and he shoots a very nice Oneida bow. He had bounce offs on fish as well. We fished for 5 hours and had 4 fish with bad penetration. 2 of them were his with his Oneida. We were shooting gar around 38"-51". You can use this info if you like. We love them for what we do and were we do it. We taken kids from 9 years old and adults that were 70. Every one can shoot them. Good luck