Hi Jordan, and welcome to BBG. I am a fairly new member myself, and just want you to know what a great bunch of members we have. We share information, and techniques on catching not only big gills, but other fish as well. Kick back and join in the fun, Jordan. We hope to hear more from you real soon. Again, welcome to Big Blue Gill, Jordan.

Line size would be more important to me Jordan than the pole in heavy cover environments.I catch hundreds of big sunfish on my ten footers including big Crappie and Bass...the key is to have strong line to absorb the shock of getting them out to open water where you can then play them out like you would with any other pole....I catch big Channel Cats and Bowfin on these telescopics....I do swing fish in to the boat but I also keep a landing net available......but chose to your liking but remember the longer the pole the more difficult it will be to fish near and around obstacles that naturally attract and hold our target species.....I concede that some fish offer me less than a 20% chance of getting them in the boat, but this would be apex predators and fish I run into not necessarily target....You'll settle on what's best for your style....Some folks might be upset to lose a 20" largemouth but I bait back up and look for a gill....If I do land him, I grab a picture and bait back up and look for a gill.....

In recent years I have used several variations from BnM poles, the Fish Hunter and Shooting Star series have been by my side for thousands of gills.....Black Widow Series may be the best and tat translates in the cost. The only failures I have experienced have come from the designs to make the pole very light by adding tiny holes throughout the handle/grip....bigger fish have collapsed these poles on me so I took them out of service.........The brands I mentioned have Line Winder technology that I like for storage in between uses....Again, these little options will be decided on with use....I try to minimize the time that my poles are wound up and secured. I like to leave them extended as often as possible during idle times to keep those line wraps from impacting my fishing.......All little tidbits that may not appeal to other anglers but something I like...I have ten poles in my garage right now that I put new line on over the holidays to allow the line to relax and get rid of the spool memory that occurs with most monofilament......Good thing about pole fishing, it's not an expensive endeavor to determine which one will suit you the best....