Anybody here use telescopic jig poles?

[tim ricks]

Long ago, before Katrina swept all my stuff away, I bought a Master Crappie Grabber telescopic pole.

 

I admit I wasnt much into sacalait, and so I only jigged for brim and sometimes for bass.

 

A few months ago, the bass were biting but were small, same with brim, so I pulled the sacalait pole out and tied on a white an blue tube jig.  The pole is very sensitive, and i could tell a goggle-eye from a sacalait. I began to catch a lot of sacalait.

 

One day, I had something hooked, i think a tchoupique, and it was a little too big for the jig pole, and it ran and wrapped the jig around something, I pulled, thinking it was lifting but it cracked the pole in half. I could see the jig on a stump, and i knew then that I goofed.

 

Well, I went through TWO BnM poles, one Uncle Bucks, and none of them had the sensitivity as the Master Crappie Grabber 3910 model.

 

I got two of them in the mail yesterday. Got them from glockworld.com

 

 

Does anyone else use a similar pole with just one eye on the end>?

[David, aka, "McScruff"]

They are a little cumbersome in a boat, especially if there is another person or you have to move the boat around. And dont try the really long ones on small, wooded streams.

 

[Doug Dodson]

Fellas- You guys need to see some of the tournament boats they use for crappie tournaments...I have seen boats with 8-10 of these poles in holders off the front end! They set them in a fan arrangement around the front, and they are set at different depths, and the boat is moved slowly with a trolling motor until schools are located. Then the color and depth are set based on the bite.  It takes an organized team to manage this many rigs, but it works...

[John Sheehan]

How do those guys not get a huge tangled mess of lines with 8-10 out of the boat?

[Doug Dodson]

It happens when a large bass grabs a small jig or minnow and crosses all the lines- cut and start over...they usually have many more poles rigged and ready!

[David, aka, "McScruff"]

Yeah, Doug's right. My son-in-law is into that kind of fishing. I admit I was thinking of a fishing boat, not the whaling factory, crappie hauling barges you see on the big lake tournaments.

 

Most of us here at BBG, myself included, arent really "stomp em and boat em" tourney fishermen. We dont mind catching a mess, of course. But the whole notion of fishing on an industrialized scale, dozens of poles pounding the fish into submission, well... that isn't really where most of us are coming from.

 

In a real-world fishing boat, the kind manned by a single fisherman and maybe his buddy, more than a couple of long poles per man can get you all sorts of trouble. Everything from a tip in the eye to a fish in the face is possible in such close quarters.

 

But you know - I love em anyway!

 

[Johnny wilkins]

I think you are right on. But- don't dismiss these long poles for the boat. When handled properly and with a boat partner who likes you, you should be fine. Where you will have problems is if you leave the poles extended and you boat around or dock. Also, if you are anchored you need two anchors so both of you are fishing the same structure/direction. If the boat is swinging about- then that will wreck your presentation.

The majority of pole fishing is done straight in front of the angler (casts behind). If you are facing the same direction - you can fish 20 foot poles easily.

I personally only fish with 1 pole / 1 hook at a time. Fishing with more I have found slows me down when I have drawn a school of fish and made them active. No human could fish 2 poles faster - maybe a Kraken or octopus could fish faster with multiple poles.

[David, aka, "McScruff"]

I was mostly joking, Johnny - you know my cracked sense of humor. I also took the chance to poke fun at our American style of tournament fishing, which I find distasteful.

Of course one can fish the longer poles from a small boat. It may take little practice, figuring out who does what, when. But your tips are spot on and will go a long way to helping.

Thanks.

 

[Doug Dodson]

Where the long poles come in very handy for me is pads. I live in Crystal River, FL and fish a river (the Withalacoochee) and the lake it supplies, and both are lined with lilly pads and grass. I use the long pole to reach out into holes in the pads and drop a grass shrimp or cricket or crappie jig down into the hole under the pads. I use a small quill bobber if the water is more than 4 feet deep, and when it stands up I hoist the fish straight up and out of the pads...can't do it with ultra light rods and line...

[David, aka, "McScruff"]

And that, is how you do it!

[Badgerloader]

I enjoyed your article on spooning blugills.  I suggest you add Acme Fiord spoons to your arsenal.  They are heavy for their size and shaped to wobble.  I've been using the two smaller sizes - 1/12 & 1/8 - since the late 60's.

[Johnny wilkins]

That is how I caught these - a pole with one eye at the end is the most deadly bluegill and panfish device in the many of situations.

Most of the poles are fiberglass and cheap- but still a good option. The good ones have some percentage of graphite which makes them more sensitive with faster action.

 

While each pole has its own rating or line that it can handle, I recommend that your leader be thin enough to break off when you come into a big fish or stump. Since I only use 2 lb. leader, this prevents the pole from breaking. If you run into bigger fish and are snapping off- you can then have another rig on a stronger pole (or rod & reel) so that you can take that fish down.

Once the big fish is landed, you can then return to your lighter rig.

 

[Michael A. Naso]

I have 3 BnM Black Widow poles I bought back in the 90's.  Two 10.5 footers and a 16.5 footer.  I remember my youngest daughter, now 21, sitting on the bank of a park pond catching tiny gills. She had a notebook and pencil and was keeping count of her fish. I recall it being over 70 gills plus 1 dad, as she impaled a tiny hook in my finger. We also used them for night time Bullheads off of the deck of a cottage on a private pond I used to have access to. I'll be bringing them on the Pontoon Boat this year for my grandson.  I'll be dunkin' Wacky rigged plastic worms around the boat docks with the 16.5 footer, since I was inspired by a recent Fish Fishburne episode.