What is y’all’s opinion between the three. Do 12 foot talons actually reach 10+ feet?

Depth of hold depends on your boat and where they are installed. For example, the Sponsons on a Skeeter raise the back end and dictate placement of the poles a little more above the waterline. That reduces depth of hold.

10 ft talons hold in 8 ft my boat is skeeter zx200.

I have 8ft Blades on a 19ft Skeeter. They are good for 6-1/2ft to MAYBE 7ft, depending on wind, waves, and bottom composition. Like said above, the sponsons require brackets that move the anchors up and outward a little to clear things and not impede holeshot.

Get the biggest you can afford and deal with.

Hold in 11.5’ with boat wakes etc.

I have 15’.

I have the 8 footer, but it's the less expensive Sportsman. I'll be lucky to get it to stick in 6' of water. Like a dummy, when I bought this 8 footer, I thought "holds in 8 feet." Wrong. If I had known this, I would have bought the 10 footer.

Jeff,
Do your 15' talons only hold 11.5'? I have a 12' talon and it will hold in 10' in moderate chop and waves and 11 when it's relatively calm which I'm happy with. I was hoping for 12' and 14' out of the 15s if I was to ever go that route. Thanks!

Yup, I have the 8ft Pro Series. Granted, I fish the bay alot and it doesn't get over 5ft anyway. But still, the 8 footer is good up to about 6.5ft or so. Anything over that, good luck.

If I ran a bass boat only then I'd be running the biggest talons I could find

Yep, 8’ PP Blades on 21’ Ranger. 6-1/2’ consistent/7’ MAX!

He asked about 12 I answered for 12.



My 15 hold in 14.5. My talons are 6 inches submersed in the water as installed, in 14.5 they lift the back of the boat a few inches.

Unlike poles, Talons have a spring loaded spike so it can rise and fall with wakes and still hold.

Raptors have sensing for hyd pressure so also should maintain bottom contact w wakes much better than poles, which just go down and stop.

Gilly suit for poles?

I went with Talons over poles because of the lakes I mostly fish. Out here in West Texas we don't have much grass but we do have tons of brush and timber. Talons go straight down without any problems, Seen too many Power Poles get hung up in the brush and timber.

Not to mention mechanical vs Hydraulic pumps. I have been in a boat when a power pole hose began leaking Hydraulic fluid into the bilge area.

Looking for a Used boat. I typically have someone fishing on the back quite a bit. When the poles aren’t in use, which of the 3 sir the lowest?