Cane Pole Crappie

Earlier this year I sunk a brush pile in some shallower (10ft) water. Normally, I sink them in 15-22fow. I really wasn't expecting to catch any fish at this location until the water cooled down a little bit. Well, back in August I decided to stop at it and found it to be holding some quality fish. Blew the engine on my boat back in September so I've been going with friends while my boat is getting a replacement. Helped a buddy install his new Minn Kota Ultera last week and he invited me to go with him on Sunday to help him learn how to operate it. I told him I could help with that but that I wanted to stop at one spot and try to catch some fish with a 3.99 cane pole and a 30 cent old school marabou jig. He said "bring it". We made it to this shallow water spot and immediately started catching fish. After I put 5 keepers in the box my buddy says "give me that thing". I handed it to him and he put a few in the box. We started talking about how simple, fun and efficient this was, just a stick, string and a dressed up hook. Sometimes it's easy to get caught up in all the latest and greatest graphite rods, silky smooth reels and extra sensitive braided line. Sure, those items are nice but not necessary to catch a mess of fish. Today we ventured back in time some 45 years ago to when we first learned to fish. We laughed and joked the whole day reminiscing about our youth. Doesn't get much more fun and enjoyable than that.

Nice mess of fish

Cool post Kelly! Now thats getting back to the basics. Sorry to hear that about your motor

Gotta love the old school stuff.

Might want to make a few more of those "shallow" BPs for summer. In Aug-Sept, I've caught fish in 3-5 ft of water at mid day. You'll be surprised where crappie will be when the water gets 88+ degrees.

Thank You!




Thanks Leo. I have a replacement, just waiting on the mechanic to finish mounting it.



Believe me, come February I will be sinking some more in 8-10fow.


>E

Nicely done! Also nice haul!

When I was a kid we would take a cane pole, electrical tape and a wire clothes hanger to construct a jigging pole. Caught thousands of crappie with this set up.

Nice haul Kelly! Hope you get your boat soon im sure you miss it. I know i missed ours when it was a wreck.

Nice lookin lil blu box ya got dere Kelly

If you buy a B&M 12' Fiberglas Cadillac pole (no reel) and add 16' of line to it..........well I've caught 100's with that setup. It's light, strong, doesn't take up much room in the boat.

I seldom fish deeper than 16' unless it is in the Winter.

I think sometimes we over think what it takes to catch crappie.

A buddy and I used to rent a boat for a day at what was Carswell AFB when we were stationed there in 1974, armed with
bamboo poles and maribu jigs. Lake Worth has lslands of reeds, and we caught tons of crappie in two feet of water...
Great fun.

That's prime right there......

Both catchn fish in shallower waters and with the cane pole...... who was that that said you needed that $15k live scope?

Great post.....

What kind of boat is that?

Brings back old memories. We used cane poles and we had tin cans with both ends removed. when we got hung up we dropped the can over the pole and down to the hook and usually got it loose.

It looks like a power cat or a top tenner!!!!

Thanks for all the replies and ideas.

HNut, I especially like the idea about the tin can. May have to give that one a try.







Yep, a 1971 16ft Power Cat Bull-A-Gator. This one was actually made in Mexico is what he tells me. Belongs to a buddy of mine. He has modified it. Took the stick steer out and turned it into a tiller steer. Then he found another hull that the transom was rotted and cut a piece out of it in the middle. He cut his hull a little aft of the middle and put the piece in it to make it 20ft on the button. Even at 20ft the 60 Etec pushes it about 32mph.

That's a nice cooler of fish. I have a can pole from both of my grandparents and my wife's grandparents hanging on the wall in a bedroom. I have caught many fish on those poles.