Long Pole Techniques

Pictured are Jim and Della Reimers, friends and fishin’ buddies of my wife Janet and myself. Formerly of Muscatine, Iowa, they travel around fishing nowadays and spend their winters in Florida. Jim taught me long pole set-up to successfully fish intimidating tangles like that in the photo background.

A killer long pole technique for Summertime Bluegills and Crappie

Poles—Longer rods allow a farther reach from the fish-spooking boat. Big fish are spooky, especially in clear water less than ten feet deep. Jim and Della use 13’ custom jobs that are light as a feather. I’ve had good luck with 12-14’ Wally Marshall graphite universal crappie poles from BassPro. They are somewhat heavy, but they take far more abuse from whacking overhead brush than other brands I’ve tried.

Reel—When long poling, the reel is just a place to hold extra line out of the way. I’ve boated thousands of fish (some of them 8-10 pound channel cats) using cheap black plastic click reels that look like a toy version of a single action fly reel. You can get ‘em about anywhere for three or four bucks. I secure mine at the very end of the rod handle with a couple of plastic cable ties that electricians use to bundle wires—light, strong, effective. A small spinning reel with instant anti-reverse works fine, too.

Line—The line is the most important part of the gear. Jim uses 14-17 pound Trilene mono. Light line gurus, that is not a typo. Even in gin-clear Minnesota lakes, Jim uses the heavy stuff and beats everyone out there. He knows bluegills and crappies respond best to proper presentations. The heavy line allows retrieving the small Aberdeen jig hook off of wood snags, but more importantly IT SLOWS THE RATE OF FALL OF THE LURE. Gills and crappies are usually looking up. A slow fall gives them time to eyeball it. I like to use 20 pound Fireline or Super Braid with a 12-18” leader of 10 pound pure fluorocarbon. I connect leader to mainline with a light wire Duolock clip. Good 10 pound fluorocarbon is invisible and will generally pull a #8 or 6 Aberdeen off of wood snags. If using heavy mono, leave the rod rigged in storage. This will eliminate the problem of line memory from storage on the reel.

Float—As small as you can get to barely float the jig-bait combo. Thill-type pencil floats 2-3” long work real well. They have rubber retainers that grip the line for depth adjustment down to the length of the rod. Summertime gills and crappies are seldom over 8 or 9’ deep unless the water is very clear. Here in southeast Iowa we often get algae blooms that keep the fish within 3-6’ of the surface most of the time. White crappie in big shad-based reservoirs are often much deeper—better to try slow vertical trolling or slip floats in that situation.

Jim says start shallow (3-4’) and work deeper, at the same time covering a lot of water and you will soon see how deep most of the fish are. The float keeps you from fishing below most of the fish. Small floats are important—fish don’t want to feel a lot of resistance when they suck in a jig.

Using a float also allows fishing a “spot” thoroughly without having to get to close with the boat. If your fishing 6’ deep with a 14’ pole, your effective fishing radius is well over 20 feet. It is quickly evident that a long pole allows the angler to reach more area with less fish-spooking boat movement. The float allows the angler to keep the lure in a particular spot indefinitely, even if the spot is beyond the length of the pole.

Long poling is also effective with no float—just a light jig. Be careful you don’t hold below the fish—easy to do in an algae bloom.

Jigs and bait—ALWAYS tip with any good bait—waxworm, piece of crawler, Berkley Crappie Nibble or a combo of these. Big channel cats love waxworms—they usually straighten the little hook or break the leader, but you’ll wrassle one in once in a while. A jig heavier than 1/32 oz spoils the slow-fall presentation—1/64-1/48 oz is much better.

Wind—can be a problem. Tying the boat to brush helps a lot. It helps to remember that wind usually enhances a bite. It’s far easier to control a boat with a bowmount trolling motor if you keep moving into the wind. A low profile boat helps, too.

Trolling motor—Mobility is very important—one needs to cover a lot of water to find cooperative fish if there is a tough bite. The motor has to be quiet and easy to use. Several years ago I acquired a Minn-Kota with CoPilot remote control—wouldn’t trade it for a brand-newboat!! It’s now easier to run my trolling motor than it is my TV at home. The operator can run it from anywhere in the boat.

Dip net—Long poling is a get ‘em in the boat technique. If you’re alone and you hook a really good fish on a long pole, you definitely need a long handled net. With a long pole it’s difficult to maneuver a good fish close enough for a short net without lifting too much on the fish. Lift too much on a big crappie with a small Aberdeen hook and it’s Bye-Bye! My dip net has an 8’ handle.

Weedbeds—Long poling isn’t just for wood cover. Bluegills and crappies love weeds. Use vertical lift and drop to fish even small openings with little fouling.

Long poling is not the best method for taking spawning gills in clear water. It’s difficult to approach big spawners close enough with the boat. In clear water, locate a bed, quietly back off (or come back later if you see them scoot into the weeds), tie off or anchor the boat, and cast with light jigs under SMALL set floats. I like to keep my boat about 40’ away from the bed. In turbid or dingy water, you can practically set on top of ‘em if you’re real quiet. Look for streams of small bubbles coming up off individual nests to locate a gill bed in dingy water.

My buddy Jim always says, “There are only three things to remember about bluegills—there’s a lot of ‘em, they’re dumb, and they’re hungry most of the time.” Set yourself up for long poling, be mobile, think “slow fall” and go fill your cooler on a hot summer day!

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