anybody else use a long jiggin pole?

[Warmouth]

I use a reel. I have a 12' pole that is basically a spinning rod with appropriate reel, spooled with 4lb mono. I also have a 13' B'n'M teliscopic pole that I ran the line through the hollow pole and drilled a small hole 2 1/2' from the tip, where the line comes out of the pole and goes through the eye at the tip of the rod. I spooled 10lb bright green fireline on the reel, and then go with a 2-3' leader of 4lb mono, I can really see that fireline well in all conitions and strikes can be seen and felt better on this set up. This set up has a small fly reel to hold line. The B'n'M is more sensitive and is what I use in shallow water, it is also better to use in the wind as the line is inside the pole and protected from wind gusts. But it is not a user friendly as the 12' spinning rig as far as letting line out and fishing different depths.

I do see a lot of folks using 13', 16' and 20' B'n'M poles with the line attatched at the tip or on the line holder that is on the pole.

I also have used a 8-9' flyrod and just added an extra 10-15'+ of leader to the line so that I can use a regular jig and have the sensitivity of mono. The longer poles are better though.

[coyotewhacker]

dave....if you want to get better action with your B&N poles, either the glass or graphite models, you can buy a set of line guides that slip over the tip and slide down until they settle into a friction fit. I don't think they are really designed for "casting" per se, but they will distribute the force of fighting a big crappie or whatever across the full length of the rod. I have as set on both of my smaller B&M rods and really like them. Currently I use the plastic "fly reel" for line storeage, but the little mini Uncle Buck's level winds look pretty neat, and there are some extremely small spinning reels out there that should work great, too. Fireline is so strong for any given diameter that you could probably go down to 8lb or even 6lb for more sensitivity and not give up much line strength for your applications. We're using 6 and 8 lb test on little short ultralight rigs for some pretty good size whites, with the possibility of picking up a walleye here and there, have had no problems at all. Tight lines!

[Warmouth]

I used the B&M this weekend and caught a few crappie, but what really impressed me was when I hooked a big drum. With the pole rigged with 10lb fireline through the middle of the pole, and a 4lb leader, I caught a 8-9lb drum Sat. 4-23. It had to have been over 28", but I didn't measure it. My biggest fish caught on a pole so far.

[BornBad]