Time to fess up: Who uses a cane pole?

[dixieangler]

I'm talking about the old dirt cheap knobbed cane pole with a line tied on the tip of the pole (no reel), not expensive bamboo. :D Got to admit I haven't used one since I was a wee young'un up to about 8 years old fishing with the "entire" family. There. I feel better now . They get the job done most of the time though so I am in no way making fun of their fish catching ability. Just think. If you live in Florida, you don't need a fishing license to fish with one using live bait. Hmmmm. No wonder the "entire" family went cane pole fishing :D. Funny how when we grow up, we seem to grow out of those good old basic tools of the sport that every kid should get a taste of at least once in their lifetime. I would like to think that Florida allows it so that every family (no matter how destitute) can still put a smile on a kid's face and supper on the table. I see folks using them all the time so just goes to show that tried and true stays with us. How about you?

From the FWC exemptions (thought I had better put the whole exemption up)

Any resident when fishing with live or natural bait, using poles or lines which are not equipped with a fishing line retrieval mechanism, and fishing for noncommercial purposes in the county of her or his residence. A valid Fishing License is required to fish by any method in a Fish Management Area.

[1morecast]

Thanks for sharing the info, I think it's cool that FL allows that. I haven't used a canepole since I was a kid-- I caught my first big'n on one! It was a channel cat. More recently, in '00, to be exact, I saw quite a few folks using canepoles in a backwater (duckpond is the technical term I think) off of the Cumberland R. in TN, not far from the Cumberland City steam plant. I was using ultralight spinning gear & wasn't catching nearly as many, & the ones I did get were little. The guys who were doing the best were bankfishing & had canepoles that were at least 12 feet long. They were dropping live minnows down around the end of some laydown timber in a few feet of water. The crappies they were yanking in were big, some over 2 lbs I'm pretty sure.

[fishingpox]

I just started using graphite poles for trolling..last year... for crappie. I fish alot of oxbow lakes and there are plenty of big trash fish in these lakes. 50% of the time a large gar or catfish will tangle most of my poles up, I don't like that.

Truthfully, for trolling, I'd rather have cane poles. I put reels on them and eyelets to run my line through. I set them in their pole holders and add what weight I use and train them..put the bend in the pole. Cane poles are tough and can lift a big fish out of the water and less chance of tangling. I think when my graphite poles wear out, i'm going back to cane poles.

[CrappiePappy]

when I was a youngster (pre-teen) I went with my Great Grandma, to visit my Great Uncle on his farm. He had two ponds ... one was a shallow, swampy puddle of a thing, good only for frogs. The other was a bit larger, mainly for the watering of his cows. It was full of Bluegill, and had not been fished in so long that they were stunted. I had no fishing equipment of my own ..... but, Uncle David had a couple of cane poles, some hooks/sinkers, and a few "bottle plug" corks. I would grab these, and an empty tin can, and head off to the garden ... for bait!! Potato bug grubs were the easiest thing to find, so they became my bait of choice. Then, off to the pond for a few hours of catching Bluegill. Most of them were 3in long, at best, but every once in awhile I'd catch a 5 incher. Those went back to the house, and were cleaned & eaten (by me). Occasionally, I'd hang into one of the big snapping turtles, that lived in the pond. I wanted nothing to do with these guys ... LOL!!! All I wanted was my hook back !!

Once my Uncle David saw how much I enjoyed fishing, he took me on an adventure. We walked for several miles, back on a neighbors land, to a very large pond. I was told it was 30ft deep, in some parts. I got to use the big, long cane pole ... but the moss was so dense, and covered the bottom so far away from the bank, that I wasn't able to fish very deep. My Uncle brought his "level wind" reel/rod, and the neighbor had a couple of poles and a bucket of minnows. My Uncle caught a small Bass, on the rod/reel ... probably not more than 6" long. Didn't deter him a bit. He left the little Bass hooked, and cast it back out (he was using a big honkin catfish float). The little Bass wasn't out there more than 2 minutes, when the float went under and stayed under. Uncle David reeled in a larger Bass ... about 3lbs worth. Shortly after that, while he was using the cane pole (and I was watching the rod/reel/float outfit), I seen him put a bend in that cane pole .. that I wasn't even aware of the fact that it COULD bend that much. He hauls in a Bluegill that must have weighed in excess of 3lbs. Seriously .... !!
We had fish for dinner that night. Great Grandma and I had fried Bass ... Uncle David had the Bluegill. And, to explain just how I arrived at its weight .... scaled and gutted, and with head removed - it still covered his dinner plate, to the point where he couldn't put any sides on the plate with it !!!
Great Grandma & Uncle David are long since gone ..... but, those memories will stay with me for the rest of my life. And you know what ..... I still have a cane pole. And even though I don't use it, I'd never throw it away or part with it. It's a reminder, to me, of a time when even a 5" Bluegill was a catch to be proud of .... and this sport we call fishing, was full of wonders and mystery. And you know what else ... for me, that hasn't changed much in the last 45+ years !! .............. luck2ya'll ....... cp

[Illinoisgiller]

The last I knew, B&M still sells cane poles. Up here they are hard to find. I've got lots of fine rods, but had a ton of fun with cane. Mike

[dixieangler]

We can get fancier and use the newer graphite type telescoping Speck poles that seem to be everywhere now (probably easier to transport) but I see far more folks with the old cane poles sticking out of the car windows or in their hands bank fishing than I do the new Speck poles :D. I think the reason is that the old cane poles are probably a lot cheaper and they may come in lengths that may not be available in the Speck poles.

[JuDGe]

I've got 2 that I still use from time to time. I originally bought them for the kids but they traded to a rod & reel as soon as they could -- you know kids, they can't wait to grow up. Anyway, I love the looks on their faces when I take the canepoles and outfish them.

[Jakekatfishin]

I use mine all the time. I think it is too easy to cut 10-12 river cane poles and dry them myself. I think they are the way to go and are for the right price. I figured it out after fishing with a $50 jigging pole that I could do the same with a cane pole. I never really used the reel and I can always add a few eyes made of paper clips to the cane. I never really will get rid of my other poles, but for jigging and jerking I will almost always use cane.

[cdobber]

I did't know what a reel was until I was 10 or 11. I was at my Grandpas a few weeks back and saw a bunch of old cane ploes in the corner of his shed. I think I'll grab one next time I'm there just for old time sake.

My kid would look at me like I had 2 heads if I took her Barbie fishing pole and handed her a cane pole.

[hook bender]

any time i can!!!!!!