tips for holding long poles

[mighty]

alrighty, I have been fishing with a 10ft pole I got for valentines, after several hrs I do get kind of tired of holding it, my elbow gets a little sore,
any tips.

[deathb4disco]

Don't hold it by the end of the pole with just your hand. I hold with my hand well forward of the butt end, so that my forearm supports the weight of the pole.

Also, loosen your grip. Elbow pain starts in the wrist, and a tight grip causes more strain on your wrist. For my tennis elbow, my doctor prescribed several WRIST exercises.

[Darryl Morris]

What kind of pole do you have? Some are heavier than others overall and some can be a bit tip heavy. Try to hold the pole at its balance point, usually just a little forward of the reel seat. You can also use a heavier reel to help offset any tip heaviness but then you adding to the overall weight. It's a trade off. As mentioned above, use a natural, relaxed grip at that balance point. Then after a while you build some muscle memory and the pole becomes a smooth, natural extention of your own arm.

[ifish]

mighty,
I use HT rod butts and B & M tips because of the balance issue . The HT's have Tenn. type handles so I can move the reel for whatever style I am using. I slide the reel all the way down when hand holding. I have talked to some B & M reps and try to get them to make a Tenn. style rod but no luck so far. Just curious if anyone else would be interested in asking B & M to make this rod design!!!

[deathb4disco]

Tennessee handles RULE! I just do not understand rod makers' love affair with the graphite reel seat.

[Ranger690]

Take this idea and build you one. I built a prototype at work. The concept does work. A little metal rod (welding rod), a couple of SS hose clamps and a piece of plastic pipe.

http://www.afdturboset.com/index.html

Give it a shot.

Dayton

[Ranger690]

I got to try one of these, or something very similar, at a fishing show. Very comfortable. Very. I asked how much and could not get away fast enough. If you can rig something up it will help.

http://www.cobrahandle.com/

[sac-a-lait]

I find to use a LIGHTER reels since you will be holding ALL OF THE WEIGHT of the pole and reel, balanced or not. The plastic BnM reels are perfect example (the cheap plastic models). The weigh NOTHING. THEN find your balance. I've tried it both ways and I like to hold my rod and stand up and fish. I tried holding those mini baitcasters all day and small spinning reels. IMO, I like the lighter stuff, then like Darryl said find your sweet spot. SHould be just above the plastic reel.

[slabbandit]

I've tried the mini-baitcasters and the spinning reels and I'm going to stay with the little plastic reels also. So much easier to store my rods together down the side of the boat without tangling. I've landed 8 lb. cats with these reels. They're pretty tough.

[england]

alrighty, I have been fishing with a 10ft pole I got for valentines, after several hrs I do get kind of tired of holding it, my elbow gets a little sore,
any tips.

I used to have the same problem untill I went to the B n M ultralites. I use the BBUL12 models with a Westpoint crappie reel. When I have to fish really deep I have to put on small ultra lite spinning reels on them because you really cant reel up a good fish from deep water with the west point reels, but I can fish with these things all day with just a little bit of elbow fatiuge at the end of the day.