Question...jig pole fishermen

[bigal]

Hey All,

First of all, I am a newbie--a complete rookie, with no experience whatsoever at crappie fishing. That said, I've found the right place to learn, right here at this site. Also, thanks to reading the many thoughts and ideas from you all, I think I pretty much have all I need to be successful...just mainly need experience and time on the water. Among other things, I've purchased a very nice 9-foot, bottom-reel-mount, Ozark jig pole, along with plenty jig heads and a variety of plastics to do some single-poling...dipping around stumps and trees, as well as some deeper brush piles.

I suppose this will sound silly to those of you who have been doing this for so many years, but here's a scenario I envision, and my question: The water I fish is dark, with lots of cover in shallow water. It's spring-time and I am easing along, dropping my BG Baby Shad beside and along the stumps and logs that line the river I fish. Reaching out, I let her fall, and quickly feel the thump--a big ol' slab nails it. With a snap of the wrist and a steady lift upwards, she's hooked, and feels good on the end of the line. However, she's 8, 9 feet or so away from me, and there's only 3 feet of line off the tip of my jig pole--not at all like bringing one in on a regular casting rig, with plenty of line out and a 5 1/2-foot rod. How do I manage to get the fish back to me? Obviously in deeper water, it's not an issue--there's plenty of line out to work with. So, how do I do it--what is the process of getting that slab up and back to the boat? I welcome any and all who'd be willing to take the time to explain to me how 'they' do it...may be several different ideas. By the way, I'm using a spinning reel, with a good robust drag, in case I should hook a large fish. And oh, it is spooled with 6-pound P-line copoly.

Thanks so much for any and all help--much appreciated.
Alan

[Slabyanker]

I'm far from an expert, but in my opinion I would lift the smaller ones out of the water and swing them to the boat. On the larger ones I would use a long handled net. Or you could use the net for all of them to reduce
the risk of them getting off at the boat. That's how I do it with a 12' rod. I do lose some trying to get them to the boat though.

[Charles Ray]

I let line come off my reel, get the fish closer to the boat and use a custom dip net with 1" x 1" x 3' cypress extension. I sometimes back the pole up with my hands untill I can reach it with my net.

[rnvinc]

If you have your drag set correctly...you should be able to peel line out of the reel (with your off hand) to get enough workable line out to get the fish to the net...

Rickie

[toofuss]

Also could flip the anti reverse switch on bottom of reel and slowly pay out a little line

[Garrett Purvis]

Pretty much all the best options have been listed, but here is one that is a little different but i like using when fishing shallow. if your holding your pole with your left hand your right hand will be free. let out just enough line so that you can reach your jig with your hand. now you can use your right hand to pull the line up to as shallow as you want to fish. whenever you get a hit, set the hook while still holding on to your line. now you can let the line down with your hand as you swing the fish into you. using a 9 foot rod makes this technique alot easier to use versus using a 11 or 12 ft rod, but it can still be done.

[bigal]

Thanks, guys...some good suggestions here. I'd like to hear more from others who who have done this for so long and specialize in this technique. At least now I've got something to go on. Just need to see what works best for me. Any other thoughts or ideas are welcomed.

Alan

[20watt]

walk your pole back until you can grab the line and hoist him in or lip the fish

[Cmj]

This is one reason why I like using baitcasters on my jig poles. I just hit the button and let the weight of the fish pull out some line and then release the button,(flipping feature) and swing the fish in. With my spinning reels, i set the drag to where I can pull line out fairly easily, i always hold the line against the pole while jigging. If you are using light line, you dont want to have your drag set too tight anyway. You want to be able to let a big fish run a little.

[Idunno]

Also could flip the anti reverse switch on bottom of reel and slowly pay out a little line

I get the fish to the surface, and back-reel until the pole is pointed up and the fish is beside the boat. Then, I net or lift the fish in the boat.