Fishing with long crappie poles

Fellows, this may be a dumb question but I am new to this long pole crappie fishing. Say for instance you are fishing a 14 foot pole and you are fishing three feet deep. How do you go about getting the fish in the boat without lifting him completely out of the water. I'd assume that you'd have to pull enough drag with your hand to give him enough line to pull him across the top of the water into the net. The problem I was having last year was that I wanted to lift the rod straight up and when I did I'd lift the crappie out of the water and he would pull off. These long crappie poles are a booger until you learn how to use them. Thanks for any tips.

Hey Hawkeye:

I've not used a 14-foot pole but use a 12-footer. When they are real shallow - in 3-feet of water or less - I usually still keep about 6-feet of line out as long as there aren't any overhead obstructions and I stand on my front deck which gives me some added height for flipping the jig out as far as possible and enough room to keep the fish in the water while bringing it to the boat.

When I get a bite I set the hook to the side rather than straight up and drag the fish under water all the way around the front of the boat and net it if it's networthy or lift it if it's not - on the other side of he boat.

This keeps it from splashing around close to where I hooked it and possibly spooking other fish nearby. Long poles do take some getting used to but once you do it's hard to go back to shorter poles.

I was going to say the same thing as Jerry. So, I'll just reinforce what he's already said. If there are no overhead obstructions, you can still have enough line out (10-12') for a proper retrieval and still fish shallow. If there are overhead obstructions, like your fishing in willows or something, you will have to use a calapsable pole, a shorter pole, or once hooked drag them out away from the overhangs. Often, crappie fishermen who use long poles in tight areas use automatic fly reels to pull out more line just like you said while still maintaining tension on line and fish.

Here is how I do things, not implying that it is the right way. The Uncle Bucks pole that I have has a five dollar reel on it. I don't even use it to reel fish in, it is used just to hold the line and thats all. I use it strictly for slip bobber and minnows. I pull line out like a fly reel or pull line in just for depth adjustment. When I see the bobber go under, I never touch the reel. I pull the fish up by pulling the line in and holding it with my right hand( I hold the pole in my right hand), I always keep the pole high and point the tip more towards the sky and back towards me to bring the fish in. Most crappie in my local area can be lifted in, but if I have a netter, i hold the pole and line in my right hand and grab the net off to my left foot. Like I said, not saying this is the right way, but it is like using a canepole, just a little fancier. As for being in heavy cover, I love fishing that way and have pulled several fish in by taking the pole and start placing it towards the back of the boat. Have seen several times that the reel and the last couple of feet were in the water off the end of the boat because I didn't have anyways to lift it up or to the side. Guess I should have use a shorter pole, but just couldn't place the bait just right without one.

5 Years ago, I use to poke fun at fisherman who used long poles. I thought to myself. How fun can that be not casting and not being able to reel in a fish? Then a guy at work said if your going in my boat you have to have at least a 9' rod. after that day I went out and bought a 9' and now have several 12' :cool: I finally seen the light at the end of the tunnel and now use long poles 85% of the time. I still use the shorter rods on occasion but, only if I can't get bit with a long pole. I use the shorter pole when I fish docks that are so close together, that I can't get my boat in between them and might require a long cast to get to the back of the dock, when I can't reach it with a long pole. To catch a 12" or better on a long pole though. YOU JUST CAN'T BEAT IT ;)