Working on skiffing out my G3, little by little piece by piece. My current piece I'm looking for is a push pole. I've seen some range from 50$-1000$ I'm NOT spending 1k. If you guys wanna give me some input on where to further my search, or know someone that has a used one in good condition for sale, I would greatly appreciate it!
Push Pole..
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FSSU3
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Everything you use is a decision. Good, better, best. No different here, if you use a pole to move off an oyster reef, then stick it back in, then good will work the three times a year you use it.
Just like your rods, a $20 rod will certainly catch a fish, but will it stand up over time the same a $150 rod will? If you never use a better or best, then it's just like a rod, you don't know.
Just like your rods, a $20 rod will certainly catch a fish, but will it stand up over time the same a $150 rod will? If you never use a better or best, then it's just like a rod, you don't know.
Agreed, like Smack, I pole a lot into back lakes and shallow marshes. Deff need something that's not going to wear me out on a long day of poling and sight casting.
I catch your drift. Thanks for the input sir.
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3,760 Posts
If that is what you want then spend the money on a good one. When I had a poling skiff I went with a 21' Stiffy Hybrid. If I did it again I might would even go with a 23'er. You definitely don't want to go shorter. I had an old 18' fiberglass Stiffy from when they first started making push poles and it was a beast. Crazy heavy and too short to do much good. But I just had it on a flatbottom tunnel hull and mainly used it for pushing off the bank, off a reef, etc. The fiberglass pole was tough as hell but so heavy you would hate using it. The hybrid is lighter but still fairly durable. When you go above the hybrid you really need to pay attention to what you are doing because the lighter they get the more fragile they get.
They are worth the money if you are going to use them a lot. And they do hold some value. You can get a chunk of your money back out of them if you ever decide to do something different and get rid of it.
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1,056 Posts
I have a stiffy fiberglass. For years I didn't know how heavy it was until I picked up a carbon pole. But if your on a budget the fiberglass is fine if your not poling all day (which I don't).
Looks like I need to save my peenies! I do pole all day if that's what I want to do that day, I don't wanna be wore out by pushing a heavy stick all day. That's good that if I decide to go a different route they still hold value if taken care of. Thanks for the input!
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14,382 Posts
Before I bought my push pole I called Scott Somerlatte and asked his advice since he poles 99% of the time when he and his clients fish and he said 4' longer than your hull and add or subtract length depending on how tall your poling platform is. My hull is a little over 17' and my platform is about a foot taller than most so I should really use a 24' instead of a 21' but I took into consideration that a lot of the areas I pole are less than a foot deep so I went with a 21' Stiffy Guide Series and I bought it for about half price used from a fellow 2Cooler. It weighs less than 4 pounds and has a little more give than a Stiffy Hybrid. I put a lot of hours and miles in poling the boat I learned on and realized why Scott and others recommend a longer push pole. You get more stroke per lift meaning every time you pull that foot out of the water (with a soft mud bottom it's often pretty hard to pull out) you have more pole to walk your hands down. A short pole will work you to death especially on a mud bottom when the foot sinks in every stroke. You really notice a lot when poling several miles over several hours in the Summer most of all. It's relative to wade fishing all day chunking lures, you will notice a huge difference fishing a longer, heavier rod versus a shorter, lighter rod with a sub 6 oz reel.
Will do that now! Thanks!
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513 Posts
Agree with the discussion regarding a push pole. If you`re wanting to poll all day/miles then yes, as light and as long as possible, you wont regret it. If you`re wanting to use it to inadvertently push yourself off of shell, steer while drifting or pole for short distances (like me) then get you a 3/4 aluminum electrical pole, add on a marsh duck foot, $30 solution. Cant poll for too long with the alu pole cos your arms wont be able to cast too many times after that!!!
For the money the mangrove push poles are just fine. They are light and tend to flex quite a bit more than a stiffy but work great. I have both a stiffy custom graphite for my poling skiff and a mangrove for my G3. The construction of the mangrove is easy just don't try and cut corners. If you want to save $ the mangrove is great.
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1,226 Posts
I use a carbon marine 23.5 g2lr, but I'm in Florida, and I pole in 2-6' depths so I purchased a "tarpon" length pole. If I lived in Texas, I would contact Stiffy- if you are on a budget, get the hybrid. If you want to go all out, get the guide. If your boat is 16-18 foot and you plan on poling in less than 18" 95% of the time you will do fine with a 20-21 foot pole. If you plan to pole deeper than that, go with 22-24'--
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4,989 Posts
The mangrove is sectional ... ? Where'd you pic yours up ... ?
Just curious, I'm leery of sectional push poles, but the money, my God. Someone stole my pole this past summer.
for a quick solution you can go to home depot and buy a 16ft length of 1 1/2 closet rod, a pvc T and some end caps, and some teak oil. you will have a heavy push pole for about $50. You can use it till you save up for a real push pole.
This is what I did and I still havent bought a push pole, I realized I dont really want to push pole that often so I kinda scrapped the idea.
This is what I did and I still havent bought a push pole, I realized I dont really want to push pole that often so I kinda scrapped the idea.
Go to Amazon and search for fiberglass rods. I bought one eight feet long and 3/4" diameter for about $12. On one end I attached a rubber bike handlebar grip. The other end I ground to a point on my grinder, then sealed the end with a piece of heat shrink tubing. Whole thing was less than $20 and works great.
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7,893 Posts
Mine is a 12-foot, 2-inch thick wooden dowel from the hardware store. It cost $1 a foot...I bolted on three little chunks of wood on the end, so it won't dig into the mud. Fits well on my 15-foot jonboat. I've used it to reach out and grab the dock, a houseboat, even a wellhead in the bay so I could tie up. Great for pushing off from the jetties, if you drift too close. The first one I had, I poled my 25-foot Mako with it, up in creeks, going with the tide. It was uncoated and eventually warped but lasted more than 10 years. Even used it to burn bagworms out of my tree with an old t-shirt on the end of it, soaked with a little gasoline... I coated this new one four days in a row with polyurethane and it carries a golden color, is waterproof and doesn't warp. Great for poling shorelines or over oyster bottoms with the motor raised. I'd send a picture but it's in the boat in Beaumont waiting to go fishing. Nice to have on a winter's day, if you need to push off a flat and want to keep your feet dry. It's probably saved my lower unit a number of times. For $12 bucks? Yeah, I'll take that. Some of those other poles are expensive; one Keys guide had his blow out on the highway, and he jumped out of his car to save it. And got run over, with both his legs broken. And you don't have to worry much about somebody stealing a wooden push pole....
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3,673 Posts
Call me old fashioned and cheap but I have polled further than most people with an old inch an a half closet dowel rod. I'm just not paying for a push pole.
we have used a piece of 1 1/4" pvc pipe with a tee glued on 1 end with short pieces of pipe and blind caps and a blind cap on other end, but we mainly just use ours to push off the back or oysters, we have even taken and put the foam that you can buy in cans at box store and injected it in pipe to make them stiffer.
good luck
good luck
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