Thread: Jigging pole tactics

27458, me too, but gonna make the drive (weather permitting) next weekend. Hope they're in the cypress by then as it sounds, but if not.....bringin spider rigs any way, so it won't matter.

I net most all. Sat had a very good one come off just before I got her in the net but did get her.

Originally Posted by eagle 1

Have read several threads about folks using jigging poles to swing fish into the boat . I have never seen anybody swing anything but a dink into a boat . Do any of you do this ? If I think it's 12 inches or over , I net it .

I fish Truman lake mainly, dipping trees and brush piles. I use a 10 foot rod and 10 lb fireline. Been crappie fishing for 15-20 years and don't use a net and I have swung several 2 pounders in the boat. Weighed in a 3 pound crappie at Millwood, Arkansas during a tournament. She was only 5-6 feet down so by the time I set the hook and she's headed my way, I swung her in the boat. I have lost a few over the years, but not many. If they are hooked well, they are not going to fall off. I worry more about giving slack while waiting for the net. Have any of you lost fish trying to net them?

well of course we have . even hit a few with the net and lost them . If I get a good one the pole I use won't swing him in and i have to get it with my hand . Like right now I am fishing around 14 ' with a 12 ' pole . it ain't gonna happen . So guess it just depends on the person and what kind of equipment you have and get use too .

I use a net all the time. I have a net my grandfather made about 35 years ago on a modern frame on a push broom handle. There is no telling how many 3 pounders he netted with that thing.
The net has a couple of uses. When I wade, it is a redneck depth finder as well as a net. When I am in my 2 man boat it has been used as a paddle when my TM battery died, and I use it to scoop up my marker bouys. It was awkward at first, but now I hook them and fight with one hand and scoop them up in the net with the other. I bass fished for years and wanted to be a Bassmaster, and NEVER fished with a net back then, but now that I am "more refined" and crappie fish mostly, I would not go without a net.
The first couple of years I crappie fished, I did not use a net and it cost me. I had one on in the "Maude Willis fields" one day that rolled up to the top and looked like a dinner platter when she surfaced. I swear she had an eye that was big as a 50 cent piece. She promptly spit my jig at me and disappeared back to the iron wood brush top she came out of. I was sick about it. I think it was then that I decided to get my grandfathers net out and start using it.

If you wanna see a work of art, fish with Nimrod and watch him land good fish without a net.

I hate a net too--hardly ever use the net unless got someone with me and they want to use it.
Now in a tourny--try to use a net most of the time--but doesn't always work that way.

I am with 10footdown, I never use a net...... don't think I have lost a handful in 30 years, not worth having the thing in my way, I use the Ozark 10' rear seated rod and just keep tension on it when I hook the crappie and 10# power pro braid line and never had line break swinging a crappie in.... but like jigs vers. minnows it is your choice.... just like my rather fish for crappie than any other fish in the lake.......