Thread: Another long rod?

Another long rod? by Brad Wiegmann




What is long enough? Really what’s long enough when it comes to crappie fishing rod? B’n’M Poles has just released its new 18- and 20-foot Buck’s Graphite Jig Pole or BGJP series of poles and it’s stretching the length of a fishing pole 40 years ago to the longer two models.


“In years past you could get away with having a 12- or 14-foot rod,” John Harrison with JH Guide Service from Calhoun City, Mississippi continued, “But we have learned with livescope that crappie have become educated to anglers in boats getting close and spooking them away. By having the new longer rods I can fish lures or B’n’M Poles Capps and Coleman Minnow Rigs and reach crappie that don’t even know I’m there.”


Harrison noted that if an angler is holding a 20 foot pole that they might only have 16 feet of rod out in front of the boat. That’s because the first 4 foot is where the angler is standing or sitting resulting only 16 feet from the tip of the boat to the pole’s tip. Another thing Harrison noted was the BJGP rods are softer compared to the B’n’M Poles PST. That gives him a choice of which pole to fish with depending on the stiffness, amount of weight he is using or technique.


“I switched over to the longer BJGP poles this spring and it made a world of difference,” Harrison continued, “The crappie were just skinning the minnows on the minnow rig when I was going 1.3 mph; in fact, the crappie won’t even chase a minnow going fast so I slowed the boat down to .5 mph with the softer BJGP poles and we started hooking up even with some of the really lethargic crappie.”



Of course, Harrison loves using the new BJGP longer rods for one poling crappie. “The 20 foot is more challenging for me with the shoulder injury, but I can still fish with it all day,” Harrison went on, “But I like the 18 foot BJGP rod when I want more control and a lighter weight rod. The 18 foot one weighs 11.2-ounces where the longer 20 foot weighs 13.6-ounces and I’m rigging them up with B’n’M Poles PRO 50 lightweight reels rigged with 8 pound GAMA line so it’s an extremely light combo.”


When one poling in the spring Harrison uses the longer BJGP rods and fishing shallow slowly with 1/4- or 3/4-ounce weight he commonly uses then switches to a 3/4- to 1-ounce when guiding in May and changing to a 1-ounce in the summer and pushing 1- to 1.5mph. His rig is a bobber stopped egg weight with a jig below it about 6-inches and uses a CrappieMagnet ROO.


“I love to use the longer BJGP rods for one poling,” Harrison continued, “Think about it most anglers are pitching for it with a shorter rod so they are having to make a longer cast, but I can let the jig down half way in the middle of the pole and make a solid 30 foot controlled pitch. Plus sometimes you have to just hold the lure right over the crappie’s head for a long time before they will bite it and this is a great rod to do that with.”


A couple things Harrison noted about the BJGP rods were the single foot DynaFlo guided that are lighter and durable with its alloy construction and inserts; in addition to its super strong reinforced graphite reel seat. He also added its reinforced RHV orange tip made it easier for clients to see a bite.


So is an 18- or 20-foot long enough for you? Harrison believes there is a place in his boat for the new BJGP, but will keep all his shorter rods for when the technique requires shorter rods and actions.

I use quite a collection of BGJP's out to 14ft single pole fishing. The longest poles I have are 16ft Wally Marshall Lews poles to pulling big Crappie out of very heavy cover. The 14ft BGJP is mostly used for winter fishing Micro Jigs in deep river structure as that's when the 16+ inch Slabs end up in my cooler. The weights quoted for the longer BGJP's will have me shopping jig poles again..........