i use 3 poles so i can get the limit quick, go home, clean the fish, and be home with my wife and newborn son some of the day. I will be deployed next year to either afghanistan, iraq, or someother godforaken place and wont be able to fish for 8 months to a year. So... i dontlike to waste my time on the water battling to catch a few crappie when i can catch a buttload of fish somewhere else.