BnM vs Richard Williams Poles

I have one of the 12 long BnM Grapite Jig poles which I don't like for one reason. The line constantly gets wrapped around the end of the pole and it's too long for me to reach and untangle the line.

As for as the strenght of the bnm pole it's fine. It has back bone and yet it's got a good feel. It's sensetive and yet strong. I don't like the jig poles line guides though. They are too small in diameter. Price of the BnM Pole is more expensive than Richards poles.

I have seen two of Richard's 10ft long poles and and held them in my hands. They look great. They are light weight. I didn't get a chance to fish with them at the time. They belong to Larry from Southern IN as he purchased two of them from Richard.

I just recently (yesterday) sent off an order for one of Richard's 7.5 ft long poles and will let you know how I like it when it arrives and I get a chance to fish with it. Also I may fish with Larry this weekend and maybe I can get his advise on how he likes his Richard Williams 10 ft long poles.

I did like the line guides on Richards Poles better than on my 12ft BnM jig Pole. But BnM also makes a casting type pole that has nicer and larger guides. I just didn't get that one.

could someone that has used both the b&b bgjp112 graphite jig pole and the richard williams rods tell which they prefer and why?Which would you buy again or what would you switch to?
will be used for spider rigging and jig fishing.
thanks

I don't want to start an argument or anything moose1am, but I'm gonna strongly disagree with you about the B&M poles. I've tried almost every single pole on the market, including the Richard Williams pole. Don't get me wrong, the RW pole is nice, but I love the B&M poles, in fact, thats all I use now. I never had any trouble with the lines wrapping around the tip. The pole has a strong backbone, very sensitive tip, and I can set the hook hard without tearing the hooks out of the fish's mouth. Does your line have a lot of memory (or curls)? Maybe you should try spraying some Reel Magic on the spool after each trip.

Moose1am,

I think your problem with the line wrapping around the end may be more of a line type issue rather than the pole. I have experienced this before. Try a line with less memory.

Thanks for the comments. I agree with you about the BnM poles in General. BnM makes fine poles and they are everthing that you have said. In fact I said that they had backbone and were sensitive also. I have to start using the Reel Magic that you talk about. I have a can of it but have forgotten to spray some on my line so far. Thanks for the tip and the reminder.


I purchased my 12ft pole to use as a casting outfit and it's really designed as a trolling jig pole. It was not really designed to be used for casting slip bobber rigs. That is why I have so much trouble with it. And if I had purchased the BnM Casting outfit with the larger line guides I know that I would have been very happy with it.

It's just that I don't have my boat set up for trolling. I need to get a loctite rig to do that and I have not gotten around to doing that just yet. If I ever do get into the multipole trolling I would get some more long rods. I would definately give the BnM rods a try. Also the Richard Williams 10ft rods would be another rod that I intend to check out. After this weekend I may have some more information on the Richard Williams rods. I may see them in action this weekend if I go fishing at Patoka with Larry.

Let me be very clear. I was talking about one model of the BnM rods and I was only disappointed in it because I thought it would be useful for casting and it was not. When I ordered the pole though the internet I didn't know that the rod guides were so small. That was my fault as I could have read more about the other poles and then found out that BnM makes rods with larger guides just for casting purposes.

I was going to order one of the BnM casting rods but Richard's Rods were a bit less expensive and have much of the same characterists of the BnM poles. I saved a few bucks by going with the Richard Williams poles. Besides I know Richard as I met him at the TeeZur's crappie tournament last fall and he helped me find the new boat ramp at Sulfur Creek. I was lost and didn't have my bearings and he took me to the boat ramp in his truck so that I could familarlize myself with the location of that boat ramp for the next morning. He did that free of charge and we had a good conservation. Richard is a great guy and that is another reason why I chose to buy his rod. But most of all he had the type of rod that I was looking for.

Bottom line is that both rods are great if you buy the right rod type for your needs.

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Originally Posted by Crappie Chaser

I don't want to start an argument or anything moose1am, but I'm gonna strongly disagree with you about the B&M poles. I've tried almost every single pole on the market, including the Richard Williams pole. Don't get me wrong, the RW pole is nice, but I love the B&M poles, in fact, thats all I use now. I never had any trouble with the lines wrapping around the tip. The pole has a strong backbone, very sensitive tip, and I can set the hook hard without tearing the hooks out of the fish's mouth. Does your line have a lot of memory (or curls)? Maybe you should try spraying some Reel Magic on the spool after each trip.

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I hope that helps. What type of line do you use. Read my other post about how I used the long rod for casting and that may explain my problems. I am going to try to keep the rod and use it for tightlining and then try spraying some of the reel magic on the line to help with the line around the end of the rod.

The 12ft rod is almost as long as my boat and when the line does get wrapped around the tip I have to put the reel end of the rod almost out of the boat to be able to reach the tip. Then after I get the line unwrapped from the tip I often find that by the time I get back to the other end of the pole that the line has warpped around the tip of the rod again.

Other than that line problem I love the feel and strenght of the rod. I only wish that the line guides has been the bigger fuji types. Then I could cast it easier with my slip bobber setup. I normally fish the slip bobber setup down around 8ft and I wanted the longer rod for casting the slip bobber setup.

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Originally Posted by callshy

Moose1am,

I think your problem with the line wrapping around the end may be more of a line type issue rather than the pole. I have experienced this before. Try a line with less memory.

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I can't agree with you more, Moose1am. Richard is a really nice guy, in fact, he was the Crappie USA's Sportsman of the Year a couple years ago. And don't get me wrong, I like his poles too but the B&M Jig Poles fits my style of fishing. I recommend both.

i've never used richard williams so i can't comment on them, but i do have 2 10' b&m poles and i really like them. great feel and very strong backbone.

I prefer my 12' BnM ss over my Wally Marshall if that tells you anything. Super Sensitive.

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Originally Posted by PIGINTHEPIGPEN

I prefer my 12' BnM ss over my Wally Marshall if that tells you anything. Super Sensitive.

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I don't know about the Wally Marshal rods other than what I have read about them. I have read in the forums that they are heavy. But heavy is a relative term and I have no idea what they were comparing the WM rods against.

I just received a new 7.5ft Richard Williams rod today. It has a nice blueblack fishing that is very smooth. The rod guides are fugie type and they put them on the rod with Red thread and then sealed the threads with a red enamel and it looks very good against the blue black rod blank. I think it's IM7 graphite. It's strong and yet very light weight. The rod guides are fugi type and it's a two piece rod. The guides at the but end are larger than those near the tip and the sizes taper down from large to smaller as you go from the but end of the rod out to the tip. The handle is cork. There is a lure holder built into the but end of the rod that is made out of metal. It's attached nicely to the butt section of the rod blank. The holder for the reel is made out of plastic. I wish that it were made out of brass instead. But the price reflects the quality and these rods only cost 26 bucks. In the future I hope that Richard will upgrade the handle quality to metal and charge more for the rods. I would pay 50 bucks for a metal rell holder on his rods. The rod comes in two pieces and it's boxed in a strong square box and shipped vis USPS express mail. Shipping was not too bad for express mail. I ended up paying about 11 bucks for shipping from TN to IN.

Now I need to find a quality spinning reel for this rod. Daiwa will be my first choice.

My BnM 12ft pole it's the BGJP122 cat# from BnM. This rod has a great finish and the rod guides are put on nicely. The line guides are all the same size and that is a negative in my opinion. They do sell a different style bnm pole that has better line guides that are larger in diameter and smoother. I would recommend those styles but not the one that I have. The smaller line guide inside diameters prevent the bobber stops from gliding smoothly though the line guides. My 12ft BnM rod is a two piece rod also. The quality of the rods finish is excellent. The rod is IM6 graphite. The handle is made out of foam. The reel holder section of the rod is made out of plastic and I don't like plastic. I prefer metal ie brass on the reel holder section of a rod. But this is not your most expensive rod. It cost around 45 bucks to 50 bucks if memory serves me right. This 12ft rod would be nice for slow trolling. But if the light weight line gets wrapped around the tip end of the rod it is hard to get to the end of the rod to unwrap the line. And if you are an old fart like me with poor eye sight you can't see which way the line is wrapped around the rod tip. That makes it hard to unwind the line by twirling the bait around the rod tip to unwide the line. It's a 50/50 shot at getting it right and then if you get direction right on the first try you run the risk of unwrapping the line and going to far and getting the line wrapped back around the rod tip in the other direction. :(. You younger guys with better eyesight may not have as much problem with this as I do. This 12ft rod will cast a slip bobber rig out even if you set the bobber stop at 10ft deep. At times the bobber stop will get caught in the line guides and stop the cast. That is a bear when that happens. Also any line twist will cause the line to get caught in the line guides of the rod and stop the cast. My daiwa reel, my shakesphere reel and my penacle reel all get line twist from time to time. I use trilene XL 4lb and 6lb line. I need to add some reel magic to the lines to help prevent the line memory from causing more twisting.

I do like the 12ft BnM rod for dabbling a drop shot rid. It's had great sensitivity and it helped me catch suspended crappie in the dead of winter. I used it last Dec on a nice calm sunny day when the air temp were in the high 50s and the water temp was in the low 40s. The crappie were suspened 12 to 20ft down below the surface and over 35ft deep bottom. I felt the bites easily with the drop shot setup. The heavy drop shot weights kept the line tight and I was able to feel the bites easily and that helped me catch the crappie. I agree with Richard Williams in that holding the rod helps you catch more fish. After a few hours the rod was still light as a feather. I didn't get tired as the BnM 12ft rods IM6 grahphite made is light as a feather and I was able to fish with it all day long without getting tired. I may have someone put different line guides on this rod someday if I can find someone that would be able to do a bang up professional job. But that may be a long way off.