Thread: Rods for pushing

12 or 14. Depends on boat length as to how easy it is to handle them. I fish both and like both lengths.

I fish 12's and 14's and have no trouble handling them.

"Pushers" around here use lengths varying from 7' to 20' ... or whatever it takes to insure a couple of feet of separation between rod tips. I've used 7' Bass rods & 14' collapsible rods pulling cranks, and that's with 2oz of lead on the braid line (and 5' leader of 6lb test mono). Line counter reels were on all poles ... boat speed was generally around 1.8mph ... and crank was let out around 40ft (give or take 10ft) to run around the 12-15ft depths.

I was always using someone else's equipment, and fishing from the back of their boat, as the longest rods I own are only 10' in length. But, their system worked, as we caught fish on every trip.

They use the same long poles (14'-20') to push jigs or jig/minnow, and just switch out reels from the counters to spinning or baitcast & mono line when spider rigging at slower speeds.

... cp

To each his own, but I have seen what pushing, pulling, spider rigging & long lining can do to a lake's crappie population.

Just ask the folks that fish Lake Weiss which was once known as one of the finest crappie lakes in the Country.

Back a few years it looked like the Spanish Armada was operating in Lake Weiss.

I might be wrong, but I think the AL Game & Fish has now limited the use of multiple rods on Weiss.

Originally Posted by Don G

To each his own, but I have seen what pushing, pulling, spider rigging & long lining can do to a lake's crappie population.

Just ask the folks that fish Lake Weiss which was once known as one of the finest crappie lakes in the Country.

Back a few years it looked like the Spanish Armada was operating in Lake Weiss.

I might be wrong, but I think the AL Game & Fish has now limited the use of multiple rods on Weiss.

Weiss Lake has a 3 pole per person limit ... and has had this limit since 1996 : Cherokee County Herald - Google News Archive Search

Now ... that's not to say that "everyone" has followed that law, as I've personally observed. And that was "locals" as much as out of state anglers.

One can only take a 30 fish limit/day/person ... and legally transport only a 1 day limit across the state line ( http://www.tallaco.com/Fishing.pdf ).

Locals are more apt to be the ones trying to circumvent the laws (especially on size limits), as evidenced by this article : The Post Online - Crappie limits for Weiss Lake often go ignored .... so it's not always necessarily the number of poles being used that dictates the decline in size/numbers of legal fish.

Now ... whether or not that translates to Virginia waters, I can't say. But I do believe that people keeping sub-legal size fish is more detrimental to the population than the number of poles any one angler employs (IF that angler is following the state limit rules).

... cp

Wonder why Weiss & Neely Henry are the only 2 in AL with 3 pole rule? I think I know the answer.

cp, Blackie & I, as well as you & Paul, know how they operated out of JR's Marina. I will go no further with that.

Like I said, to each his own, but I don't see the sport in it. Again just

Originally Posted by Don G

Wonder why Weiss & Neely Henry are the only 2 in AL with 3 pole rule? I think I know the answer.

cp, Blackie & I, as well as you & Paul, know how they operated out of JR's Marina. I will go no further with that.

Like I said, to each his own, but I don't see the sport in it. Again just

Even KY/Barkley lakes have their up & down years, and there's likely just as many guides & spider riggers & long liners working those lakes as there are on Weiss. Everything depends on the weather & water level controls in the spawning season. And since it takes about 3 years for a spawned Crappie to reach the 10" size limit, a lot of things can happen during those years to decrease the population numbers. That's also one of the reasons that supplemental stocking is done, even on Weiss & KY/Barkley.

And yes ... I have 1st hand knowledge of the way things used to be at Weiss. Haven't been there, recently, so I don't know if those things are still going on or not.

I'm as addicted to the thump as anyone, but in some few instances and places I go ... I'll employ multiple rod setups when necessary to insure at least a chance at catching enough fish to make the trip worthwhile. And you know me, I'm not all about a limit on every outing ... but, I do like to eat what I catch, share the bounty with my fishing partners, feed my family members that cannot fish/catch, and catching 2 or 3 fish per trip isn't worth the effort vs the cost. I could feed everyone $10/lb steak for the same cost ratio.

It may sound like it's not "sporting" to fish half a dozen rods per each person, but it's a lot more difficult than it appears on the surface. And you can still only "legally" take a limit of fish per day, regardless of how many poles you're using. Even a single pole angler can "poach" !!

But, you're right ... to each his own. And as long as it's legal & ethical, I'm going to use whatever methods or technology that will up my success rate. Even then I don't consider myself a threat to the Crappie population of ANY lake I fish

... cp