Want to catch more crappie ''Go Long"

Perhaps my favorite fish to catch is crappie/sacalait. I grew up fishing with my dad using a cane pole. He graduated to a fly rod way before the modern day crappie pole was developed. He was ahead of the times for sure. Today there are a bunch of crappie poles to chose from, but here in the south, the long pole really hasn't caught on. Seems that the spin cast or spinning rod is the rod and reel of choice. But, you may be missing out on the best rod to use for catching more fish. So why a long pole over a short? First, a long pole can get you into cover that a 5ft spin cast won't. Second, most of the time if you get hung it's a lost bait, whereas with a long pole it is easy to punch out that lure. FYI: use a cork that you can slide up and down on your line. It makes punching your lure out easier . Third, a light weight, 10ft crappie pole is easier to flip into to that sweet spot with heavy cover. A prime example of this was on a day when the fishing was tough. Of the 18 fish caught, 15 were caught tight lining in the middle of the canal and into treetops. The perfect rod for this is a long crappie pole. So whats the best crappie pole? If you are tight lining or flipping with a bobber/cork, a light weight 10ft rod is best with a 500 or 1000 series spinning reel. If you want to troll or spider rig, a 12ft or even 14ft rod works well. The plus is that you can get into tight cover without getting on top of the spot. Another positive is that you can troll a pole or two or in my case 8 out of the front of your boat while casting with that spin cast toward the bank. There is no doubt you will put more fish in the boat by doing this. So next time you go sacin, go long. Good luck fishing. Hope to see ya on the water.

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