Anyone know what this is?

[TN_Explorer]

<font size="4" face="#mce_temp_font#">I<font size="4"><font size="4"> found this while cleaning out my father<font size="4">-in-law's old <font size="4">storage barn.  It's a bamboo pole in pretty good overall condition, but I have never seen one with line guides or a reel like this.  <font size="4">The reel is only to stor<font size="4">e line on<font size="4"> -- the handle <font size="4">slides out to <font size="4">allow line to be sp<font size="4">ooled off an<font size="4">d then slides back to lock it.  The rod is in two sections with a threaded connector.  Overall, it's 12' long.  It has several guides like the one in front of the reel and the 90 degree guide at the tip. I googled <font size="4">cane poles, but did not find anything that looked like this.  It has no markings, but it would have probably come from Mississi<font size="4">ppi or <font size="4">Arkansas.  Kind of cool, in an<font size="4">y case.</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></p>

 

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[Liveliner]

I say that you have a pretty darn neat primitive fishing pole. I sure would be interested to know a value. By looking at it someone was a good engineer for the times. Thanks for sharing your find.

 

[Liveliner]

Run those pics here and see what you get as info.

http://www.collectorsweekly.com/fishing/rods/stories

 

[Dgreen]

My mom has a pole like that in her closet. I remember her bream fishing with it when I was a kid. It didn't have a reel or guides. She tied line at the butt of it then ran it up the pole to the tip and tied it there. It was a black line of some kind. Then she rolled the line onto the pole by turning the rod until she got as much as she wanted on it. Then she put a float, hook and sinker on the line. To fish she would unwrap the line and pitch it out by hand or swing it out with the pole. Boy how fishing has changed! Thanks for posting this. It brings back some good memories. I think that's when I became hooked on fishing and life definitely moved at a much slow and relaxed pace. Thank again!

 

[Tangled]

looks like an old pencil sharpner with line added and a thread spool attached to a cane pole. but thats just my thoughts.

 

[jimwarden]

That's the original drop shot rod. LoL. I have never seen one like it, but looks to be designed to fish staight down.

 

[TN_Explorer]

I didn't get any responses about what this is -- I'm beginning to think it was a custom made rig.

 

[EricM]

Someone went to a lot of trouble to do all that work.

 

[owtdoorguy]

Jimwarden may be onto something. Kinda what I was thinking too.
Seems like you could use this while on a dock, boat, structure to fish straight down without much need for casting... Just my thought.

 

[SNUFFY]

Back in the late 70`s I lived on Old Hickory for a while and a popular technique was called "jigpoling". was fairly popular way to fish. The poles were fiberglass and ranged from 10- 12 ' in length and a small reel on the just to hold excess line. You ran the line thru the center of the pole and usually only ran whatever the length of the pole was out the end. Talking to some ol the old timers they said they used bamboo till somebody started making them in fiberglass. I knew a couple of guys that used that style around Knoxville and wouldn`t even go unless the water was extremely muddy. They used 30# mono a gob of nightcrawlers and would drop them right along the bank...let `em hit the bottom....pick `em up ,move over a foot or two and do it again. The guys on Old hickory used the same setup but used a Model A Bomber , Texas rig worm and shorten up the line and figure 8 a buzzbait. Some of the biggest bass I ever saw caught was there and my next door neighbor would yank 3-4 5# just about every afternoon after work.. Thats what that pole reminded me of when I saw it. </p>

I fell in there with him and learned how to do it. It was definitly a big fish technique but I couldn`t ever get it work back in East Tn lakes. Water was too clear here I guess. I`ve still got the pole.</p>

 

[papermouthhunter]

Maybe an old school way to dock shoot for crappie?

 

[bullshot]

They would know over here:

http://rodbuilding.org/list.php?2

 

[TN_Explorer]

Thanks all -- makes a lot of sense. I'll bet this was designed/built for fishing along the banks of the Mississippi River, where my father-in-law lived and worked. He didn't have a boat. I'll bet he did just like it was described - got a bunch of worms and fished just off the banks in the muddy water. Very cool!

I appreciate the responses and the community on this forum!


-- Mike

 

[Fishhawk33]

It's a jiggerpole... You tube jiggerpole fishing. My grandfather has a couple of em just like it.