Power pole

[Bassin' Machine]

I just recently read an article in the FLW magazine about fishing docks. Anyhow the article focused on Dion Hibdon's techniques and said he used a power pole to stay in place so he could fish docks thoroughly. It said with the flip of a button the pole extended from the boat into the ground. I am just curious if anyone has one of these or uses these, and exactly how do they work and are they effective when it comes to stayin' in place. It seems like there might be a lot of maintenance involved and they might break and such if used in the wrong place. Just wondering what others thoughts might be on this.

 

[ranman]

I saw one close-up thursday in Knoxville at the chevy pro night on an O.C.C. sponsored boat.It looked a little flimsy to me,the lower half(the part that stops you) was made of some sort of flexable plastic that seemed to move a lot like a thick cb antenna.Other than that it looked pretty well thought- out.

 

[Liveliner]

They are pretty strong. They are used for holding you in place where the water is less than 6' to 8' deep at the max. The primary place they are used is in saltwater flats like in Tampa Bay. If you try to use an anchor you can damage the grass flats and spook the redfish. Anchors are seldom used in the grass flats. A powerpole is commonly 6' and some are 8'. They have an electric motor that powers them up and down. the pole pushes down into the sandy bottom so as to keep you from drifting off a fishing spot. The pole does not plow up the sea grass and is the prefered method to anchor yourself into position. The power pole replaces a tube mounted on a flats boat where the push pole was ran through the tube and pushed into the bottom to hold you in place.

This is a pic of a Flats boat in Tampa Bay with the power pole down -
[img=http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c189/scssam/2006-08-2808-18-29_0023_resize.jpg]

 

[Possum]

I know what I would do, I would forget to raise it up, and $2,000 down the drain. However, when the Ranger is paid for my new bay boat will have one on it. Or I will put one on the Ranger.