Rethink Cane Pole Fishing for Crappie
John E. Phillips 07.02.12
In less than 30 seconds, my quill sank. I brought a 1-1/2 pound crappie over the gunwales of my boat. For the next 20 minutes, I continued to take crappie. Although the minnows-in-a-glass-jar idea of my uncle’s was strange, I realized that renegade tactics could produce crappie when no other methods of fishing would. From that early boyhood experience, I started looking for renegades in the sport of crappie fishing – both men and women who broke with traditional tactics and utilized off-the-wall strategies to consistently catch crappie. I wanted to find those unusual individuals who used creative alternatives to take crappie.
I thought no cane pole fisherman using live minnows could catch more crappie than an angler fishing jigs on an ultralight rod and reel in the hot weather of August when the fish were deep. However, being a journalist, I’d also learned the only way to make these kinds of broad, sweeping statements was to test my theory. A few years ago, I pitted the best jig fisherman I could find against the best pole fisherman I knew in my state and set the competition for August 15 when the thermometer hovered around the 100 degree mark. At the end of the day, we tallied up the number of crappie each man had caught. The pole fisherman won by 10 crappie. Not only did he catch more fish than the jig fisherman, but his crappie were bigger. He didn’t use a reel on his pole. I couldn’t understand how he had found crappie so shallow.
The next day I became a student of this angler with the unique method. I discovered he was fishing 10 to 12 feet deep with the cork almost at the tip of his pole in the cool morning hours. But at 11:00 a.m. each day when the temperature had heated up, and the sun was high in the sky, he changed tactics. Utilizing his depth finder, he located a treetop in 25 feet of water and told me, “This is where we’ll fish.” Once he had anchored the boat, he swung his line out to the side of the boat. When the cork stood up, he took the tip of his pole and forced it under water. He continued to push the pole down until he was holding the butt of the pole straight down beside the boat. “To get those deep crappie in the summer, I can double the length of my line by submerging my pole,” he reported.
“This system keeps my minnow in the strike zone of the crappie. Then when the crappie bite, I can feel them on the end of the pole, pull the pole out of the water and bring the crappie up with it. But a jig fisherman must cast to an underwater target. When he retrieves his jig, the bait comes away from the fish.” When I asked him why he didn’t fish with a rod, his answer was, “I’ve fished with a pole all my life. I catch crappie year-round. I generally can take more crappie than the people who fish with a rod and reel. So why do I need to change?”
To read more renegade crappie fishing tactics, check out part one of this series on catching crappie with chewing gum and thread. To read the third part of this series on the tactics the other angler used in my competition, click here.
To learn more about successful crappie fishing year-round, buy John E. Phillips’ book, “The Masters’ Secret of Crappie Fishing,” by going to www.nighthawkpublications.com/fishing/masterscrappie.htm.
John, the 2008 Crossbow Communicator of the year and the 2007 Legendary Communicator chosen for induction into the National Fresh Water Hall of Fame, is a freelance writer (over 6,000 magazine articles for about 100 magazines and several thousand newspaper columns published), magazine editor, photographer for print media as well as industry catalogues (over 25,000 photos published), lecturer, outdoor consultant, marketing consultant, book author and daily internet content provider with an overview of the outdoors.
Phillips has been a contributor to many national magazines, has been affiliated with 27 radio stations across Alabama serving as their outdoor editor and wrote for a weekly syndicated column, "Alabama Outdoors," for 38-Alabama newspapers for more than 13 years. Phillips was Outdoor Editor for the "Birmingham Post-Herald" for 24 years. Phillips was also the executive editor for "Great Days Outdoors" magazine for 3 years.
The author of almost 30 books on the outdoors, Phillips is a founding member of the Professional Outdoor Media Association (POMA) and an active member of the Southeastern Outdoors Press Association (SEOPA). Phillips also is the owner of Night Hawk Publications, a marketing and publishing firm, and president of Creative Concepts, an outdoor consulting group.
Phillips conducts seminars across the nation at colleges in freelance writing, photography and outdoor education besides teaching courses in how to sell what you write to writers' groups. Phillips received his photography training as a still-lab photo specialist for six years in the Air Force. He was the chief photographer for Mannequins, Inc., a Birmingham modeling agency, for 11 years.
While serving as 2nd Vice President of the Alabama Wildlife Federation, Phillips was in charge of all press releases for the organization as well as serving as Chairman of Alabama's Big Buck Contest, which he founded more than 30 years ago. He also was president of the Alabama Sportsman's Association for three years.
Phillips is the recipient of a Certificate of Merit from the Governor of Alabama and the Department of Conservation for his work in the outdoor field. Phillips is vitally interested in the outdoors and travels the nation collecting personalities, stories and how-to information for his articles and features.
EDUCATION: B.S. degree from the University of West Alabama with a physical education major and a history minor.
EXPERIENCE: 10 years parttime and fulltime physical director for YMCAs and 34 years as a freelance writer, photographer, editor, book author, lecturer and daily-content provider for websites. Currently, Phillips is a field editor for Game and Fish Publications; serves on the editorial board of Grandview Media; is a regular contributor to 12 internet magazines and a daily content provider for 8 websites.
WRITING AWARDS: Runnerup - Best Outdoor Magazine Feature - 1981 - SEOPA; Certificate of Merit - Awarded by Alabama's Governor for writings on conservation; Most Outstanding Sports Writer in Southeast - 1983 & 1984; Best Outdoor Feature in Alabama, 1987 - Alabama Sportswriters' Association 3rd Place; Best Book of the Year - 1989 - SEOPA; 2007 - inducted into the National Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame as a Legendary Communicator; 2008 - received award naming him 2008 Crossbow Communicator of the Year from the Crossbow Manufacturers' Association; 2009 - GAMMA Honorable Mention for Consumer/Paid Best Essay for July/August 2008 in "Southern Sporting Journal."
