Anyone using a shallow water pole anchor?

Wade Rivers · Feb 10, 2024

I've seen a few boats with the manual "power pole" that you jam in the bottom. Anyone using one?

Curious about the logistics of use and ease of deployment. I fish a lot of shallow Central Oregon lakes and have a small driftboat/pram and a 16 ft aluminum lake boat.

Thnx

_WW_ · Feb 10, 2024

Calling @Nick Clayton

Nick Clayton · Feb 10, 2024

Lol I saw this post but was hesitant to chime in since I have no experience with a manual pole.

I love the poles on my boat on the sound. (Power poles). For use in current I don't think I'd want less than two. With two poles my boat stays perfectly in place and doesn't swing around at all. Just a guess, but I'd imagine if you're doing a lot of shallow water lake stuff a single manual pole would be pretty dang handy. Boat would probably swing some in any sort of wind, but I doubt it would be a big deal in most scenarios.

I've seen some of those manual setups but I've never actually used one so I really can't speak to ease of deployment and such. My gut tells me it would be a rather simple and easy thing to deal with, but can't say with any actual knowledge.

Josh · Feb 10, 2024

I love the idea of them. But most of the bass lakes around here that I fish tend to be deeper than even the powered poles can reach. I mean, I'm sure I'd find some use for them if someone gave me a fancy power pole setup. But for the money, I haven't been able to justify it.

That said, I think it's all going to depend on your lake depth. If I fished shallow lakes more, I'd probably look into at least the power-pole micro which seems like a pretty clever design for kayaks or small boats.

Buzzy · Feb 10, 2024

Nick Clayton said:
Lol I saw this post but was hesitant to chime in since I have no experience with a manual pole.

I love the poles on my boat on the sound. (Power poles). For use in current I don't think I'd want less than two. With two poles my boat stays perfectly in place and doesn't swing around at all. Just a guess, but I'd imagine if you're doing a lot of shallow water lake stuff a single manual pole would be pretty dang handy. Boat would probably swing some in any sort of wind, but I doubt it would be a big deal in most scenarios.

I've seen some of those manual setups but I've never actually used one so I really can't speak to ease of deployment and such. My gut tells me it would be a rather simple and easy thing to deal with, but can't say with any actual knowledge.

I didn't know thre was such a thing as a commercial manual "power pole" - when carp fishing from the three boats I've been out on, we've just staked the push pole into the bottom sediment to hold the boat. Our situation has always been a guy on the bow targeting fish with the push poler on the stern. Many times the sediment is soft so it's easy to embed the push pole* into the muck and then hold the pole, the boat remains mostly motionless. I don't think this procedure is anything like what the OP is asking about, sorry for thread drift.

* our push poles are less than McGyver, we been using 1.5" dowels painted with bedliner.

ifsteve · Mar 2, 2024

I have a power pole on my skiff. Had one on my last skiff and two on my bay boat. Terrific piece of fishing equipment. A buddy has the manual pole. I find it useless. Its in the way if you leave it in the holder (sticks up too far) and if its not already in the holder getting it out and using it is no better than just tossing an anchor (and two anchors to hold the boat in place).

wanderingrichard · Mar 5, 2024

For my SOT, I first used a stripped down trekking pole pushed through a scupper hole, or through the welded O ring that's part of the anchor trolley.

I like the idea of a 1.5 inch hardwood dowel covered in bed liner. That's pretty novel.

Sam Roffe · Mar 5, 2024

_WW_ said:
Calling @Nick Clayton

My thoughts exactly. I see Nick chimed in. Maybe a question for another thread but I wonder @Nick Clayton how your power poles are handling the salt?

Nick Clayton · Mar 6, 2024

Sam Roffe said:
My thoughts exactly. I see Nick chimed in. Maybe a question for another thread but I wonder @Nick Clayton how your power poles are handling the salt?

I've owned the boat for a bit over 2 years now I believe, and so far they haven't shown a sign of any issue from the salt. Visually and mechanically the salt hasn't had any impact on them at this point that I can see.

ifsteve · Mar 7, 2024

Guys you do realize that Power Poles were made for the salt in the first place. The bass guys picked up on them after they had been out a long time. My PP is in saltwater several times a week over 4 years now. The one on my original skiff is now 13 years old and still going strong.

Nick Clayton · Mar 7, 2024

I'm quite aware that PPs are made for saltwater. I'm also aware of a good many products made for saltwater (specifically warm saltwater places) that simply fall apart with much exposure to the cold Puget Sound waters so it's not like the question was unreasonable.

There's something about our cold saltwater that eats some stuff alive, even stuff designed for salt.

Jake Watrous · Mar 7, 2024

I tried using such poles, but wasn't satisfied. Admittedly I tried it from a canoe, but the single point of contact didn't hold well in my experience. The boat spun/rotated about the pole if I mounted it directly aft, and if I mounted it on the side the wind pushed the boat directly into the pole and made things awkward. It also was awkward to store in the boat, but that's more of a "my boat" problem than a pole problem. It also gave me another thing to wrap my line around and if there's anything I can wrap my line around, I'll do it--one of my superpowers.

After musky fishing with @clarkman and borrowing his drift sock, I found what I was looking for. I can deploy it aft, and nothing sticks above the water. At first, I'd worried that fish would tangle around it, but that proved to not be an issue and thinking about it poles present a similar problem.

So, I bought an oversized drift sock for my 18' high-sided canoe and it works great. It also has the added benefit of working in any depth and holding me in a current with the speed of the current despite wind--perfect for pink fishing last summer.

ifsteve · Mar 8, 2024

Nick Clayton said:
I'm quite aware that PPs are made for saltwater. I'm also aware of a good many products made for saltwater (specifically warm saltwater places) that simply fall apart with much exposure to the cold Puget Sound waters so it's not like the question was unreasonable.

There's something about our cold saltwater that eats some stuff alive, even stuff designed for salt.

This makes no sense. As a chemical engineer, corrosion is accelerated by temperature. Colder water and salt should have less affect than warm saltwater. Not saying that this hasn't happened. But that there is something else going on. Perhaps its just the temperature and nothing to do with salinity?

FinLuver · Mar 8, 2024

ifsteve said:
This makes no sense. As a chemical engineer, corrosion is accelerated by temperature. Colder water and salt should have less affect than warm saltwater. Not saying that this hasn't happened. But that there is something else going on. Perhaps its just the temperature and nothing to do with salinity?

But we have the ring of fire…

Nick Clayton · Mar 8, 2024

ifsteve said:
This makes no sense. As a chemical engineer, corrosion is accelerated by temperature. Colder water and salt should have less affect than warm saltwater. Not saying that this hasn't happened. But that there is something else going on. Perhaps its just the temperature and nothing to do with salinity?

I'm no engineer or scientist so I can't begin to explain it. All I know is that I have had many, many products designed for saltwater that fail. I do often wonder if the temp has an impact on things, but I can't say with any authority. Certainly seems to have an impact on fly lines.

If I had a dollar for every saltwater safe product that was destroyed by Puget Sound, well. I'd be able to buy a few more saltwater safe products to try.