Fishing with Capt. George Tunison | New boats and using push poles
Leaving the boat dealers lot, you’re sporting an ear-to-ear grin as you admire your brand new, high tech and even higher priced shallow water dream boat in the rearview as you tow her home. Suddenly you snap out of it, shed the grin and shaking your head you say, “how could a little 18-foot boat I really couldn’t afford cost so much” along with “how am I going to explain this one” and worse, the kids missing college funds?
Actually, common sense, logic and money are the first three things to go when you’ve got a bad case of “Florida New Boat Buying Fever.” The Florida strain is considered to be the hardest to prevent and cure.
Suddenly you realize you forgot an important purchase to compliment that great looking poling platform — a push pole which you know nothing about. You’ve never poled a boat before, but you want to learn. Back to the dealer.
There’s an old saying that your push pole should be as long as your boat, but actually longer is better. Other issues to consider are how tall your platform is off the water and, will you be poling skinny flats most of the time or deeper flats, shallow bays or channel edges? Longer poles propel the boat further with each series of hand over hand strokes before lifting and repositioning again, saving energy on a long, hot fishing day. When poling over softer or muddy bottom, you’ll appreciate a longer pole as well.
When fishing from a platform for any length of time, an 18- footer is considered to be the minimum size with a 21-24 a better choice. When fishing from the deck of a bass or Jon boat chasing spawning Okeechobee largemouth these next few months, a 12 to 14-footer will suffice.
Plan on spending real time on your platform? Dig deep in your pockets as it’s all about saving weight using high tech (expensive) materials. At the economy end of the price list are 100% fiberglass poles which are very heavy weighing approximately 6.7 ounces per foot verses 1.75 ounces per foot like Stiffys high tech Extreme Series push-pole. These 2foot hand laid 100% graphite models sell locally for just under $1,600 with the low end 20-foot fiberglass model costing $350.
In the middle range are the hybrid or composite poles which are 80% graphite 20% fiberglass weighing 3.5 ounces per foot and selling locally for $850.
Like the angler able to efficiently sidearm skip cast lures far back under cover hooking fish edge of cover only anglers never see, the quietly poled skiff also gives the poling angler a huge sight and noise advantage which pays off in our highly pressured clear winter waters. Trolling motors in shallow water spook wise old fish. Sneak up on them and increase your catch by mastering the quiet art of poling.
New to the area and want to sample the offshore fishing but your rig really isn’t safely suited to going out 50-60 miles or more? You still have lots of nearshore opportunities in the 5 to 20-mile range. Mary’s Reef and Helens Reef are 5 miles off Boca, others like The Phoenix, 13 miles off Boca; The Boxcar, 21 miles out; Edison Reef, 18 miles out of Punta Rassa; and School Bus Reef 15 miles off Boca Grande Pass. If you go to the FWC website, you’ll find all the maps and info you need along with the GPS numbers to get you onsite.
If you decide to sample some of our nearshore targets, make sure you have a few outfits set up for king and Spanish mackerel you may encounter on the way out or once there.
For the traveling angler, it’s time to cross sailfish off your bucket list by heading to Florida’s east coast and fishing from Stuart down into the Keys. The sailfish migration is on!
Capt. George Tunison is a Cape Coral resident fishing guide. You can contact him at 239-579-0461 or via email at captgeorget3@aol.com.