POLE PLEASURES

Cane and composite poles get less respect than Rodney Dangerfield. Isn't it odd that the world record for most fish caught on by one angler in an hour was set with a pole, or that European anglers fishing for big bucks often use poles instead of rods and reels?

Pole fishing isn't as simple as it looks, although it can be. No other method works so well to teach kids either. We'll look at that in another article later, but it's worth noting that a simple canoe or fiberglass pole armed with some ten-pound test, a float that Americans would call a bobber, a few split shot and a hook reduces fishing to its simple pleasures. Walton - Isacc, not Sam - fished with a pole and there's no question but that you can catch more schooling fish faster this way than with anything else.

But pole fishing is merely a subset of my premise that simple, inexpensive solutions deserve more attention. As an outdoor writer with more than 30 years expeience, I see technology replacing technique and expense driving many potential anglers away.

So the next time you watch an outdoor writer catching trout on a $500 rod with a $200 reel, a $50 flyline, $10 leader and a $2 fly on an Alaska trip that might cost $5,000 for a week, do realize that the writer may not have paid for any of this. There's a local down the lake with 50 yards of 40 pound test on a $20 spinning outfit and a home-made spoon that's probably catching bigger fish. Obviously catching fish is moot these days as catch and release limits your results to your creativity and the listener's guillibility.

Then too, consider editing. Fishing is mostly waiting. And the bigger the fish sought, the longer the wait. That's fine with me. If you fidget then flyfishing may be for you as it requires constant casting. This is also the disease of the bass boaters who cast, cast, cast and zoom at high speeds from place to place. Ever wonder why those at one end of a lake ALWAYS zoom to fish the other?

Fortunately, there's a solution to all this as close as simple tackle, a warm day, a nice lake, stream or pier and a quest for cooperative panfish. Kids know this. It's too bad adults have forgotten the basics.

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