I took my daughter to a pond filled with bluegills for a little bit of fishing with a cane pole. We used cicadas for bait and it was almost too easy in the beginning. The bluegills were biting on every try. But after 30 mins, they got smart and only bit off the end without getting the hook. I had to keep dipping the cicadas to get them to be more aggressive.

 

I noticed that the bluegills don't jump out of the water to eat the bait, so I was able to hold the bait just above the water to see them swarm underneath. I was caught off guard when a nice sized bass jumped out of the water and grabbed the cicada. I handed the pole to my daughter to pull the fish in. But the bass fought hard, a couple of times it almost pulled her in. I had to step in and help her. She didn't care, she was laughing the whole time. I loved that she was so happy and had a good experience fishing with me.

 

I didn't think it would be possible to pull in a bass that size on a cane pole and 8lb line. I was impressed to say the least. I might just try leaving my rods and reels at home and use cane poles once in a while just to keep it simple.

 

Anyone else use cane poles?

my wife is a philipina and she grew up fishing with a bamboo stick and also digging in the shallow muddy creek waters and pulling out catfish. She is a keeper? and so is your fish.

I used a cane pole when I was about 8 and had just got into fishing.  I caught a lot of sunnies on that thing walking up and down the dam. 

My son and I started using cane poles last summer just for fun. We have 10’ and 16’ poles that we have caught several bass on which is a serious challenge. He and I would have a competition to see how many bluegills we could catch. Best day was I beat him 35 to 33! Haha. Fishing with poles is a blast and relaxing as well.