Question On An Ol' Fishing Pole I Have

[nighthawk]

[size 3]I have several fishing poles that have been past down to my family. I found this one a while back and was wondering what it was used for. It is a 5' fiberglass pole with wood grips. It is very stiff so it doesn't bend much. I think it was my father-in-laws, Grandfathers pole. I don't know if it was a custom made or not. There is no name I can find on it. Here are some photos. [/size]










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[FlyFishingMoose]

Never seen one with wooden grips before, if it were me I'd just hang it on the wall.
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[GOTS2FISH]

Nighthawk
I have 3 rods like yours in variuos lengths. They are used for trolling leaded line and pop gear. They were Grandpa's and we used them quite a bit back in the late 60's early 70's. I have 2 rods that are about a foot to 18" longer and not quite as stiff. I have one about the same as yours and I remember it was a bit to stiff, hard to tell when a fish strikes unless it was a big one. One of mine is a Shakespere and the other 2 are not marked. Grandpa bought these rods in about '68 and I'm going to hang on to mine (memories). Hope this helps.
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[fuzzyfisher]

alot of pelope aroud here use them as trolling poles for running heavy gear..but it was made to be a tunna trolling pole..i have seen meany a tunna come in on such a pole..

from the fuzzyfisher-----------------------fish on dudes
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[TubeDude]

[cool]Believe it or not, you can still find those for sale in some areas...mainly along the coastal areas where they do a lot of deep water "bottom fishing". They are called "boat rods"...since they are usually the rods provided by the boats for anglers paying to go out on a "cattle boat"...with tackle provided. They are made for function, rather than style or sporting qualities. Where they are used thusly, they are often rigged with a heavy reel and heavy dacron line. The terminal gear may include a weight of several pounds and a "ganion" of several large baited hooks.

They are also used as trolling rods, as some of the previous posts state. And, as has been pointed out, they are not as good for trolling with light gear and smaller fish, since they have all the flexibility of a baseball bat. It is hard to detect a light bite, and there ain't much fun in beating up a 14" trout with a broom handle.

My first exposure to these rods was when I was a kid, fishing with an uncle on Lake Pend O'Reille in my native Idaho. The target was the large kamloops rainbows, which often exceed 20 pounds. We were trolling large 12" wooden plugs painted to look like small kokanee salmon, upon which the big kamloops feed heavily.

The strike of a big kamloops can sometimes be scary. I have heard that they often swim past their intended target and then come back to smack it head on...going away. That might account for one of the most vivid memories of my early fishing days. While we were motoring along in the old outboard craft, enjoying a nice early morning troll, one of the two rods suddenly and simultaneously bent over and the wooden handle snapped off at the point it rested in the rod holder. The handleless rod cartwheeled many feet through the air before it dove forever beneath the lake's surface.

The handles on the older wooden handled rods were usually made of hickory...like some ball bats. Today, a lot of the boat rods are made with the glass rod blank extending through the handles, and you see very few of the wooden ones left.

Unless the rods have been made and documented by a known rod maker, they do not have a lot of collectability value. But, as with all the stuff that is disappearing more each year, they are someday likely to be worth some money for their basic antique value.

As for fishing with them, you will enjoy fishing a lot more by using modern rods with a length and balance suitable for the type of fishing you will be doing. And, for trolling, you could easily collect a dozen different rods, with different lengths and actions, depending on the line, lures, speed and species. If you need any help convincing the "finance department" of this need...sorry, I can't help you. Don't have any answers for that problem.
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[PescadorUtah]

The tube is right again! Boat rods, low end saltwater rods circa 1950 to 1970's. Some wood handles were painted black later on in the early 70's.
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[nighthawk]

Wow! Thanks for the info Tubedude. I was hoping someone could tell me what it was used for. I think I will keep it for a display piece. Thanks alot.
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[nighthawk]

That make good [size 1]sense[/size] now that I also own 2 Black painted Wood handled Anglers Pride [size 1]Model[/size] NO. #703-5 1/2 rods that are just like the other one. Thank you Pescadorutah.
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[nighthawk]

Thanks everyone that posted information about this pole.
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