Power Pole anchors will help you catch more and bigger bass. Power Pole anchors are an extremely valuable piece of equipment for the bass tournament angler. A year ago I purchased two Power Pole anchors for my new Legend Boat. Color matched 8 foot Signature Series Power Poles. Through the course of the year, I proved over and over how valuable Power Pole anchors are to the tournament angler. We all can quickly see the applications for bedding bass, but what about holding your boat on a point, holding your boat off a brush line, positioning your boat quietly near cover or simply holding your boat in place while you manage your equipment for the next cast, Power Pole anchors are a must for a bass tournament angler.
Before Power Pole anchors, fishing specific cover was usually a flyby event. As you troll up to targets, the boat drifts past these targets as you make two or three casts or pitches. If you got a strike or caught a bass, you’d use the trolling motor to stop the boat. This normally generates a lot of prop wash noise and repeated strikes were seldom. So, it’s back on the trolling motor looking for the next target, hoping to get better boat position and maybe not make so much noise. Inevitably the wind or a miss calculated drift would require trolling motor adjustments, and reduce bass catching potential.
In several tournaments, not using a trolling motor to hold my boat in position was instrumental in winning. Being able to hold the boat still with Power Pole anchors allowed me to catch multiple fish from small areas. I could set up a drift and quietly let the boat settle into position and then deploy my Power Pole anchors, and not have to worry about boat position again until I was satisfied I had worked the target completely. The following paragraphs will describe some of the many benefits I gained by adding Power Pole anchors to my Legend bass boat.
When fishing laydowns on flats, Power Pole anchors allow you to anchor the boat in the perfect position for effective casting angles. This past season, there were many times that I caught three, four, even five bass from a single laydown. The key was to let the boat drift into position and then anchor. Using a reaction bait, I would pick off the aggressive bass. Then I could follow up with a jig or soft plastic and mop up the rest. With the Power Pole anchors deployed, the wind, boat traffic wave action, nor the pull of a three and four pound bass could change my boat’s position. I didn’t have to stand on the trolling motor creating noise, and I was free to move about the boat to land and cull bass without fear of the boat drifting into the area I was fishing. It’s a great feeling in a tournament to have 5 bass in the livewell all caught from the first laydown in a pattern.
Fishing lakes with large lily pad fields is a dream with Power Pole anchors. Using the wind to blow the boat across or alongside these fields, I use the Power Pole anchors to manage my boat’s position and never put the trolling motor in the water. Anyone that has tried to maneuver a boat in a lily pad field with a trolling motor knows that it is extremely noisy and greatly hinders your bass catching abilities. The extra noise, forces you to make long casts to bass that haven’t been spooked. This inevitably allows bass to unbutton as they hang in the pads after being hooked. Allowing the wind to blow you through a pad field is quiet and allows you to make casts that are closer to the boat and getting hooked bass landed is much easier. I can drift through a pad field and once I get a strike on frog type bait, I can anchor the boat close enough to those bass that I can pitch jigs or soft plastics to them. I have been amazed at how many fish are actually in small areas of these giant fields; catching limits within an area the size of my boat’s front deck. This is simply not possible with a trolling motor; the noise created in trying to hold the boat in one location will spook bass. You could let the wind blow you past them, catch one or two, and then circle back around and hope you don’t spook them. However, why not simply anchor and catch them all on the first pass?
Grass fields are the same as lily pads. Let the wind blow you through them, and when you find the hot spots in the expansive field simply deploy your Power Pole anchors and go to work. An added benefit of Power Pole anchors in the grass is that you can create a drift sock with them. If the wind is blowing you too fast through the grass, but you have a pattern that is too quick for sitting still; you can put your poles in the water a couple feet and they will drag in the grass slowing your boat to a fishable pace. Just like with the lily pad fields, you never have to put your trolling motor in the water. Just line up your drifts and proceed to catch some bass.
When culling, this has been awesome; there is no worry about where the boat is when culling. If your Power Pole anchors are deployed when you catch a cull bass, you’ve got nothing to worry about. If not then deploy your Power Pole anchors, it takes just 3-4 seconds to anchor. Handle your culling business. More often than not this past season, when I’d catch a cull fish, by the time I got done with the process and back to casting, the area had settled down, and I’d immediately catch a second bass. I couldn’t tell you how often this happened to me, and usually the second bass was the larger of the two.
Here is a great example of how Power Pole anchors helped me win a tournament. I had a great pattern going fishing cypress tree points. Come tournament morning the winds were 20 plus MPH. Bass were in the wave action feeding on shad that the wind had blown into the area. With Power Pole anchors, fishing in the wind is easy. I sat anchored next to the shallow points and worked schools of feeding bass; no trolling motor noise, no realigning the boat for the right cast, no danger of hitting the trees in the wave action. Bass would move up and down the point of cypress trees, and I just sat there anchored and caught bass after bass. Changing baits, culling fish, getting a drink all would require you to come off the trolling motor, and because the wind was so strong it would blow you into the feeding fish. Anchored, I didn’t have to worry about it; my boat never moved. I watched other anglers fight the wind, their boats drifting all over, hitting the trees. They would run from the front to the back of their boats trying to manage the tournament, sometimes nearly falling out. The whole time I’m simply standing on the front of my deck catching bass.
The durability and strength of Power Pole anchors is amazing. They have been in a bind several times holding the back of my Legend Boat in the wind, current, or wave action, and they simply take it. I have put some extreme flex on my Power Pole anchors, and they return to shape perfectly. After the year I put them through, I have complete faith that they are indestructible. Zero failures or problems.
I have learned a lot about bass behavior simply because of my Power Pole anchors; I have also put several checks in the bank because of my Power Pole anchors, and I am very excited to see what the next season brings! I highly recommend anglers get a set of Power Pole anchors and the next time you’re on the water, you too can enjoy the benefits of being “Poled Up!”
Get the Net it’s a Hawg
Mike Cork
Ultimate Bass
Legend Boats
Mercury Marine
Dobyn’s Rods
Power Pole
Elite Tungsten
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