Picking up my new skiff next week and while the stoke is still there, a touch of unease is starting to manifest as the learning curve pain on poling starts to get closer. I’ve watched the YouTube videos and read a lot of “learning to pole” threads but I still have a question I can’t find an answer on; with the tide or against it? I’m in the SC Lowcountry and the tides are very significant. I’m sure there are times when conditions necessitate doing the opposite, but in general is it preferable to be poling a flat with the tide or against it? Hoping it’s with the tide! Thanks!
It depends. Most of the time, poling with the tide is better/easier because all you are doing is controlling your drift. When going with the tide, you need to be ready to stop the boat when you come up on fish; you have to control the boat so that it does not drift into where you are fishing.
As someone that fishes solo a lot, I don’t mind poling against the tide, assuming it’s manageable. This is because I can put my pole down and make a cast without drifting into the fish/bank. I like the current to pull me away; there is not always enough time to stake out before making a cast.
Other things to consider:
- Fish direction, I’d rather have fishing coming at me than trying to chase them down a bank.
- Sometimes wind direction is more important than current.
- If there is a stronger current, it can be better to cast up current and bring your bait back down the bank with the current,. This means you are poling against the current.
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The best way to learn to pole is by getting on the platform and poling. Skip the videos and just do it, there is no better teacher.
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Im still not good but i got a lot better when i ran out of gas and had to pole back to the ramp.
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Agree, experience is the best teacher. Go out on a light wind day on a flat and get started. Ideally you want the wind, sun and tide to your back. But that’s not always possible. You’ll also find how to change directions, how much effort is required and other nuances. The more you practice, the better you’ll get. Less effort means less fatigue, which means a quieter approach.
Have fun with it and congrats on the new skiff. And welcome aboard to the HQ!
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Shoot, take the tide out of the equation and go have fun on a local lake.
Trim the motor up until just the skeg is in the water and learn what dropping the pole in different locations does. Just like casting off the bow, think of the platform as a clock face. Dropping the pole at 4 o’clock is going to move the boat different than dropping it at 7 o’clock, etc.
You’ll feel a lot more confident when you can drop the pole and know what the boat will do with that input without actually having to think about it.
Have fun and as one member said on this website, “it ain’t rocket surgery!”
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I’m also learning and getting better. One lesson I learned the hard way is if you are fishing solo and want to pole from the platform, you need some weight on the bow or it will be very difficult to pole. Other piece of advice is go slow and small inputs. Watching someone pole that really knows what they are doing is impressive. I’m nowhere near there yet but every trip I get a little better. As far as with or against current. Personally I’d prefer to pole against a light current as its easier to control the heading of the boat IMO. If solo I prefer with the current and its more of a controlled drift but you have less control over the direction of the boat and stopping is not that easy (at least for a beginner like me).
What skiff are you getting? That also makes a huge difference on the ease of poling, not only from a weight standpoint but also tracking. Some boats are just easier. I had the pleasure of poling @Loogie mosquito and I was amazed at how well it poled. My boat tracks good but its a bit of a tank!
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I’ll echo the just get out there and learn sentiments above. It will eventually turn into an activity like running where you can totally focus on other things and not realize you are doing it.
As for current… I prefer to pole into current. I have better boat control and any staged fish is facing away, any traveling fish is coming at me. (Generally)
Wind… prefer into wind, easier boat control especially compared to downwind
Sun.. need a good visibility angle, this one will likely beat out all other constellations. Doesn’t matter how many fish there are if you can’t see them.
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Sorta on topic: I saw a guy on the bow of a poling skiff, solo, using a 20 foot pole. He was in about one foot of water, and having bloody hell trying get that long pole to work. Does anyone carry a short pole, or a take-apart pole for the bow? I don’t have a poling platform(due to my age), and my ten-foot bamboo coon-a$$ pole works great from deck level, and is easy to handle. Seeing that guy’s difficulty made me wonder. TJ
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Mighta been his skill level… I use a full length pole from the bow often. But it feels different poling backwards so maybe he was dealing with that.
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I bet he doesn’t have experience poling, the length shouldn’t be that big a deal unless he is on a Gheenoe with a 24’ pole, lol
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I’m newly learning to pole as well (but improving!). I find that micro adjustments are important. Sometimes when you need to change direction bc of a bend in the creek or wind, working down the pole just a foot or two just off center is enough to get you going in the right direction. Then you can go back to poling from a “neutral” position. If you over-react you end up traveling in a sine wave and fighting harder than you need to.
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I’m in the lowcountry too, and you’re just gonna have to go for it man. Pole with the tides, against them, across them, anything you can do. A couple people have already said it, but it’s gonna get so easy you won’t even think about it. In my opinion a strong wind is more of a pain than tides.
My one piece of advice is if you can go for your first time on a flood tide/high tide, or any kind of open mudflat or even a bankline, I’d do it. It’s a lot harder to learn in a creek than in a big open area.
Poling skills: common errors are made when focusing in the nose of the boat while trying to establish a track. You need to set an aim point far ahead, and watch the drift, make small trim adjustments with lateral pushes to shift the track, if your focused on the horizon downrange you’ll pick up the drift quickly, and adjust. If you’re focused too close to the skiff you won’t see that drift. Remember you are trying to get the skiff to track which is the resultant force of every force acting on the skiff, that means current, wind and human, seeing your resultant track at range versus close in will help you track in the direction you want.
Stopping is important, the quickest is to shift the tip of the pole from left to right across the skiff in the direction of the drift and apply forward pressure, you can stop yaw (rotation) by leaning the pole on the boat as it drifts into the pole.
Small adjustments work better than large ones.
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IDK… I have been poling for 20 years now. I don’t even think about it. The majority of my effort steering wise is in my hips, but I don’t look at or even think about where the pole is. The boat just goes where I want it to.
Just got to get your 1000hrs in.
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I’ve never in my life thought to myself “Mac, you need a shorter pole…” the longer the better. (Yeah I’m aware this is leaving it open for pole jokes 
)
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I don’t pole much and am no expert, but something to always keep in the back of your mind is which direction to jump when you fall off the platform. A bellyflop in the water is usually better than landing on the prop.
Same here, been poling for around 20 years, My hip plays a pivotal part in steering. And like someone said, don’t start off in a tight creek unless you want to be frustrated. Also, if you are poling parallel to a bank and the wind is blowing perpendicular off that bank, your stern will get pushed out away from the bank, I don’t care what kind of skiff it is. All three of mine (Beavertail B2 , Spear Glades X and my current Conchfish) get the a$$ end blown out of whack in a broadside wind. When in soft mud, less is more. Only apply enough force to move you forward. If you bear down on it, you’ll just drive the pole that much further in the mud and it will be that much harder to get out of the mud cancelling your forward movement. If it gets stuck bad enough, you may have to leave the pole and come back for it.
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@Sublime
I made the mistake you note, “If you bear down on it, you’ll just drive the pole that much further in the mud and it will be that much harder to get out of the mud”. I had recently moved down here, maybe 3rd or 4th time poling. I was on my 21’ Moccasin and made that exact mistake but instead of letting go of the pole, I thought I could pull it out of the mud🙄. The boat came out from under me and what I saw was my prop and skeg as I was falling down towards them. How I didn’t hit it God only knows. Never made that mistake again.
PS
I still suck at poling😳
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Yep, I almost added to my post that probably most falls from a platform occur when trying to unstick a pole. I’ve come close a couple of times.
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