Stand Off Mooring Pole

[SKMO]

I mentioned this on Phil's new crappie thread and thought some of you might be interested in this idea. We used them 30 years ago where I grew up fishing and it's not my invention but everyone who has seen it around here thinks it's a pretty slick idea. It's a great way to tie up to standing timber when you are deep fishing for crappie against the wood. Advantages include it's fast, you can glide in and tie up without bumping into the treetop and spooking fish, it will hold your boat a few feet away where you can easily fish all around the tree, you can tie to underwater trees and it's cheap, maybe 5$ if you have to buy everything.

1) Cut a length of 3/4" PVC to whatever length you want. This one is 6 1/2 feet but anything over 4 will work. I'd cut it to whatever length you think you can easily stow in rod box or on deck of your boat.

2) Drill holes in 2 end caps foer the rope to slide through. Make the rope fit snug.

3) Drill hole in PVC an inch where one end cap will end up.

4) Insert a piece of rope twice as long as the pole into hole you drilled in the hole and thread it out the near end. You might tie a knot in the rope to keep it from slipping back out but with the rope I use the knot ends up too big. Instead melt the end of the rope into a fat blob and flatten it out a bit. Once it hardens ot will not pull back through if you have drilled a snug hole. Make sure you use a sinking rope if you want to lash on to underwater trees. The rope I use is the colored stuff like rock-climbers use.

5) Thread the other end of the rope through the top of one end cap, down the length of the tube, and through the other end cap.

6) Glue the end caps on.

7) Tie a knot on the end of the rope.

8) In the picture you will notice a pink girl's hair tie on the business end of the pole. You can tuck the knot of the tag end of the rope under this to secure it when not in use.

To use it just pull out a noose on the end, snag the tree or a branch of the tree you want to tie up to, cinch it up tight, and tie off the loose end of the rope to your boat. I just make some turns around the top of my trolling motor which works fine.

I am sure it took longer to type this than it does to make one and you might find it a handy addition to your fishing gear.