When I was 5 years old and we were headed to the lake for some fishing and camping. Those days were so much fun. Some of my most vivid memories from that time are those weekend outings spent with my twin sister Kim, my mom, and my dad. My sister and I spent hours catching crawdads along the shoreline, turning over rocks and snatching them before they left the scene. When momma wasn’t grilling hot dogs or making sandwiches, she and my sister went swimming. It was a great time for us all.
The highlight of these camping trips, for me, was fishing with my dad. We had a small boat and could see the camp from where we fished. I would wave at Momma each time we passed near enough, and if we caught a fish, I held up the size with my hands. My dad was a serious angler. He had good fishing equipment that included one of those giant two-sided tackle boxes filled with tackle. At the time, I had only used two types of fishing poles, spinning rods and B’n’M jig poles that my grandfather used. I had never seen a cane pole until that day on the way to the lake.
There was a small gas station, or filling station as we called them back then, on the way to the boat ramp. We always stopped for food and minnows. On this day, standing at the counter waiting to pay, I happened to look up into the rafters where there were fishing poles like I had never seen. I had seen cane growing along a creek, so I knew they were cane. Without any guides or even a place for a reel, I might not have known they were used for fishing except for one thing: the B’n’M logo.
You see, those B’n’M jig poles that my grandfather kept in his little barn shed had that same logo. After gathering tools for planting beans or repairing the hog pen, my grandfather always let me close that little shed door. Maybe he wanted to teach me to keep the door closed, or maybe he was giving me a moment to dream about going fishing by checking out those poles.
As fishing technology progressed, so did fishing poles, even the cane pole. My cane pole days were limited to probably that one trip, now more than 50 years ago. I would not let go of that cane pole the entire weekend. I thought it was the coolest thing to use a pole with no guides and no reel. Today, my cane pole fascination is back.
B’n’M pro staffer and friend Kent Driscoll handed me one of B’n’M’s new cane poles. The name of the pole is the Ambush, and it was designed by legendary crappie angler Steve Coleman. I couldn’t wait to use it. The pole has sections that move in and out in increments of 2 feet or so. You can telescope out to put your presentation right where the fish are. When you hook one, you pull the fish in by collapsing each section until the fish can be netted. The Ambush I use goes out to 24 feet and allows you to stay back and not spook fish in shallow water. It’s an amazing pole that brings back vintage memories with a modern touch.
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