# Bank Pole Lines



## Bankin' On It

Hey y'all! Is it catfishin' time? Heh. I've had some decent luck fishing Spring Creek for channel cats with my rod and reel. Typically I'm catching 2# - 4# fish. Perfect table fare for me. Sure I'd love to catch a big one but i don't believe the creek holds really big ones like say the San Jac river would. The action is decent though. 

I'm trying to broaden my bank fishing skills and knowledge. I read up on bank line poles or "diddy poles" as some call them and built some. 

I took 3/4" PVC pipe and cut it in 4' lengths. 
I drilled a hole about 6 inches from the top and ran my nylon rope through it and tied it off. 
I made the rope 20 feet long and put 3 hooks at the opposite end about 3 feet apart using 18" of 30# mono line and some 3/o kahle hooks.
I tied 1/2 a brick to the end for weight.

This set up was a real pain to tote around because I ended up spending about an hour undoing a knot about the size of my fist as they moved around in the bag I was carrying them in. I have decided to reduce this set up to 2 hooks in the future but that's not going to solve this problem.

I took these out last night to Spring Creek and set them up at nightfall. I used fresh chicken liver for bait. I made "bait balls" by tying the liver up in some nylon hose and then put it on the hook. I like the durability but I don't know. They were about the size of a golf ball on a 3/0 hook. 

I set the lines in areas I typically catch channel cats. All of the hooks had liver in nylon hose except 1. As it turned out this morning, the one hook I didn't use nylon hose is the only one I caught the channel cat on.

SO I've been doing some "post mortum" on this whole exercise and have some questions that I'm hoping to get cleared up.

1. Is a golf ball sized bait ball too big for a 3/0 hook? The hook and barb were exposed.

2. Should I dump the nylon hose idea and go with wrapping sewing thread around the raw liver instead? Would this make it more appealing ya think?

3. I drive these pipes about 2 feet into the ground. They have a little spring to them but should I add a bungie cord to the set up for additional stretch? Necessary? 

4. I did not use any swivels. Big mistake or meh, it will work?

5. Should I change bait?


Thanks for reading. :brew:

EDIT: Maybe it was just too cold? So many questions. Ugh.


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## SSST

Weather was probably the main thing going against you. You're on the right track though. Only thing i would suggest would be to use swivels and have stagings made out of smaller diameter nylon twine hanging down about a foot from the main line. I use 5' solid 3/4" PVC and drive the in about 1 1/2 ft and they will hold 50 lb fish all day long. I would maybe not drive them in quite as deep, catfish are stupid though, when they're hungry they're not real picky.


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## willeye

THEY WERE PROBALLY GRABBING THE NYLON AND SUCKING ON IT AND NOT GETTING THE HOOK. try beef liver next time. or shad if you can find it. also fresh dead shrimp will work on them channels too.


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## Reloder28

SSST said:


> ...catfish are stupid though, when they're hungry they're not real picky.


Are they? They got you out of your easy chair to come & feed them.


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## Bankin' On It

willeye said:


> THEY WERE PROBALLY GRABBING THE NYLON AND SUCKING ON IT AND NOT GETTING THE HOOK. try beef liver next time. or shad if you can find it. also fresh dead shrimp will work on them channels too.


I ran a 30# monofilament line about 18" off the nylon and the bait at the end. Actually I use dead shrimp to catch them with my R&R. I may just have to do that. Heh.


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## Sunbeam

Bankin' on it, I am taking a shine to you despite that hideous avatar so I will share one of the thousands of cat fishing secretes I have learned over a long life.

First you must understand that this hook setup is used on trot lines, jug lines and limb lines that normally hang straight down.
It is used mostly by commercial fishermen who need a simple yet very effective system.
The photo shows several hooks ready to bait and deploy. There are a couple still snapped in the "safe" position to prevent tangling. In the safe position you can store hundreds in a zip lock and easily remove them one at a time for use.
To make up the gear first the swivel is threaded onto the trot line snap.
Then using a pair on vice grips to hold the hook eye and a pair of pliers to open and close the eye the swivel is attached to the hook.
The photo shows #2 barrel swivels and 5/0 eagle Claw Sea Circle hooks.
Since the snap can be placed at any point on the main line you can fish one or up to five hooks on a jug or limb line at any spacing.

This system has caught thousands of big blue cats from Livingston and Conroe in the last fifteen years that I know personally to be true.
A typical anchored jug or limb line should be black tarred #36 to #48 nylon. If you use small diameter line you must tie a knot in the line to prevent the snap from sliding when a big fish start pulling.
Don't skimp on getting the right size. BLACK...TARRED...NYLON.

Place the weight on one end and lower to the bottom. Tie the upper end to the limb or jug with about a foot of slack.
Pull the line up and snap a baited hook on the line about 18" above the weight.
Add four more hooks at the spacing you want to fish the water column.
Don't forget your gear tag.

Use the bait of choice. Do not use baits larger than the cats in the area can get all the way in their mouth in one gulp.
Circle hooks do not work on dinks nibbling at a big bait. Leave the point and barb exposed.
Don't worry about all of the hardware next to the hook. It is there to facilitate easy of use.
Most fishermen want to use a "staging" between the hook and main line. A cat fish does not know what that little piece of tangled up line between the main and the hook is for nor does it fool them.
As I have said many time I have never seen a cat fish in the hook and swivel aisle of an Academy.
If they want the bait they will waded in and get it.

Another little bait tip I learned from a hard line cat fisherman about ten years ago. 
If fresh live or cut shad is not readily available the next best thing is shrimp.
Not fresh shrimp but those pretty pink cooked and frozen ones you buy in the HEB.
I know you are laughing but just try them. I told one of my Cajun friends about the a few years ago. He jugs the canal in to his duck blind in the fall. He caught so many fish on them that everyone jugging around Houma uses them exclusively. They call then Texas bait.
Easy to get, easy to keep in the cooler and if the fish don't bite you have an easy snack for lunch.


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## Cman1216

Very informative, thank you.


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## Bankin' On It

Sunbeam you ROCK! It's...it's beautiful man.

Looks like I'm heading back to the tackle shop! Thanks for all of the information, really. I will have alot more confidence in the next set. I was STRUGGLING with them knots and hooks and ...I'm getting hot flashes just thinking about it. Heh.


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## That Robbie Guy

Keep at it - it will pay off.


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## donkeyman

spring creek holds some large cats my grandpa fished it alot around the Tomball area usually after it was on the rise and fall after a good rain, he had his holes that he liked to fish he prefered live bait... and a#8 hook to catch his big cats it was a hobby for him and I was privliged to learn a few of his secrets before he died ... there is no reason that you cannot catch a 30-60 lb cat on spring creek when the conditions are right


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## jrg_80

Sunbeam, I know you listed the tools needed to bend the hook's eye out but do you have any technique secrets? I've broken two hooks trying to open up the eyes. Thanks

Jrg


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## leeroy

Spring creek is ok but cypress creek holds a lot of big cats flatheads and blues where do you live in spring I grew up there off of aldine westfield.


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## Sunbeam

jrg_80 said:


> Sunbeam, I know you listed the tools needed to bend the hook's eye out but do you have any technique secrets? I've broken two hooks trying to open up the eyes. Thanks
> 
> Jrg


The steel in some hooks is just too hard to bend without breaking. Not many but the better grade (more expensive) seem to be harder.
The Eagle Claw platted hooks (silver) are not hard to bend. Those Sea Circles heavy duty in the photo get very difficult above a 7/0.
I set the vice grips so they are very firm to close on the eye. Clamp down on the eye on the side so you can see the end of the wire forming the eye. Hold tight with the vice grip resting on a hard surface. 
Grasp the opposite side of the eye with long handle pliers like channel locks and bent the wire up slightly. Do not try to bend the eye open so as to make the loop larger but bent it up or down to just open enough to get the swivel through the gap. Bend wire back to close the gap.
Caution! be sure you are holding the eye tight as you bend it. If it pops out of the vice grips you might end up with the barb in something tender like a finger.
My old uncle who taught me the trick when I was a kid used 12/0 Kirby hooks on his "snag lines" He always stuck a wine bottle cork on the point before attempting to bend the eye. Those 12/0's looked like something on Capt. Hooks arm to me.


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## jrg_80

Sunbeam said:


> The steel in some hooks is just too hard to bend without breaking. Not many but the better grade (more expensive) seem to be harder.
> The Eagle Claw platted hooks (silver) are not hard to bend. Those Sea Circles heavy duty in the photo get very difficult above a 7/0.
> I set the vice grips so they are very firm to close on the eye. Clamp down on the eye on the side so you can see the end of the wire forming the eye. Hold tight with the vice grip resting on a hard surface.
> Grasp the opposite side of the eye with long handle pliers like channel locks and bent the wire up slightly. Do not try to bend the eye open so as to make the loop larger but bent it up or down to just open enough to get the swivel through the gap. Bend wire back to close the gap.
> Caution! be sure you are holding the eye tight as you bend it. If it pops out of the vice grips you might end up with the barb in something tender like a finger.
> My old uncle who taught me the trick when I was a kid used 12/0 Kirby hooks on his "snag lines" He always stuck a wine bottle cork on the point before attempting to bend the eye. Those 12/0's looked like something on Capt. Hooks arm to me.


Thanks, 
My thumb has a nice deep hole in it due to the eye breaking and when it broke my hand went and that when thumb met broken off hook shank lol. I'll try the hooks mentioned

jrg


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