calm before the storm.

All ya’all know I really like Eloika Lake which is one of the many small lakes through which the Little Spokane River flows as it wends its weary way to The Spokane River. Recently, I listed 20 acres on the southwestern shore and desperately needed to get some good photos of the shoreline from the lake’s point of view.  With that in mind, I called up Jerry and Lori at Jerry’s landing on the other side of the lake and asked if they had any canoes for that Saturday afternoon.  I was in luck! Or, was I?

At 6 pm, I started paddling towards my objective.  But of course, IF you are going out on the lake, and IF you happen to sell Emmrod®  fishing poles, why wouldn’t you take advantage of this opportunity to do a bit of fishing while you were at it?  Having been armed with some nice plastic worms which anglers have used all summer to bring in up to six pound bass and some nice little yellow jigs to try for those crappie which make this lake famous, I had to stop along the way every 100 paddle strokes or so and do a little fishin’.  Not much happening that night.  I watched a few little crappie chase the jig which you suspend about 18 inches below a bobber, throw out and reel slowly in.  I think they were too small to even get their mouths around the tiny hook.   

I gradually worked my way across and followed the weed beds along the west shore line down to my photographic target.  I enjoyed looking at the nice big houses and fancy white docks jutting out into the lake.  Finally, I reached my friend’s land and took several photos.  This time, I headed straight out across the lake and planned to go north along the east side of the lake, fishing as I went.  The lake was like glass.  Looked like a big parking lot where you could get out and walk home.  The sunlight  filtering through the trees along the west side of the lake as dusk arrived dappled the water creating all sorts of interesting shadows.  The natural drift of the current and very slight wind pushed my canoe gently out to the middle of the lake and slightly northward so I was able to crappie fish without much paddling.  I removed my sinker so just had the bobber weight but was still able to throw it out about 30 feet on each cast.

Finally!  I entered an area where I had hits on virtually every cast!  OOH BOY!  Was this fun!  I hooked a big one, but it got off after about a minute of play.  Several hits later and I had another on the line, As it got closer to the boat I thought it must be about two feet long!  This one was not gonna get away.  I reeled him in towards the boat, my Packer ® with a topwater rod bouncing nicely up and down with the strain.  Finally, he was just feet away.  I jerked him quickly out of the water.  I did not realize you do this gently.  No hard yanks.  No big excitement.  So, out of the water he flew, across the canoe and out the other side.  I did not know Crappie were flying fish!  I also did not know the release of tension on the left side of the boat coupled with the addition of a shooting fish ten feet beyond the right side of the boat, added to 240 pounds of weight high on a seat in a canoe equals a fine swim in the middle of Eloika Lake about 15 minutes before dark on a hot August night.

Well, the cool water got my head thinking.  First, put my pole in the still upright canoe.  Second, YES! the dang crappie is still on the line and he IS going to pay for dumping me in the water so get him into the boat.  Next, where are my flip flops?  They cost 20 bucks!  Well, I found one so the one legged guy gleaning stuff along the shore is going to be either happy or sad depending on which leg is missing. 

Being in the water was not a part of the plans for the evening so I set about getting back into the canoe while swimming in 30 feet of water.  After several minutes of trying it from the side, I came to realization that was just not going to happen.  I asked myself, how do I find enough weight to counterbalance me as I get in?  Climb in on the end so the whole canoe works against your weight I thought.  Like a lot of theory, the practice just is not there.  NOOOO! Maybe when I was a hot young 150 pound stud full of whim, whigor and wytality.  But now at 240 lbs, tired and old, I just could not get myself in any position to be able to climb the 2 foot moutain of the end of the boat.  

Now, what were my options? The closest shore was about a half mile away.  There was also a pretty good weed and mud bank around most of the lake so actually getting to a place where you could walk out of the lake was a real problem.  I had to find a dock which might also mean a clearer, less weed filled path to travel.  So, back toward my friends corner of the lake I went.  In the gathering gloom, the white beacon of the trex decking  covered boat launcher shone like the sun.  Grabbing the boat by the middle, lying on my back and floating with the help of my life preserver and the canoe, I began kicking and gradually we moved towards the dock.  About 30 minutes later, we hit the weeds.  We hit the mud.  As of yet, I had never experienced any fear or significant worry.  Just another exercise.  Just another problem to solve.  Just more grist for the story mill.  

After about five minutes of fighting the weeds and the ever thicker, higher mud level I realized I had a big problem.  You literally could not move through this goo.  If you got vertical, you had no bottom to stand on, there was just a light 20 weight viscosity to what you were swimming in,  but you could not move through it.  Now, I had moved beyond just another fun problem to getting a bit scared.  As in all these types of situations, panic is not the answer.  So I began screaming hysterically for help…not.  Even if I had wanted to, there was no one around to hear.  So, I had a little conversation with My Creator and asked for help and calmness.  It came to me, if you can not walk or swim through it, maybe you can slide over it.  So that is what the canoe and I did.  Staying as horizontal as possible, I grabbed and pulled on the weeds in conjunction with me kicking (swimming.)  Gradually, it took another 30 minutes, I finally got to the edge of the dock.  Again, no ladders and that 18 to 20 inches defied any ability to pull myself up.  So, I went around the side and found the mooring line.  I was able to use that to climb onto the dock. 

Safety at last!  I laid there like a great grey beached whale for a few minutes gathering what was left of my energy and dignity and then got up.  I looked in the boat to see if my camera and phone were still there and if the ziplock bag had done its job of protecting them.  Yes and yes!  I called Jerry’s Landing and Lori answered.  “I have good news, bad news and good news, Lori.  I landed a huge crappie!  The crappie landed me!  But I made it to a dock here on the SW corner of the lake. ”  I went on to ask her recommendations as I was too exhausted to take another shot at the lake, especially after dark, to paddle the 25 minutes back to the resort.  She told me to stand fast and they would mount a rescue.

Twenty minutes later, my knights in a shining bass boat arrived.  Soon, we were back “home.”  I do not think I have been as filthy as I was since I was a kid swimming in the water buffalo walloes back in Mindanao, Philippines (http://www.mycompactfishing.com/blog/swimming-water-buffalo-wallow-or-clean-crystal-clear-spring/).  Later, I just threw away my undershirt and pants and wallet because they were not salvageable.   Jerry pointed out the canoe had a great livewell as the bottom six inches were filled with water and that miserable crappie was still alive!  While I had intended to eat it to get even with it, in the end, I felt it had taught me a great many lessons and it deserved another day or two in the water, so I cut the hook which it had swallowed and released it. (You can check out the crappie blog (www.crappielife.com//narrowescapesatEloikaLake//) for his version of the night’s events.)   

Safe and sound, a lot more adventure than I had planned for but happy and content and grateful to God for the peace we can have in tough times to help us get through our ordeals. 

ADDENDUM:  Lessons learned:  Fat, old boys should probably think twice about fishing from platforms as unstable as a canoe.   Always wear your life jacket!  You go from fine to the thick of it in less than a second.  Don’t panic!  Stabilize the situation, calm down and think through it to figure out a course of action.  You will have to repeat this more than once in many circumstances.  I had three of these times in this spot:  When I fell into the lake, when I hit the weeds and mud, and finally trying to figure out how to get onto the dock.  Make sure someone knows where you are and when you should be back.  Keep your electronics in a waterproof container which floats.   Finally and perhaps most important, seek God’s help and comfort.

Jerry’s Landing has one more month before they close for the winter.  Check them out!  They are great and will tell you what to use for bait and where to fish.  To visit Jerry’s Landing Resort, North on Hwy 2 (Newport Highway) past Riverside High School and Miller’s One Stop to Oregon Road. West (left from Spokane) to Regal Road. Left to Jerry’s Landing.

Their phone number is 509 292 2337, their email is jerryslanding@earthlink.net and their address is N 41114 Lake Shore Rd, El WA 99009.

This blog is sponsored by www.MyCompactFishing.com .   This is the home of The Emmrod Packer®, The Emmrod Mountaineer®, The Emmrod Kayak King® and much more.  There are great videos and photos of fish liberated from the freezing waters with this fine compact, survivalist, durable fishing system.

Nice wake and sunset as we head to silvers territory

Anticipation builds. Fishing should be great!

Loon Lake is always beautiful this time of night.  The terrain silhouettes like an old shadow box picture but is somehow alive.  Our target for the evening is Silvers for Jim and his son Andrew.  For me and Andrew’s young friend, it is probably anything that bites.   That probably means bluegills and sunfish for us.

Jim decided to fish the southeast side of the lake.  Not all the way to the end of the lake but in such a place as the garish, but somehow beautiful electronic palm tree seemed like you could actually climb it and perhaps find a coconut or something to eat with the fish you were going to catch.

We arrived at our desired location about 8:20 or so and Jim set about doing the hundred little things that make the fishing possible or better–at least in his and a lot of fishermen minds.  He has been working on a set of lights which make it possible to see what you are doing and another set of lights that float around on the water.  All this is designed to bring fish close to the boat.  In about ten minutes we were all there with lines in the water.  I opted for a regular small hook with a leader and a tad of marshmallow run up the leader to act as a float to lift the hook up off the bottom.  I topped the hook off with a good old fashioned night crawler.  Old habits die hard.   Being an impatient soul, I could not just through the line in, let it sink to the bottom, reel it up three turns of the handle and wait for a fish to bite.  This is the way to catch Silvers, I am told.  NOOOOO!  I have to throw it in, let it go to the bottom and gradually reel it in.  By my second cast, I had a nice, fat little blue gill flopping on the floor!

First blood of the evening!

What a nice little pan fish to get the day started!  I was using my Emmrod Packrod®, Spinning version.  Notice the eye bolt in the butt end.  This would have let me hook a lanyard should that have been desired.  Folks in float tubes, kayaks and canoes have found that to be particularly useful.  I would suggest it is also not a bad idea when you take your kids and grand kids fishing.  You hate to loose a fish just ’cause the kid can’t hold on to the pole!  I was using the seven coil spinning/universal rod here.  It is amazing how much play you get when you have even such a small fish.  Too much fun!

Jim being a purist, wanted those silvers.  He was finally rewarded with the first about 40 minutes into it.  Silvers are a landlocked salmon which live about three years.  Normally they are not that big in Loon Lake, but this year, they have caught a lot of them in the 12-14 inch range and that is a nice fish!  I thought Jim caught 5 over the evening but only got four pictures which I will post below.  It was really fun to watch Jim trying to hook these sneaky little bait thieves.  The really do not hit the bait.  They come up to it and gum it.  Probably lick it.  Suck on it softly and you can barely feel them but your hook is empty when you reel it in.  I probably had three silver hits–based on the near the bottom nibble zone vice ten feet from the top blue gill zone–and was not able to hook any.  Once they bit on his bait, Jim would jerk his pole with all his might then let out a massive groan when they did not get hooked.  Sigh!  I think we counted about seven sets of fish dentures on the boat floor by the time we were done.  You just can not jerk the pole that hard! When he did hook them, he had to reel like crazy because the Silvers tend to try to outrace the reeling process to get slack line to spit out the hook.  Do they actually calculate that?  Sure beats me.  But, they do come flying towards the top of the water and Jim managed to stay ahead of what he hooked on the bottom and get them in the boat.

Speaking of bait, Jim was using a tiny glow hook which he would light up by flashing a camera flash attachment like tool at the hook which was cupped in his hand.  He used a green color which worked better than the red color I tried later.  Below the head of the hook, he would impale two maggots so they extended crosswise from the hook vice running them on the hook like you do with a worm.  Finally he topped that off with a kernel off white canned corn.    Later, he bagged the corn as it did not seem to make that much difference and caught at least two of the Silvers without corn on the hook.

About 10:15, the wind really picked up.  The fish quit biting and about 10:30 we called it a night and headed back in.  All in all, a great night fishing and an awful lot of fun!

This Blog is supported by Atherton Enterprises, Inc.  An authorized Emmrod® Fishing pole distributor.  Anywhere you need a small fishing rod, is a place where you need Emmrod®.  Travel poles, backpacking, mountain biking, kayaking, canoeing, or just under the seat of your pickup.  With several models to choose from, you just can not go wrong!  The original dock shooter (Packer®), Kayak King® spinning rod and its  fancier sidekick The Rugged Flex® Spinning rod, or casting rod–which ever cranks your reel.  Do not forget the Packrod® such as I used or the Combat Rod® which is the shortest option of all. Finally, the top water rod option can be used on any of the Emmrod® fishing p0les and gives you great feel and fun.

Please check out the web site, watch the videos and help support me with your Emmrod ® purchases!

Thanks for stopping by. Dave Atherton 509 216 8589, compactfishing@Gmail.com  http://www.mycompactfishing.com/

Here are photos of two of the fish we caught.

.

I love the Emmrod Packer®. It is the primary pole I use with a standard closed faced spinning reel.  Because I do not use a low-profile bait caster reel, I was not able to answer this question so I contacted the factory.  Here is what they had to say.

“This is true.  They would need to go with a Packrod® cast or Rugged Flex® Cast. ”

The Fishing Pole that got Emmrod Started

The primary difference between The Rugged Flex® and the Packrod® is length.  Want a short handle?  Then the Packrod®.  Want a longer handle?  Then the Rugged Flex®.

Hope this is helpful.  Dave

Deer Lake resort provides camping, boating, fishing opportunities galore not to mention it is a great place to stop and get some fat pills to help you through the inevitable slow times.  Here is an excerpt from their website: 

Kayaking
1 Hour $8, 1/2 Day $25, Day $40
Glide soundlessly on the lake and see the abundant beauty Deer Lake has to offer. Single & doubles available.

Paddle Boat
1/2 Hour, 1 Hour $8, 1/2 Day $25, Day $40
Go on a tour while getting your aerobics in!  Youths love to paddle these things, wear them out!  Seats 2

Row Boat
1/2 Hour, 1 Hour $8, 1/2 Day $25, Day $40
Go out and get some trout for dinner!  A quiet healthy way to get around on the water.  Max 4 people

Motor Boat
1/2 Day $50 (4 hours), Day $80 (8 hours)
Take a trip around the lake and find a fishing spot or just take in the beautiful scenery.  Max 4 people

If you do not want to rent a boat, the $8 day charge lets you fish from their very roomy docks!

The Saturday Brunch and Thursday potlucks are opportunities to not cook and enjoy some great food and visit with your camping neighbors.

Give them a call and check out their website:  http://www.deerlakeresort.com/Home.html.  They are located on the west or north side of the lake.   There are great directions on the web site!

Address:    3906 WEST CANYON SPRINGS WAY, DEER LAKE, WASHINGTON 99148

The Emmrod Short Top Water Rod

Obviously, the size of the fish you are targeting plays a role here.  Frankly, I am not that concerned with the top end of the scale.  I am more interested in our efforts to catch minnows.  How LIGHT of  a line can we get away with using?

The Nature of the Emmrod Fishing gear rods is they are a bit stiffer.  One of the very few abilities we do not have is to go to those ultra-light lines.  As a general rule, use ten pound test line as a minimum weight line.  You will find the act of casting or vigorous pull backs snapping those two to four pound lines. 

As with all rules, there are exceptions.  One of my customers, Phillip, has terrified the fish in the ocean near where he lives with his fishing prowess and collection of Emmrod Compact Fishing poles.  He is a fair sort of person who DOES want to give the fish a fighting chance so he likes to stretch the effort by using lighter lines. 

He expressed his excitement to me recently after trying out his Emmrod Top Water Rod.  He could actually use his lighter lines.  I provided him the shorter version; however, I imagine the longer version would accomplish the same thing.

Long and short Emmrod Top Water Rods

So, I have a request from all you Emmrod Fishermen out there.  Please send me feedback on how you stretch your system to use lighter lines. 

I am going to make a category of blogs called “Fishing Tips” where I can share the wisdom of the various fishermen and women out there who are enjoying Emmrod.  Every tool has its tricks.  Let’s Collaborate!

See the Bass hit when using your Rugged Flex Jr with a Top Water Rod

Enjoy the Emmrod Kayak King Fishing Pole for all your Eloika Lake Fishing

Packrod Spin, Fresh Water

My 10th, 11th and 12th years took place between Nasuli, Malaybaly, Bukidnon Philippines and Kibalabag, Malaybaly, Bukidnon Philippines.  In my mind, these towns were a thousand miles apart.  Nasuli meant living in a dorm or with another family.  Kibalabag meant living with my Parents.  Malaybalay was the fulcrum on which the sides of the teeter totter balanced.   Look  for several more “Kibalabag” stories.  Some will be just a paragraph long and others will seem to drag on interminably.

My parents were translators with Wycliffe Bible Translators and arrived in the Philippines in April 1953.  In fact, I had my second birthday on a freighter in Manila Harbor. At the time of this story, we were in our second five year term. I lived at Nasuli in the boarding house with the octegenarians Oscar and Sadie Seeker as dorm parents while my parents, sister and brother lived at Kibalabag.  I remember being interrogated as to my capability to lead the way to my parents house in the jungle.   This was not a simple question.  Kibalabag was about 9 miles into the mountains and jungles from the end of the road just outside of Malaybalay.   The residents of this village had been vicious raiders who terrorized the towns around Malaybaly just 20 years previous. They had become Christians and their illegal activities stopped. Now, their primary cash crop was abaka, a banana tree look alike  which provided the fibers used to make “Manila Hemp,” a very strong rope used throughout the world. 

My parents main job was to learn “pure” Binokid for the purpose of translating the Bible into Binokid.  This was important because the language changed from mountain range to mountain range.  Within 30 miles as the Monkey Eating Eagle flies, were other, still wild raiding branches of this tribal group whose language while still Binokid, was significantly different. In the low lands, the pure dialects picked up words from Spanish, English and Visayan, the local trade language.

So, Uncle John Lawless, one of the radio operators at the headquarters at Nasuli came to me and said we had to get a new two way radio up to my folks.  These radios were the tenuous lifeline to “civilization.”  There was a morning and evening schedule we all adhered two.  We would fire up a generator, do our commo check and shut down the generator as the fuel had to be transported on a porter’s back in 5 gallon tins from the lowlands. This radio became a very critical lifeline several months later.  He did not know how to get there and asked if I did.  I allowed as I could find it ok.  I am not sure how I knew at that age 10-12 or so, that I could do it, but I do not recall hesitating.  As a matter of fact, I can still see much of the route in my mind’s eye today.  

Stream Master Fly Rod shown w/ handle

So, we started off on the journey.  18 kilomters by jeep to the outskirts of Malaybalay where we left the vehicle and began to walk. It was about a three hour trek, but not a walk in the park.  I was carrying nothing but a small pack of clothes, Uncle John was carrying a two way radio which must have weighed about 25 or 30 pounds.  About 15 minutes into the walk, we crossed our first river which flowed languidly through the relatively flat land at this location.  It was about 40 feet across and nearly waist deep.  We were still in a fairly populated area but quickly left that and headed up into the mountains on a narrow trail.  As we  walked, the way became more and more constricted as the hills or mountains became steeper.  Ultimately, the trail began following the crease between the mountains.  Which ever side was the most passable was where the trail led.  Over the next two hours, we crossed the river flowing betwween the mountains 11 times.  It was not a raging torrent, but it was very swift and at points up to waste deep.  Until the last crossing, the river was the result of the combined flow of two good sized streams.  These two streams joined each other about two and a half hours into the journey and their junction was our last river crossing. For three to four months of the year, you were locked in or locked out by the raging chest or higher torrents of rainy season water struggling to the sea.  Just a narrow path wound between the foothills and larger mountains behind them to a steep sided, rain forest covered valley which hosted the village of Kibalabag.

We left the relatively level valley floor and began a steep ascent up the side of the last mountain.  About 30 minutes later, we arrived at a fairly heavy jungle area which was very swampy.  Uncle John was just about done in with carrying the heavy radio.  I left him there and ran the last 15 to 20 minutes on the mushy trail through the swamp to Kibalabag.  To my parents great surprise, I ran up the stairs into our house. 

They quickly sent someone to help Uncle John and he arrived about half an hour later.  It was so good to be “home” that my parents agreed to let me stay with them for the time being.  A day or two later after teaching my folks how to run the radio, John went back with some local guides. I stayed and had a great time through the coming summer holiday and remember it fondly with a smile as I sit here writing this.

 This post is sponsored by The Emmrod Compact Fishing Rod system.  Emmrod compact fishing poles are the premier compact fishing systems designed for the Kayak, Canoe, small river or brook and stream fishermen.  Of course, it works in most circumstances and is designed for maximum flexibility.  So, if you are fishing for bluegills, sunfish, carp, bass, walleye, trout or bonito, there is an Emmrod configuration that will work great for you!  Visit me at www.MyCompactFishing.com

This is just a quick note to see who out there does fishing pole repair in the Spokane area.  I am not worried about my Emmrod Compact Fishing Rod systems as we take care of that internally. In general, I would like to know who you have taken your broken rods to to fix and how you have liked their service.

One of my clients has some old fishing rods that have broken tips–a problem you avoid with the non-breakable Emmrod rods!  Additionally and perhaps a bit harder, he has an old bamboo fishing pole and I am looking  for someone who does repair and refurbish work on old bamboo poles.  You can post a comment below or email me the information at compactfishing@gmail.com.

On a bigger question, does it make sense to include a directory for this kind of service on this site?  How many of you are looking for that kind of help?  As a business owner, I have a million ideas of how to improve my service floating through my brain all the time.  It is hard to know how many are worth the work in terms of building a better, more useful site.  I would love some feedback on that idea.

Thanks.

Dave Atherton

www.mycompactfishing.com

1.  Ordering from Canada.  Looks like you need to figure in about 15 percent sales tax and add about 6 – 8 days for processing through Canadian Customs.  My order shipped just fine but was delayed for close to a week and my buyer had to pay those taxes.  He said his Emmrod compact fishing poles were worth it and he was pretty happy with them thus far!  I do accept credit card orders from Canada as I do not have to worry about the banks on them.

2.  Ordering from anywhere other than the USA and Canada.  Because we have had a consistent problem with credit card fraud and are not protected by the usage laws here for use in other countries, we can not accept credit card payment on your orders.  I am very sorry as there just is nothing more convenient.  I AM checking into Pay Pal as that might be an easier alternative.  In the meantime, I will ship to overseas destinations and accept orders from overseas with the following understandings:

a.  The payment has to be by a Money Wire to my bank account.  To calculate the full amount due, here is the general formula:  Merchandise + Shipping/handling/insurance + $13.00 Money order processing cost at my bank.    The actual cost of postage is really tough to figure and we would need to do individual costing to figure that out.  I would also include insurance in that calculation.  Shipping by DHL, FEDEX or UPS may be a better option.   I do look forward to receiving orders from overseas and will work to make your Emmrod Fishing Experience dreams a reality.  Email me with what you think you want to buy.  Also include a brief description of how you fish and what you fish for including the weight of the typical fish you catch.  With the high shipping costs, money wire costs and potential customs costs, I want to be sure you get the best pole for the fishing you want to do.

Thanks.

Dave Atherton, Authorized Emmrod Compact Fishing Pole distributor.

Emmrod Compact Fishing Gear Top Water Rod

4 coil Emmrod Compact Fishing gear spinning rod

Emmrod 8 coil casting Rod. Perfect for pan sized fishing. Ultralight Fishing at its best!

Stream Master Fly Rod shown w/ handle

double tipped Emmrod heavy duty rod

In the 1930’s Duane Markley’s uncle thought it would be great to have a compact ice fishing pole he could take apart and carry easily to his favorite fishing places.  He also enjoyed the idea of being able to make a few bucks selling them in his local market in the process.   He made the first spring operated compact fishing rod and from what I understand, it did pretty well.  Fast forward to about ten years ago.  Duane saw one of these old poles and thought to himself, “Self, I could do something with that!”  He approached his uncle and got his blessing to move forward with his ideas.

The first thing was to make a better connection.  The second thing was to patent the upgrades and changes.  He did both.  Duane thought there should be an easy connect application which would be transferable across several different rod options.  The connection should be simple, quick, and strong.  After looking around at existing technology he found an idea for a quick 1/4 turn, spring loaded connection which he adapted and  patented for the Emmrod Compact Fishing Pole system.  The rod has two teeth on each side.  These teeth fit into a slot on the housing on the end of the handle.  When pushed in, depressing a spring in the housing, you can turn the rod about 90 degrees at which point the spring pushes it back out locking it into place.  To remove the rod, reverse the process.  Perhaps 2 to 3 seconds to insert or remove the rod.  Additionally, he wanted the rod to be easily stow-able so in most applications, the coil on the rod fits over the housing on the pole handle or the handle itself.

Fast forward ten years to the present.  There are now five categories of rods which are pictured above.

This post will deal with the rods pictured in the second and third photos above.  That is to say, Spinning Rods and Casting Rods.

The original format for rods was the casting rod.  In truth, these still work well on virtually any rod handle in the Emmrod Compact Fishing Gear inventory.  But, because there are so many specialized types and ways of fishing and so many brands of specialized equipment, it soon became apparent the many benefits of the single eye casting, which we will talk about below, did not work in some instances.  First, specialty lines like Spider or Fire Wire are designed with a need for at least two eyes with an initial larger eye setting up the line for the final smaller eye at the end of the pole.  Without  that first eye to set it up, these lines just clumped at the end of the casting rods.  Duane is very customer oriented and immediately went to work designing a rod to deal with that issue.  Hence, the Spinning Rods.  Second, Trolling.  I will discuss that below in practices.

What makes Emmrod compact fishing poles competitive casters with standard six to eight foot poles?  Two things.  First with just one (or two when running the line through the coils) eye, the amount of friction on the line as it is cast is hugely reduced.  This permits the weight to carry the line much further than it might go with six to eight eyes.  Secondly, the spring assist in the coils compensates for some of the lost spring and leverage of a longer pole.  Add these two aspects together and Emmrod Fishing Poles using equivalent weights and lines will compete heads up with any six to eight foot fishing pole.

Sensitivity.  Depending on the number of coils, the Emmrod rods provide a graduated level of sensitivity which is appropriate to the targeted fish.  The more coils the more sensitive the rod is.  I will provide a weight chart below.  But generally, 4 coils is for those guys up to 25 pounds and 8 coils is for the little stinkers up to 2 pounds.

Trolling.  Over the years, the many fishermen using Emmrod fishing poles for trolling have used the rods in various ways.  Their combined wisdom indicates regardless of the type of fish or rod being used, you will have better control and better results by running the line through the coils then to the small eye at the end. Even though it may look a bit odd, especially with the casting rods, you will get better results.   Another huge advantage of the Emmrod Fishing Poles for trolling is the huge reduction in slack time.  The tip of a normal six to eight foot pole moves three to four feet back and forth.  The Emmrod Compact Fishing Poles only move about three to four inches.  As soon as a fish hits, the line is pulled tight and the coils react appropriately and against the fish.  This coil action and the lack of slack line results in a significantly higher hook setting rate.

There are four levels of rods defined by the number of coils in both the  standard casting and spinning rod family.  They are equal in this respect.  the coil/weight ratio is as follows:

4 Coil for fish up to 25 lbs.   6 coil for fish up to 10 lbs.   7 coil for fish up to 5 lbs.  8 coil for fish up to 2 lbs.

How does this play out in useage and which should you buy?  I think the basic rule is to err downwards.  For example.  If you occassionally catch a six or 7 pound fish, go with the seven coil instead of the 6 coil.  You really want the rod to be responsive to what you catch the most.  If you occassionally get  those bigger fish, you are likely usually catching fish under 5 pounds.  If you happen to catch a bigger fish, just loosen the drag and play the fish longer.  In the Inland Northwest Empire, I find the most common useage is for the Packrod or the Kayak King using the 7 coil rods.  This permits a lot of fun on the smaller fish and still has enough stiffness to handle the guys a bit over 5 pounds by playing with the drag.

PRICING:   All the basic casting and Spinning rods cost 20.00 each.  We permit you to pick the one that is most appropriate for your use.  The good news is, you can buy several rods and be prepared for anything. At $20.  a second rod tip is not a huge expense.  In this area (Inland Northwest Empire), I would recommend the 4 and 7 coil rod tips if you are going to buy two and want to keep them the smaller more compact versions. 

Tune in later for discussions on the other types of rods shown above.

Sponsored by Atherton Enterprises and Emmrod Packer Combo.  This is the original “Dock Shooter.”  Like most of the Emmrod Compact Fishing Poles, you can “shoot” your bait or lure when in those hard to maneuver spaces.  Catch those bass and trout you might otherwise miss! 

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