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Power-Pole Shallow Water Anchoring System

About.com Rating 4

By , About.com Guide

The Bottom Line

This anchoring system apparently evolved from the guides who pole their boats, then stake the boat out with their pole to hold it in one place. The Power-pole uses hydraulics to actuate the pole and can anchor your boat in water up to eight feet deep.

Pros

  • Keeps your boat stationary in current or windy conditions
  • Eliminates the need for a standard anchor in shallow water
  • High performance model is fast and quiet - no spooking the fish

Cons

  • A bit pricey for most boaters
  • Not designed for rough water or big waves

Description

  • Lowers to a depth of six or eight feet - depending on model.
  • Stores vertically on the transom adjacent to the outboard
  • High performance model can fully deploy in about eight seconds
  • Eliminates the need for anchor and rope in shallow water

Guide Review - Power-Pole Shallow Water Anchoring System

Have you ever been fishing along in a current or tidal situation and wish that you could just remain stationary for a few minutes to work an area? Short of dropping a noisy, heavy anchor and rope, or trying to sink a pole into a hard bottom, your choices are limited.

Lots of us fish with trolling motors, but they can tend to spook the fish or "blow out" the area you are fishing when you are trying toe remain stationary. And the attention you have to pay to the trolling motor takes away from the concentration on fishing.

The Power-Pole Shallow Water Anchoring system solves all those problems. It comes in a six foot and eight foot model, which when folded only come up three to four feet on the transom next to your motor.

I use the Power-Pole to stop me along a bank or oyster rake so that I can fish it efficiently and quietly. Before the Power-pole, I used my trolling motor to keep me stationary, something that ran my batteries low more quickly, and often blew out the area I was fishing when I need to use it to keep me off the oysters.

The standard hydraulics that come with either the six foot or eight foot models are noisy and slow. The high performance model is extremely quiet and much faster to deploy. One important bell and whistle is the wireless remote. It is a plug and play addition that allows you to raise and lower the unit with a remote switch that hangs on a lanyard around your neck or fits onto your belt buckle. This is one bell or whistle that I would recommend you opt for when you purchase one of these units.

I consider this unit to be a bit pricey, coming in at just over $2000 installed with all the bells and whistles, including the wireless remote. Hopefully over time, the price will come down.

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