pole benders in portland tn

[skillet]

My dad is in town from Indiana and we always go fishing at least once when were together. We really enjoy carp and catfishing. Don't eat carp though. Anyways we leave my house in Springfield and go to pole Benders in Portland. Get there about 10 pm, pay our 10 dollars and go set up. By the time we got an opening it was 10:30ish. We did have a few nibbles but only one small fish. The problem I had, was at 12, we notice that its just us and the Guy that took our money, and he Bollard across the pond "hey, time to weigh in and leave" there was no posted sign saying we close at 12 or anything. If had known that I probably still would've bought some catalpa worms and to old hick and fished. As were leaving we pull up to the shack and Guy asked where our fish was, I showed I'm the one fish that we had caught and said I'm not gonna take one fish home and eased into the water. I asked the Guy where it was posted. That they were closing at 12 on a holiday weekend and he said it wasn't. Let me say this, I was being nice and calm and the whole time, I asked him if we could have half our money back for only being able to fish for 11/2 hr. At that point the Guy got loud and acted like I asked if I could do sexual things to his wife or something. Now, I'm not a small Guy by no means, but I've learned lately that some people just have no sense and I really didn't feel like going to jail. He called me some pretty bad names and told me to go "f" myself. At that time I told him to do the same and that he could keep the 10 dollars if he needed it that bad. Now, we fish alot of pay ponds in Indiana and have never had this kind of problem. I guarantee, ill never have this problem again at Pole Benders in Portland Tn. Thanks for letting me vent, and if anybody knows of some GOOD pay lakes around, please share!!!

[bd-]

I have heard similar complaints about Pole Benders before. Beware of pay lakes around here that charge you a set price to fish, whether you catch anything or not. They don't have as much incentive to stock a bunch of fish - they make more money if they spend just enough on fish to keep everybody catching a few and coming back to spend more money. Many years ago I had similar results at Brown's Pay Lake near here - maybe it's changed now, but I fished it three separate times and saw lots of people pay their money to fish, but only one or two folks caught any catfish at all. Ten bucks is a lot to spend for a few hours' fishing and no fish caught.

Obviously, if you fish the lakes where it doesn't cost much to fish, but they charge by the pound for the fish you catch, then they have an incentive to make sure you catch as many fish as you want to take home to eat. You will probably wind up paying more overall, but I'd rather pay a little more for several pounds of fish than pay ten bucks to get skunked or catch one small fish that's not enough for a meal.

As far as better pay lakes around here for catfish, there was one up toward Graball called Twin Lakes that was really good. The owner had some health problems and it closed for a while - I'm not sure if it's back open now. But if it is, it's a good lake. The Gallatin Pay Lake on North Water Ave. is usually pretty good too.

bd

[Travis C.]

That stinks man.

There used to be one in Cross Plains, I think called Shiloh. Also at one time Greenbrier had one off of Wrosham Springs rd just past Logan rd on the right. There was another advertised on tv called Cat Daddy's I believe just over the state line up 65 in KY. The commercial said they have weekly tournaments.

It has been over a decade since I went to one but those are all I can think of.

[skillet]

The ones in Indiana that we fish are flat rate as well, but they get So much business that they have to stock twice a week on catfish. And they don't stock 1lbers, its usually a minimum of 3lb fish. Every now and then you get a asmall one. As far as carp go they only put a few in a month. They don't have tournaments but do have $1 jackpots that you don't have to enter if you don't want too. The jackpots are usually biggest cat for the week, carp for the week, 16lb even carp which usually gets huge, and I've hit that once for over $1600. Ive seen that one over $5000 before. I was in the diesel college and my dad called me and said come up if you can, ill pay your gas the bounty is high!!. Like I said we usually go for carp up there but have been hitting the local reservoir and tearing them up. So once I find a pond around here that has an overabundance of carp I'm gonna rip some 40 lb plus lips!!! And if anybody needs a pond cleaned and want some carp, if I can keep them alive, I'd be willing to transport my catch to you for a small fee, gas isn't cheap. Just pm me if ya want or Msg me on here. Now I wont take somebody else's carp, but I do have a couple of flats marked on the lake where I've seen some huge carp.

[bd-]

I'm going to sound like a broken record, but try to catch a carp on a flyrod some time. It's not easy to do, and they will put up a fight to remember.

bd

[skillet]

BD, I've never done it on a fly rod but I have caught a few on ultralghts and lightweight gear with 4-6 lb line. That's nerve racking enough when you've got a 20 plus lb beast tearing off drag and the reel already only has 150 yards of line on it!! Couldn't imagine a carp on fly rod. How do u even fly fish for them??

[Travis C.]

Originally Posted by skillet

Couldn't imagine a carp on fly rod. How do u even fly fish for them??

They are no piece of cake. Very picky, vey spooky and if you ever get a hook in them tough to land on light leaders. A lot consider them freshwater bone fish if that gives you an idea. They will practice on them before heading down to the keys.

[bd-]

Originally Posted by skillet

How do u even fly fish for them??

It's very similar to fishing saltwater flats for redfish (some people say it's like bonefish but I think redfish are a little better comparison).

It's pretty much all sight fishing. You wade a shallow flat looking for feeding fish that are "mudding" or "tailing" and try to put a fly in their line of sight without spooking them. This can be extraordinarily tough to do sometimes. Usually the fly is a small crawfish or insect imitation. If you get the fly in the right place, you watch for a take, set the hook, and hang on for dear life while the carp puts it in high gear and tries to peel all the line off your reel.

Usually the really big ones will give one or two serious strong runs, followed by a drawn-out battle where they lock down and refuse to give an inch to whatever pressure you put on them. If there's a tree down or other snags or cover nearby, good luck keeping them out of it with a flyrod.

It is a blast if you're into sight fishing - very challenging. I'm sure you could do about the same thing with a spinning rod and a small jig (or even a live crawfish or worm).

bd