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Capt Steven Lamp
Product Review
Stiffy Push Poles |
It's hard to write anything
about a product with the name "Stiffy" without the reader's mind going off
on a tangent about some obscene gesture of the male human anatomy. Well,
to those who want to have a bit of fun here, enjoy, but I want to tell you
about a push pole that I have been using in the field professionally for
10 months now.
Updated 8/22/04 I have
had this push pole since the fall of 02' Fishing an average of 200 trips
per year with my flats boat and using my Stiffy push pole every day.
I have done NOTHING to it, it has not broken, cracked or peeled. Lately I
am noticing a bit of fiberglass in my arm after a long day of poling. As
far as I am concerned this push pole owes me no favors. Before my stiffy I
was in the market for push poles every 6 months.
I found out about Stiffy
through a good guide friend of mine, Vaughn Cochran. He told me that there
was nothing better. Now, I gotta tell ya, in push poles that leaves a ton
of conquered area. First, I am pushing a larger skiff than most and I am
twice the size of most guides on the water, so I can be very demanding of
a stick. I decided to take Vaughn's recommendation and try one out myself
to see how long it would last.
My guiding requires that I
pole for 6 hours on an 8 hour day. Permit is my specialty and we all know
that poling is required to catch these critters. So, comfort, weight,
power, bend, and staking are all things that I have to consider in my
selection of a push pole.
My comparisons are with
G-Loomis, Scott, Hybrid technologies, and Biscayne, none of which lasted
longer than 6 months without failure of some sort. No need to go into
details as these are fine push poles and may fair well on smaller, less
demanding flats applications; but in my "real world" of flats fishing, day
in and day out, rain or shine blowing 25 or flat calm and silent they just
did not cut the mustard. Below is a list of things that have gone wrong
with these others.
- Delaminating- just plain coming
unraveled.
- Breakage- well, it happens.
- Splinters- I hate that, gets all in
your arms and makes you miserable. Happens from staking out and the
sand wearing through outer layers of glass or graphite.
- Feral failure- Leakage or worse yet
coming apart.
- Foot failure- pushing for a fish and
foot just breaks.
The Stiffy handles my boat
great. I have the hybrid 24 ft, really long by most standards, but I like
to have the push behind me, not below me. Keep in mind I am also in a 20
ft boat, so the length is easy to stow.
High points of the Stiffy 24 Hybrid are
many.
-
Ribbed design- the wraps
that make the pole so strong are the same thing that (after I got
accustomed to it) I love about my stick. There is no slippage. I do wear
gloves to keep my hands in one piece. I have found that these ribs allow
me to use whatever force I need to make an adjustment to my boat's
attitude without concern of my hands slipping. I recommend that new
poles are lightly sanded at the last 4 ft to give better traction. It's
hard enough to keep a grip on a tough bottom without worrying about your
hands slipping. I also find the ribs help me stake out and hold the
bottom better with less depth of pole in the ground.
-
Stiffness- I just chuckle
here. It is stiff till it needs to flex to prevent breakage. I have been
in some indescribable poling conditions and just stuffed this stick in
the ground to stake out. Damn near got pulled off the platform. Poling,
this stick (once you get used to it) will take all your energy and put
it to maneuvering, not into an energy sapping flex.
-
Weight- May be a little
heavier (ounces) than the competitors', but it's also thicker, fitting
in the hand better. It's much stronger and it will not fail. Now there's
a trade off.
-
Price- Very competitive
with other manufacturers for what I feel is a better product.
Low Points-
-
Because it is very stiff
I have had a hard time keeping pole holders from bending to
the push pole while stored. I have replaced three sets so far. Not even
close to being a consideration; just thought I would mention it as I had
to say something in this section of the review.
In closing, I have found
the Stiffy push pole to be a vital part of my success on the flats. It out
performs the best names in the industry with strength and reliability at a
great value. It's not cheap, but neither is quality.
Updated 8/22/04. Stiffy
is the greatest push pole out there. when I am around the circles of
guides that I know, most of them use a Stiffy and the ones that do not are
looking for Stiffys phone number from me.
Here is the link to Stiffy
Push Poles
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