Steve Coleman on Reaching Out To Catch Slab Crappie

December 09, 2024

Steve Coleman on Reaching Out To Catch Slab Crappie

Phillip Gentry

 

The pro crappie fishing team of Ronnie Capps and Steve Coleman are well known for going to great lengths to catch fish. The team’s newest concept, however, may take the cake. With most of the competitive crappie fishing world turning to real time, forward-facing sonar to target bigger crappie, leave it to the most winningest team in the country to develop the concept of using telescoping fishing poles to catch fish.

“Everyone thinks it’s the sonar that spooks crappie but I’ve spent a good bit of time watching how these fish react on the sonar screen and a big crappie is like a big buck, he’s only going to let you get so close in a boat before he’s up and out of there,” said Steve Coleman, who now works as a full-time fishing guide on Tennessee’s Reelfoot Lake.

The Ambush by Capps and Coleman is B’n’M’s new state-of-the-art telescoping crappie pole designed to reach out a whopping 24 ½ feet to catch spooky crappie.

For years, crappie anglers have been asking for, and getting, longer and longer crappie fishing poles in order to reach out and precisely place baits in front of crappie. Lengths went from 10 feet to 12, then 14 and 16 footers became popular while tightline trolling. Now with real time sonar fishing, pro anglers are deciding that at least a 20-foot boundary between the angler and the fish is needed to keep the big ones from spooking.

The team took their idea to the folks at B’n’M, which quickly led to the development of the Ambush by Capps and Coleman series of telescoping rods. Modeled in the same style as B’n’M’s Little Mighty telescoping pole, the Ambush is designed to allow you to single pole jig and keep the boat far enough away so that you don't spook crappie.

The Ambush rod is 24 ½ feet long but telescopes down to a mere 30 inches.  This Japanese-style Tenkara rod is made of high-quality graphite and has a metal screw-in butt cap. With no reel or reel seat in the design, line is meant to be pre-measured and tied directly to the tip of the rod like an old-fashioned cane pole.

As fish become more and more wary of being targeted by real-time sonar, the ability to reach into their comfort zones became necessary.

“I generally measure out line by the depth of the water I’m fishing in,” said Coleman. “If I’m fishing 12 feet of water, then I’ve got 12 feet of line on the rod but I’m only lowering the bait on the end of the line to the precise depth the fish are showing up at.”

Coleman explains that a typical Reelfoot crappie fishing this time of year will find crappie relating to stumps in relatively deep water, at least by Reelfoot standards, in the vicinity of giant schools of threadfin shad.

“The shad are slowing down now that the water is cooling and these big white crappie are moving around with them, hanging right at the top of the stumps,” said Coleman.

Coleman rigs the 6 – 8 pound test line he uses with a small minnow on a #2 light wire hook. He loops a ¼ oz sinker 14- 18 inches above the hook with another tiny #3 split shot weight just above the hook. Impaling a 2 inch live minnow on the hook, he can use the Ambush pole to reach out and lower the minnow and nearly lay it on the fish’s nose.

“The big fish have seen a lot of baits, a lot of tries to catch them so they get wary, but you lower that minnow right down on him and he can’t stand it,” said Coleman. “I’ll watch the screens and when you see that fish kind of flutter, that means he’s had all he can stand and he’s eaten that minnow.”

Coleman sets his forward-facing sonar unit to read 30 feet ahead, which gives him access to nearly every fish on the screen with the Ambush pole.

Part of the technique involves being able to telescope sections of the rod in and out to get the precise distance. Coleman sets his sonar’s forward view at 30 feet, which keeps him far enough away to graph fish without spooking and a large enough picture to both see the fish’s reaction and his bait.

“Once you hook him, you can pull a couple of these sections in and work him toward the boat and that makes his easier to reach out with the 12 foot landing net I use and get him in the boat,” said Coleman.

One big difference between the Ambush and other similar telescoping rods is the checkered finish that keeps the rod sections from sticking when they get wet or coated in fish slime.

“It takes a little bit to get used to the feel, but the rod is amazing light for such a long pole,” said Coleman. “Everyone I’ve fished with this pole has taken a little bit to get the hang of it, but then they all love it, plus this is a really fun way to catch crappie.”

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To schedule a guided crappie fishing trip with Steve Coleman on Reelfoot Lake, contact him through his Facebook page or by phone at (731) 442-9152.

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Seasons may change, but wherever fishing takes you, B’n’M has been there. Check out our complete line of fishing poles and tackle online at bnmpoles.com.

 

 

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