Anymore, it seems like every  bass boat on the water is rigged with Power-Poles or another type of hydraulically-powered shallow water anchoring system.  These anchoring systems are undoubtedly an effective tool for neutralizing the effects of strong current and wind when sight fishing, bed fishing, or dock fishing.  The problem for a lot of guys is the cost.  A single Power-Pole can run upwards of $2,000, and many times a second pole is needed to stabilize a bass boat.

One cost-effective alternative to a Power-Pole is the Wang Anchor (www.wanganchor.com), a manually-operated shallow water anchor system.  For under $250, the bow mounted system can stabilize a bass boat in strong wind or current.

The mount is attached to the nose of the boat, and the pole is manually inserted into a hole in the mount, and then pushed down into the muck to anchor the boat.  When not in use, the pole can be stored on the front deck or in a rod locker, and can also double as a push-pole.

A friend of mine installed the bow system, and I was really impressed with its peformance.  I watched him anchor his boat up a creek where there was a strong current, and the boat didn’t move an inch.  I’ll likely be installing one this spring.

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A couple of Ohio anglers took advantage of last weekend’s 60 degree weather, and went bass fishing.

Tim Luttrell caught this beautiful smallie last Saturday on Caesar Creek Lake in SW Ohio with 40.5 degree water temperatures.

And Josh Brooker used a stand-up jig head rigged with a spider grub to take his first largemouth of 2013 on January 11th at Antrim Lake in Columbus.