Page 14 - Crappie NOW - September 2017

Story & Photos by Greg McCain

As president and owner of
Crappie Masters, Mike Vallentine enjoys
a job with benefits. He travels to the best
fishing venues in the country for Crappie
Masters tournaments and for other
events and always tries to incorporate a
little fishing time in his travels. One-pole
fishing is Vallentine’s “drug of choice”
just about everywhere that he travels.
While Vallentine doesn’t exclusively
one-pole fish, he generally shuns the
myriad of presentations that fool crappie
and simplifies his approach. Avoiding
the clutter and time-consuming nature of
various trolling methods, Vallentine likes
nothing better than one rod on the deck.
“I love it because you are 100
percent in control of the bait, and the
thump you feel from a crappie is almost
like an addiction,” said Vallentine, who
is based near Truman Lake in Clinton,
Missouri. “When you go out one-pole
fishing, you’re just waiting to feel that
thump. It triggers something inside of
you. There’s a passion to feel it and to
never miss a fish.
“There is actually so much to one-
pole fishing, so many different things to
do and different ways to present your
bait. It’s almost a personal challenge to Mike Vallentine, president and owner of
catch fish.” Crappie Masters, displays a crappie caught
While one-poling seems the simplest of one-pole fishing on the Alabama River after
crappie-catching techniques, a few hours a tournament there.
on the water with Vallentine challenges
that misinformed idea. He can literally The basic approach is a vertical or near-
talk for hours about the technique, mainly vertical placement of a jig around wood,
about the variety of presentations that but Vallentine offers at least 4 variations to
fool crappie with a jig pole in hand. what seems a straightforward approach.
“Start off with a vertical drop from
Presentations the top of the water column and drop it a
For the most part, he follows the foot at a time,” he said. “In the summer
principle that “their eyeballs are looking time, we’re talking up high down to about
up” in presenting his bait, usually doing 12 to 14 foot. If I haven’t gotten a bite, I
so around some type of wood structure.

14 Crappie NOW September 2017