Talon / Power Pole

Questions,

Whats the max depth they deploy to?
If you only use one, will the wind blow you back and forth with the pole acting as a pivot point?
Whats your overall impression vs cost?

It depends on what model you have. I have a talon 12. It goes down 12ft. Realistically it will anchor me on most days in 11fow.
Yes, the wind, waves, and current will spin you.
I really like mine. I only have one so that plus an anchor will stop any movement. Most days I don’t use an anchor.

Thank you, anybody else have any expierence with these things? Either pro or con.

I have a 12′ Talon also but since then Minn Kota came out with a 15′ Talon. Dave is right about the spinning. I really like mine.

Two things: I prefer Talon over Power Poles. Talon is simpler, goes straight down out of the way. Power Poles go out away from the boat quite a ways. Was on a boat fighting a big smallmouth once that went to the back of his boat (with Power Poles) and wrapped twice around the arm.

Second, if you have Spot-Lock on your trolling motor you can probably get by with one Talon. The Spot-Lock will help keep you from spinning out of position. Two Poles are better but not always necessary.

Hope I just saved you $1500… if you want to send $500 my way I’ll put it towards those trailer steps you like for my boat

I’ve got a 12′ talon on my Skeeter tiller. I’ve only had it on there for one season and I already know I’ll never own another boat without one. It takes a bit to get used to the bow swinging around when you drop it but you learn to anticipate it and position yourself. Once it swings around it pretty much settles into place unless you have a shifty wind or different wind/current directions. Between the talon and i-pilot I haven’t touched an anchor in years.

Matt, do you need to use the spot lock to hold the boat steady? I’m thinking if parked on a shallow wind blown rock reef throwing baits into deep water. Just wondering if it holds pretty well. I’m assuming you would need to keep the bow into the wind no matter how you were using it.

Do you have a 18′ or 20′ tiller?

FryDog62 wrote:

Two things: I prefer Talon over Power Poles. Talon is simpler, goes straight down out of the way. Power Poles go out away from the boat quite a ways. Was on a boat fighting a big smallmouth once that went to the back of his boat (with Power Poles) and wrapped twice around the arm.

Second, if you have Spot-Lock on your trolling motor you can probably get by with one Talon. The Spot-Lock will help keep you from spinning out of position. Two Poles are better but not always necessary.

Hope I just saved you $1500… if you want to send $500 my way I’ll put it towards those trailer steps you like for my boat

Maybe you did save me some money, we will see. If you can afford all the electronics and trolling motor on that new boat you can certainly afford the steps to get in & out.

I have the talon and spot lock….love the combo. I agree, haven’t used an anchor in 2 years. It does spin but like the other poster said, use the spot lock or it will self correct unless the wind is really swirling.

I also like the talon for when I’m by myself and launching without a dock. Don’t need to beach the boat. Just get it close and deploy it. Great if you fish the river where there are few docks.

Dutchboy wrote:

Matt, do you need to use the spot lock to hold the boat steady? I’m thinking if parked on a shallow wind blown rock reef throwing baits into deep water. Just wondering if it holds pretty well. I’m assuming you would need to keep the bow into the wind no matter how you were using it.

Do you have a 18′ or 20′ tiller?

I have a wx2000t. I just let the front end swing around so that the rear of the boat faces into the wind. If the bottom is really rocky and the waves are big I don’t use it so it isn’t coming up a couple feet and slamming down hard. One area it struggles is if the wind or current is pushing towards deeper water. Sometimes it will slide a little depending on bottom composition and will end up sliding into deeper water if you don’t notice and readjust right away.

I have a 10ft Power Pole and so does my dad. I really think its a preference thing and what you’re using it for.

I am not a Talon guy, but not saying they’re bad. They’re actually nice but I feel the Power Pole is more versatile.

The reason I say that is, that a Talon is a spike and that’s it.

A Power Pole is a spike, but also I don’t have to keep a drift sock and deal with that pain while drifting. I have a Drift Paddle on the Power Pole which works awesome. Also while I am pulling spinners with the waves, I can put the paddle on and make adjustments up or down depending on what speed I want. Yes my bow mount does that, but now with the paddle I can make adjustments to .1mph at a time.