[Dg0130]

Hey guys,

I wanted to get some input on the best foot for the soft mud of flamingo. I currently have the moonlighter triangle shaped foot on my pole but it just sinks in the mud whenever I try to pole on soft bottom, especially in flamingo. Should I order a forked foot?

Thanks

 

[Smackdaddy53]

Carbon Marine forked

 

[lemaymiami]

Before you toss that old triangle head (only Moonlighter...) they do make what they called "mud bars" which were designed to be added to that triangle head.... They're an easy attach item (if they still offer them) and might just solve your problem...

What I found (all those years ago when I only fished the Florida Bay side of Flamingo....) was that poling on mud with any kind of pushpole was pretty labor intensive, period. The only thing that helped was to simply ease up on the pole and try not to push hard since all you did was bury the pole in that three feet deep, nasty, sticky mud. Anyone that's ever foolish enough to step over the side onto that mud will not likely do it twice.... (just another of those "ask me how I know" moments -but when you're stuck and have to get out and push you'll learn more about that mud than you ever wanted to know....).

 

[Dg0130]

Before you toss that old triangle head (only Moonlighter...) they do make what they called "mud bars" which were designed to be added to that triangle head.... They're an easy attach item (if they still offer them) and might just solve your problem...

What I found (all those years ago when I only fished the Florida Bay side of Flamingo....) was that poling on mud with any kind of pushpole was pretty labor intensive, period. The only thing that helped was to simply ease up on the pole and try not to push hard since all you did was bury the pole in that three feet deep, nasty, sticky mud. Anyone that's ever foolish enough to step over the side onto that mud will not likely do it twice.... (just another of those "ask me how I know" moments -but when you're stuck and have to get out and push you'll learn more about that mud than you ever wanted to know....).

Capt. Lemay,

Is the back side of flamingo less muddy? Have you tried or know anyone who uses those “mud-bars” you mentioned?

Thank you

 

[Dg0130]

Carbon Marine forked

Bridged fork or just the standard one?

 

[Zika]

Have you tried or know anyone who uses those “mud-bars” you mentioned? Thank you

Had a Moonlighter years ago and added the mud bars. They are twin pairs of wedges that bolt on to either side of the triangle foot. Easy install, as Capt. LeMay mentioned. Definitely help in ooze and probably just as effective as a bridged fork. Come with stainless steel hardware with locking nuts, $20

https://www.moonlighterpushpoles.com/accessories.php

 

[Smackdaddy53]

Bridged fork or just the standard one?

Standard. I picked up a Carbon Marine push pole for a buddy at the beginning of the month and tried it out with the standard fork and it performed very well poling in deep soft mud. The problem with the bridged forks is even with the bridge they sink in the mud when you apply pressure then you have hell pulling them back out. Without the bridge the foot comes out much easier every time you pull out to reset the foot.
We have some very deep, nasty black mud in some areas down here in Texas just like Louisiana marsh (been there with my skiff) and probably similar to Flamingo.

 

[lemaymiami]

The inside and outside (Florida Bay side) of Flamingo are two completely different places with entirely different bottom characteristics... The interior also doesn't have hardly any grass at all (until you're way up into freshwater areas) while Florida Bay is relatively soft and just covered in turtle grass (and other grasses... Poling in the interior is much, much easier than the Florida Bay side of things... The west coast of the 'glades is much more like the interior as well... The moment you get north of Cape Sable you're no longer in the soft soft bottom areas that make up most of Florida Bay.... as well.

I've never used the mud bars myself - but had lots of friends that used them. Face it, $20 bucks for mud bars is so cheap that even if they don't work out you're spending a lot less money and the aggravation of replacing a pushpole fork to find a solution that just might work out.... The address for Moonlighter that Zika posted also shows that delta "fork" with the mud bars attached so you can see what you're buying...

Good luck and post up how it goes - whatever you choose. Over the years I've had Moonlighter poles (and still have an experimental early graphite one that's only twice as heavy as any pushpole I've ever handled -and stiff as an iron rod...), Aluminum forks, mangrove forks (ones we used to make ourselves out of mangrove roots, GLoomis forks, Stiffy forks... and still have at least two or three pushpoles in my garage since I lived or died using a push pole without a trolling motor for the last 20 years (until this summer when we finally added a troller again to my old Maverick skiff...).

 

[Swe]

I’ve had moonlighter with and without mud bars not much difference. I think mud bars actually make it a little harder to pull back out and reset. Fork with no bridge seems the best but not a whole lot of difference between them in that mud. Best is to slowly ease into the push and try not to drive the fork to deep but hard most the time especially if you start dragging bottom.