Homemade pole gaff
Needing a longer pole gaff and this project has been on the drawing board for years. Finally put it together. Keeping costs to minimum and came up with following. 2.5m aluminium 30mm pole that was a swim pool scoop that was on the verge. Couldn't get a thinner one for the top half so had to go to Masters and buy a 2m 25mm. This has a 1.6mm wall so will not bend too much. As you can see overall length is around 4.5m. The difficulty was getting threaded fittings to join together. Not a fitter/turner and don't know anyone like that so I have to get ready made parts. This I found in plumbing. Brass is cheaper than stainless which is also much more expensive. Some fiddling required to fit but after some grinding and force fitting I rivetted the threaded parts to the alum tubing. The brass fittings are quite thick as they have to withstand high water pressures. Quite a bit of filing and grinding so that it fit inside the alum tube. Gaff hook was free as I found a 10mm stainless rod which a friend bent into the required shape as well as welding to a short stainless tube into which I fitted one of the threaded parts. Altogether total costs less than $35. Also easy to carry as the smaller tube fits inside the bigger one. Hopefully, I get to christian this in a couple of weeks up in Quobba.
greyheads1
Posts: 246
Date Joined: 27/08/11
Will be keen to see how you
Will be keen to see how you go up there Im heading up towards the end of Nov for a week. I have a 4m pole gaff but was thinking of getting another 2m extension. The only issue I find is that the threaded joints are quite short therefore slack and then ultimately woblbe can develop quite quickly. I still prefer the pole gaffs and they tend to suit my fishing more rather than cliff gaffs as i rarely need more than 4-5m of manouverability.
Anyway, good job and hope the weather plays nice.
Hutch
Posts: 2221
Date Joined: 21/04/13
Looks awesome. Not sure if
Not sure if it would work but I was wondering if, instead of attaching the gaff hook to the pole, you just run a 6 or 8mm rope through the middle or the pole attached to the gaff hook and use like a flying gaff with just the pole to guide it. Might remove the need to make the joins on the poles rock solid
trymyluck
Posts: 908
Date Joined: 06/05/12
Wont you need a much longer
Wont you need a much longer one than that mate ? Other than Garths, most of the places Ive fished up there will need a much longer gaff, or cliff gaff.
kknlk
Posts: 200
Date Joined: 30/12/08
Already have a cliff gaff.
Already have a cliff gaff. Quobba station website has a guide for length of pole gaff in the popular spots. 4m ok for Camp Rock and 2 mile and prob Garths. If needed I can always make another 2m piece but I think it becomes a little unwieldy and I'll rather use the cliff gaff but this won't work on a slight slope. One other thing I found is that I got an adaptor from 20mm to 12mm which means that my Hookem net can be fitted onto the end of the pole. Will be good for the fish we want to release.