When I had a small fishing skiff with a poling platform I used several poles of either fiberglass or graphite composite. The first was a length of fiberglass pole used by linemen to trip powerline jacks. It was fitted with an aluminum tube "Y" end for soft mud and a pointed end for harder shell bottoms. Herter's at one time sold the spring loaded "duck bill" which I mounted on a long wooden rod for poling a smaller skiff for duck and marsh hen hunting. Despite the availability of space age materials used by US guides in expensive lightweight poles, the old guides in Belize use saplings to pole their pangas for bonefish and permit fly rodders. A suitable end for a pole is a slingshot shaped piece of a limb whittled down to fit inside a fiberglass or composite tube with the "y" portion having 5"-6" limbs. Gil
PS here's an assortment of poling duck bills:
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_fr...nkw=duck+billed+poling+pole&_sacat=0
