Today the current did a pretty good job of bending my spud poles. It was all the guy I was with and I could do to get them pulled back up through the hull.

While I don't intend to use them in that kind of current again, I do see the benefit of having some mechanical way to pull them back up if they get bent while deployed. If I would have been alone, I might still be there twisting on that pole.

Do any of you have a lightweight, effective system for pulling them back up, should you find yourself in a similar situation.

I'm thinking something along the lines of a small jack and a strap/cable of some sort. Getting purchase on the pole seems to be where the issue will be.

Try a 1/4 inch plate of aluminum with a hole in it slightly larger than the pole. The plate should be teardrop shaped with a small hole in the pointy part of the teardrop.

This is where you attach the lifting device. Slip the plate over the spud pole and when you lift, the plate will cock to the side a little gripping the pole.

That's all I got. I had to look up what a spud pole was.

ETA - You could also try a square hole to slip over the spud pole if a round hole won't grip the pole. <--- That sounds weird.