I got the answers to my original question and thought the thread was over. Now I see I kicked a bit of a hornet's nest. I did not mean to bring about so much ... unrest ...
But Mojo ... I cannot speak for everyone who was once a cane pole kid, but I can tell you that my Dad didn't much like fishing with live bait. He considered that to be harvesting, not fishing. Before I was old enough to "own" my own fly rod, I was taught to "fly fish" with a cane pole. With a length of fly line and mono leader and a fly, all of which was equal to the length of the pole, I learned to cast the line and fly to the end of it's length. Most of the places I fished, this would get you to several good bluegill areas and one could catch a stringer full in an hour or so.
I thought this was how everyone used a cane pole for the first couple of years of my fishing career.