I think it depends on what you wanna do with it. If you are bass fishing and just gonna have it in the water as another aid to see what's going on, and if you already have a spotlock TM, then a pole might be fine. If you plan to devote a lot of your fishing time to video fishing, then I think the most efficient way to do that is on the TM shaft.

Every decision on a boat is a compromise. If you emphasize one thing it is usually at the expense of something else. If you are going all in on video fishing, I think the TM shaft mount has too many advantages to go with a pole. I use a cable TM that doesn't have spotlock and there are sure times that I wish I had it. But I can constantly sweep the water around me using my foot and with little effort I can cover 360 degrees. You just can't do that with a pole.

I fished yesterday and didn't get a bite for 3 hours. The water was muddy and all the crappie were gone. I didn't see any bass either. Finally got to some clear water and checked out a brush top that held crappie a month ago. There wasn't a one on it, but in sweeping the area with the LS I saw a fish just off the bottom in the middle of the creek channel and thought it might be a bass. I tossed the little rap jig at him and he got it just before it hit bottom. Over the next 90 minutes I caught 25 bass, and left with them still biting. They were literally lying on the bottom and some had mud on them when I landed them. Once I hooked one, 10 to 15 more would come off the bottom and swim along with him, but they were hard to see before they bit.

I would have never known they were there with a pole mount. If I were you, I would mount it on the TM and try it a while. You can always buy a pole later. I tried to get my uncle to do it this way when he bought his LS, but he let a salesman talk him into a pole. He used it a few times and then mounted it to his TM. Good luck with it!