It's just a variant of 'I wouldn't touch whatever with a barge pole', which has been around for over a century. A barge pole is, of course, the long chunk of wood which was used to propel barges along in much the same way as a punt is driven nowadays. Other than university rivers, there aren't many such long, stout poles in use today as there once were, so you're right...nobody much has such a pole! All it means is 'I'd keep my distance from whatever, if I were you!'