I have my suet cages on a shepard's hook. I tried everything - slinky on the pole (worked for about a week), hot pepper spray (have to continuously reapply it, too much work), and even some aluminum dryer vent piping (worked until the squirrels figured out how to get a running start and sort of bounce off it to get to the suet).
I eventually broke down & bought a $30 baffle. I put the baffle just underneath the suet cages and it works like a charm.
You also want to be sure that your suet cages are a good 20 to 30 feet away from anything a squirrel might jump from to get on that suet cage.