Pokepole monkeyface 11/7/10

Yeah!!!

Many happy memories.

Was it at "the rock"?

Yummy!

Yeah!!!

Many happy memories.

Was it at "the rock"?

PHIL!  I was gonna email you but posted this report first & got distracted. I didn't pull him right from "the rock" but very close by. I missed him a couple times but he kept comin' back for more; they're really not too shy, these guys, once they see food.

I missed him a couple times but he kept comin' back for more; they're really not too shy, these guys, once they see food.

Here's something I've been pondering..when I shot that one at SWS a few weeks ago I cut open his belly and it was all full of stinky red seaweed/kelp.

http://www.norcalkayakanglers.com/index.php/topic,27074.0.html

Looked it up online and it appears the adults are pretty much hippies and only eat veggies???

http://www.dfg.ca.gov/marine/status/monkeyface_prickleback.pdf

The diet of monkeyface prickleback shifts from carnivorous
to herbivorous with an increase in size. As early
juveniles, up to 3.1 inches, prey items are predominantly
zooplankton and include copepods, amphipods, isopods,
mysids, and polychaetes. At approximately three inches,
they then become almost exclusively herbivorous. Over
sixty species of algae have been recorded as food items.
Despite this wide array, they appear to feed selectively
on eight to 10 species of red and green algae, mostly in
the genera Ulva, Porphyra, Mazzaella, Microcladia, and
Mastocarpus. Adults appear to prefer annual red and green
algae to perennial red algae. This preference is determined
to some degree by ocean season and availability.

So why do they bite the squid when you pokepole for them?? Maybe defensive behavior?? Maybe we should try a piece of kelp on a hook??

 

Interested to hear your thoughts!

 

Sincerely,

Jim

maybe a reaction bite or they ID the squid as kelp? man that is some cheap fishinig if you can use kelp. I als wonder if the kelp may be to delicate andtear off the hook with a little nibble

Yeah...baiting a hook with kelp sounds kinda weird!!

Sorry for the threadjack Aaron...

 

Sincerely,

Jim

I have often pondered the alleged herbivorous nature of the monkeyfaced prickleback. The theory I hear most often is that they are defending their hole against a percevied intruder. This has never seemed quite right to me. While pokepoling in really shallow water I have seen them dart way out of their hole to snatch the squid off my hook. Plus on some occasions I have caught a pesky eel after many missed strikes and stolen baits. On these occasions when I gut them I find all my stolen bait. So they obviously eat the stuff rather than just maul it. That said I've never seen anything else in them bellies except seaweed.

If you use kelp or other algae as bait, the bite probably won't come as quickly because it sort of blends in with the environment. The squid stands out and triggers some sort of reaction from the eel to bite.
An analogy I've heard to describe this is, if you lived in a salad resturant, and you had to eat salad everyday, because it was the only thing readily available, then you would probably jump on a chicken wing or piece of steak.

Nice analogy, Rick. The one I caught also had nothing but seaweed in its belly.  Interesting; they're definitely weird critters.

Dude, that thing looks a helluva lot better cooked up than it did laying on the floor. A face only a mother can love! I have to dig up my pokepole. Got a two piece shellacked bamboo number with a screw together deal like a pool cue somewhere that I found at a garage sale some years ago. Where did I put that damned thing.

Sorry for the threadjack Aaron...

 

No worries, Jim - it's intriguing about the MFE diet & why they hit carne bait. Not knowing about their vegetarian habits, it struck me as kind of odd that the belly was full of kelp. Although, I did catch it in Marin County so I thought it might just have some new age hippie tendencies.

BTW, the one you pinned a few weeks ago was huge.

Got a two piece shellacked bamboo number with a screw together deal like a pool cue somewhere that I found at a garage sale some years ago.

Chad, now don't go gettin' all hoity-toity on us with the technical terms! 
Find that thing & we'll pull together wild pokepole party, just like the old days in SF . . . Oh wait, wrong forum.
Seriously though, it could be fun, esp with other seasons closed & the wx too crappy for anything else. I know some other guys were talking about it, incl Mooch when he's feeling up to it. I want to try to pull up a cab, too.

Dude, that thing looks a helluva lot better cooked up than it did laying on the floor. A face only a mother can love!

You beat me to the punch.  It's exactly what I was thinking.

Nicely done Aaron!

Aaron: 

Great post and congrats on your MFE. 

I went out last Friday and got one short Cab and an Underling .  My friends 16 yo kid got 2 keeper Cabs and could not land a fat Verm due to bent hook at dark.  No MFE hits at all. Sorry no pics due to dead battery 

Pokepoling is addictive as hell... it's more like hunting than fishing!

Saturday the 20th looks like a perfect time and tide for pokepoling. 

PM me to find out the location of this action.

Interesting; they're definitely weird critters.

that's strange, i was thinking the same about you!