Pokepoling

I have been interested for a long time in pokepoling.  Does anyone here do it, and are there places within reasonable driving range of Santa Cruz that I can get into some decent pokepoling?

MolBasser

There have been a few threads on the Fishsniffer site lately.  Seems like anywhere you can stick your pole in a rocky hole holds possibilities!     I did a little tide pooling with the kids in Pacific Grove just across from the public golf course and that spot seemed ideal.   A friend of mine also just mentioned trying this at Slide Ranch and Bolinas in Marin.

Andy

I used to do this a lot in the HMB area - I know some productive spots  Let me know if you wanna give it a shot. (I have extra poke Poles) I also see some guys at Linda Mar on a big minus tide abd have seen some nice cabezon on their stringers.

I used to do this a lot in the HMB area - I know some productive spots  Let me know if you wanna give it a shot. (I have extra poke Poles) I also see some guys at Linda Mar on a big minus tide abd have seen some nice cabezon on their stringers.

Sounds great.  I definately want to give it a shot.  Let's try to plan on it soon.  Thanks!!

MolBasser

Hey Mooch -

Ever catch and eat one one of those monkey face eels? I hear they are one of the poke polers main target species. I hear they taste just like chicken and put up about the same amount of fight.

Scott

GB2,

I'm all about catching and eating those eels!  I hope I can hook up with Mooch soon.  It sounds super fun.

MolBasser

Mol -

Let me know when you are going out and I will try and hook up with you. I hear those eels go for those green senkos also.

Scott

Hey Mooch -

Ever catch and eat one one of those monkey face eels? I hear they are one of the poke polers main target species. I hear they taste just like chicken and put up about the same amount of fight.

Scott
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Hey Scott - I never ate one, I just cauhgt and released. But if someone comes up with an easy recipe,  I'm willing to try it.

The head of a monkey face eel is creepy.

Eat em like any other fish.  A bit hard to fillet as they are slimy.

-Allen

While going to school up at Humboldt, I used to fish the jetty all the time, mainly rod and reel for the usual suspects, but then a friend introduced me to pokepoling, which turned out to be the most productive method I've ever seen for catching fish on jetties. You also don't lose $10-15 worth of gear every time you go out.  I would use an old saltwater rod that had a couple of guides in the middle broken off and the rod wasn't anything special ($$) anyways. Well I put a small ring on the tip with a quality swivel. Then I tied about a half a foot of 30 lb. test to a #1 hook.  If I ever hooked into something big but it didn't stick (big cabezon) I would just tie on a bigger hook, rebait and stick it in the same hole and cabezon always will bite again.  Any bait will work. Basically fish that are in around the jetty are opportunistic feeders and generally eat anything that comes into there hole.  I would usually wait for a nice low tide, lower the better, and stick the rod (pokepole) into any space that was deep enough and let the tide move the bait around.  You'd be surprised how many legal and trophy cabs you can catch doing this.  My roommates and I had many a fish tacos while going to school.  Being the fish biologist and fish nerd that I am, seeing different species (like monkey-faced pricklebacks, red and brown Irish lords, juvenile rockfish, kelp and rock greenlings) that you can't get very often on rod and reel can definitely make a day!

Pokepole any rocky areas on the minus tides. You will even find eels under rocks that are high & dry on a minus tide. Squid works well and stays on the hook better than many baits. You can use mussels collected on site too. To clean Monkey Face eels I used to nail the head to a board, go around the body behind the pectoral fins with a razor blade and then with pliers, pull the skin off like a sock. They have their own unique flavor, very good poached over tomatos & onions or smoked. Real slippery, bring a sack. Tom

Piegon Point is a great area for this tech. Someone suggested the minus tide and you will find them there high and dry. Happy Gooble Frank

The best outfit i have seen for poke poling was from a guy standing on the rock wall at FT bake/horseshoe cove. He had an old marine antenna about 6 feet long and it had a Stainless steel  wire core that stuck out of a composite shaft. bend a loop in the end and attache a short wire leader then hook. He was using prawns for bait and slaying Eels. I have a shorter version but always look whenever I go to boat shops for the longer ones. These thingsw have some bend to them but look and feel indestructable.  Randall

People do it at Pillar Point and I know a guy that said he did it at Steep Ravine (Rocky Point). He told me about how the m.f. eels stink and skinning them solve  the problem.

Id love to get in on that action. I have a whip antena I can convert.
We used to skin catfish with the old nail-in-the-head trick. Theres a small grove of trees on the Potomac river in MD that still has a bunch (30+) of mumified catfish heads on it. The racoons cant get the ones that are nailed good and tight. Looks WAY freaky!