Has anyone ever tried this?Could anyone recommend a good place to go and try it out? Looks like fun...

interesting video. my favorite part by far is when he says, "any animal that is that hard to kill, is an animal that will do good things for your sexual potency." LOL...wonder where he gets that logic?

i wonder if these things are around any rocky type areas like that. does look fun. the only places i know of that looks like that is a beach down by big sur that i go for perch fishing or half moon bay.

That guy is super creepy. I wouldn't want him poking his pole anywhere near me. I hear the Marin Coast is good for that business

I'm going to have to agree with bangers about what he said about an animal that hard to kill. Dude is kind of wierd though.

The question I have after watching that is whether or not that eel is worth the trouble.

yea seriously...has anyone ever eaten one of these or know of anyone that has? the weird guy from the video sounds like he knows the secret. maybe it was helping his "sexual potency"...hahahaha...not like that would help this guy at all considering his weirdo factor.

Was it just me, or did he kind of seem like gollum out there hopping around on the rocks trying to avoid the waves?

Alright, I've done my reading and its time to do some recon and find these suckers. From all the articles/forums I've read up on, everyone says it tastes great. Similar to rockfish/lingcod meat, but better! Nothing about you being able to bang any better as a benefit, but good tasting meat is a plus, right? haha.

Now just gotta wait for the weather to clear up on a weekend to go and try to catch my first monkeyfaced eel!

Yeah I am all for it.

Can anyone point me to the regs on these suckers? I am trying to go through them but can't figure it out. I think they're classed as "nearshore fish stock" per 1.90(b)(15) but that doesn't tell me anything about size or quantity limits, which makes me think they're just covered under 27.60 (limit of 10 of any species). The chart on page 83 of the regs supports that but I can't find anything about size limits anywhere...

Hey guys... I used to go out poke polling all the time out around halfmoon bay and have caught tons of those ugly mofo's- you called it they are monkey faced eels.
And actually they are real good eating. I would compare to some striper meat. Oh so good!

If you want to give it a try, I would suggest going out during a negative low tide, or the lower the better. You are gonna get wet so bring some extra clothes or put on your waders and really get into it...
the first few times out it was frustrating cause you really dont know where to stick your bait, but once you find some honey holes you will get the hang of it pretty quick. I use squid or some shrimp, on a 1/0 or 3/0 hook. I actuall took an old school 15 ft two pc. and use that instead of the usual bamboo poles some guys use...
Cool thing about poke polling is you never know what is in the holes... could be crab, eel or a monster lingcod! Good fun, but be careful and never turn your back on the water...

Thanks Rick for confirming half moon bay for me! That was the first place I was going to try. Which area did you happen to have better luck at?

thanks for your inputs Rick. i would only go try during minus tides. need to prep my bamboo poles.

Heads up guys...
This saturday is a nice low tide to check out poke poling.

Half moon bay tide - 2010-12-04 3:36 PM PST -1.30 feet Low Tide

Man...I got all excited for a sec, but looks like its going to rain on saturday. Probably not the best thing to try for the first time on a rainy day.

Dang it, I guess I can only hope for the weather to shift.

didnt see that. Bummer!!

It still might be worth it, I will let ya know if I go out.

Ya, so it looks like a 40% chance of rain on sat.
But you never can tell. Dang weather man is never right!!

Im still gonna go give it a shot. Ill be out there a couple hours before low tide, probly by 1pm and see how it goes from there... The one thing I like about poking around the rocks is your always gonna get something, but what...?
Come on fatty lingcod!!!