Poke-poling

lechner said:
I'm glad that I ran my ill conceived ideas by OFF before investing time in them. Thanks for the advice! :)

I suppose that I could find a 15' bamboo pole at my local nursery and strap it to the top of my car like a lance. A lot of people seem to use coat hangers or fence wire as an intermediary between the pole and a very strong leader. I've always wondered what the point of this wire is anyway? Does it add some distance between the bait and the terminal end of the pole?
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The wire does distance the wood and the bait but, more importantly, it acts as a bit of an 'antenna' and allows you to feel your way around among the rocks and sand and such... you can hear/feel the different substrates through the pole and the metal wire helps you feel your way around...

Oh... almost forgot to mention... don't forget to tie a rag around the end of your pole when it's strapped to the roof of your car... don't want someone to accidentally walk into it while parked or anything...
 
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PVC actually works really well. Three 5 foot sections with threaded ends makes it compact and easy to carry to where you need to go. Carry a couple extra 2 foot sections to make it shorter or longer and you have an all around fish anywhere pole. My uncle and I used them all the time and I have seen them used by others up here on the jetties. Lots of fish caught on them by others, I simply can't catch fish on them. I stick with my jigging up and down now and catch plenty of kelpies and other in the rocks fish. Not much luck with bass in close but I hope to change that this spring and summer.

We never had a problem with them floating up and if the current was too fast a 1/2 ounce sinker pushed into the end worked just fine.
 
ArcticAmoeba,

I can hook up with you any time other than today. I promised the kids we would take the Canoe out if it was nice and it is...

So tomorrow or next week some time, totally at your convenience. My schedule is pretty easy.

Thanks again, I really appreciate it.
 
I just had a thought. Using bamboo sections or interchangeable length "tips" with very short sections of PVC connectors as ferrules. Maybe sand the bamboo to a circular decreased diameter and then slide on and glue the PVC connector on. Like a stripped down bamboo rod!
 
I was thinking some sort of attach/detach system for these things too. Would make it easier to pack around, and you could probably fabricate some brutal looking ferrules!
 
Combined with your "shock leader" idea and you have an internal shock cord that could hold together the bamboo sections, not unlike the tent shock cord break down poles.. Or how about a telescoping poke pole..
 
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Dichrofisher said:
Combined with your "shock leader" idea and you have an internal shock cord that could hold together the bamboo sections, not unlike the tent shock cord break down poles.. Or how about a telescoping poke pole..
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They make telescoping poke-poles... often sold as panfish rods or kite masts... :D

I think that, were I going to try to make a sectioned bamboo, I'd go with metal ferrules that lock... remember that much of the pressure that it'll take is hand-over-hand pulling, so you want to make sure that they aren't going to pull free from each other...
 
Poke N Fun

Poke N Fun

You mean there are those who have heard of that? Geeze we used to do that along time ago in a sweet little spot on the Central Cali Coast, Montana de Oro. Only we had used PVC not bamboo. I would jump at the chance to grab onto a trip if anyone is going again. Poke Pol'in is the coolest.
 
Maybe I'm doin' it wrong...

Maybe I'm doin' it wrong...

I'm still having fun with the poke pole, but I'm still not CATCHING anything...

Today I was crawling into (literally) the south jetty at Newport... no joy... lots of holes, but nothing wanting to come out of them... and, of course, I lost the only two hooks that I HADN'T left in the truck :(...

Still gonna keep at it...
 
What are you using for bait? I have never had a time when I was out fishing in the holes on the jetty and not at least caught some small Kelp Greenling.

Maybe the concept of what we are referring to as a "hole" is not clear. I have fished in places that have a lot of "holes" between rocks and around the jetty but they are not fish holes. What you want to find is that one spot that goes down where it shouldn't and goes deep. I have fished in "holes" that went down 3-5 feet deeper than anything around it. Have even found a couple that a poke pole wouldn't be long enough to fish at all. Can't explain when these holes even exist but I have had them go from 10-30 feet deep.
 
fish_4_all said:
Maybe the concept of what we are referring to as a "hole" is not clear. I have fished in places that have a lot of "holes" between rocks and around the jetty but they are not fish holes. What you want to find is that one spot that goes down where it shouldn't and goes deep. I have fished in "holes" that went down 3-5 feet deeper than anything around it. Have even found a couple that a poke pole wouldn't be long enough to fish at all. Can't explain when these holes even exist but I have had them go from 10-30 feet deep.
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Huh, so to safely access these holes on the jetty, should one wait for a significantly low tide?

I've definitely been close enough to the surf during a minus to get my boots wet and I paid special attention for any crevices around the exposed boulders. To me, it looked like these holes had a sandy/rocky bottom and so I assumed that poke poling actually involved hitting the open water directly adjacent and in front of the boulders closest to the channel. Does that sound right?
 
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It does work that way but that is not where I have me best luck. My best luck is to find the holes and them find ones deeper in the holes I find. I have had some holes that were almost on dry land and they had a small hole right beside a rock that went another 2-10 feet down. Holes where I was standing on a rock and the hole went 12-15 feet deep right in front of me.

The best results I have seen for black sea bass was at high tide fishing the sides of rocks though so it is different for different fish. For me anyway. I have even pulled Ling cod out of holes that were no wider than their heads but the hole went back under the very rocks I was standing on.

To be honest, most of my poke polling and jigging I do in the rocks is literally vertical. Straight up and down in the rocks, not around them. Only time I ever do any out in the water poling or jigging is when I find a weed bed or a nice bunch of kelp.
 
fish_4_all said:
Maybe the concept of what we are referring to as a "hole" is not clear. I have fished in places that have a lot of "holes" between rocks and around the jetty but they are not fish holes. What you want to find is that one spot that goes down where it shouldn't and goes deep. I have fished in "holes" that went down 3-5 feet deeper than anything around it. Have even found a couple that a poke pole wouldn't be long enough to fish at all. Can't explain when these holes even exist but I have had them go from 10-30 feet deep.
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I've been using squid strips... as for holes... well, I've been exploring all kinda holes... deep ones, shallow ones, ones with bottoms, ones without, ones that eat hooks, ones that have wave action flooding through 'em... I'm not done yet... I'm just learnin' the ropes, so to speak...

I think that I'll give it another go tomorrow, it all goes well... if not, then it'll prolly be next week.
 
Another tip, be patient. Sometimes it can take 3-5 minutes before you will even get a nibble let alone a good hit. I have hit the same hole for 10 minutes sometimes to entice the fish out from wherever they are hiding.

Get yourself some sand shrimp and try them too. Is all I ever use and always have success with them.
 
i have seen lots of post all over about poke poling but what is it exactly?
 
plunkme said:
i have seen lots of post all over about poke poling but what is it exactly?
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It's like pushing a stick into a bear's den... except that the bear is a fish and the end of the stick has a hook on it.
 
oh lol i saw that video it actually looks kinda fun i wonder if the entrance of depoe bay would be a good place specially at lowtide
 
I am gonna make up a couple of them in the next week I hope. Gonna use those fiberglass rods for fence posts instead of bamboo. Figure 5 4 foot sections that I can take in a rod bag will work fine. Some screw in or lock in connectors and voilà, easy length adjustments. I just hope it is strong enough to handle a 3-5 pound fish. Maybe even a big ling cod but I doubt that one.
 
Test

Test

Ok, lol, i'm new at this, i have to do a test post to see how this works.:D:shock::mad::shock::rolleyes:
 
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