October 2013 Coastal Update, part 4

Minus Tides

Looks like we have a few decent minus tides late in the day on the 19^th and 20^th of October. Beyond that they're just too late. Although eels and other intertidal species do eat at night it's sort of problematic poke poling in the dark. And probably not the safest thing to do either.

I should also point out that this is the best time of the year (in my humble opine) to fish from shore for rockfish, cabezon, greenling (friends don't let friends eat greenling), and lingcod. Where should you go to engage in this activivty. Anywhere on the Pacific Coast that has rocky shoreline.

Purple Urchin

Additionally, this is the best time of year to get the local purple sea urchins, as they tend to be loaded with uni in the fall. Purple urchins of course are nowhere near as large as the more commonly eaten red urchins... but the nice thing about purples is they live out at the far edge of the intertidal and can be found on minus tides—in other words, you don't have to swim to get them, (and you don't have to buy them for 20 dollars an ounce). However, I would like to encourage the local echinoderm hunter to make sure not to wipe out an area. Pick sparingly and do not feel that it is your god given right to always take a limit of 35. That's my thought on the matter. And remember, urchins are not mollusks so the “by hand or hook and line” rule does not apply.

Surfperch

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And that's going to do it for this month... aw shux... I forgot to mention that the perch bite on all the beaches north and south of the bay has been fantastic, if you like perch. For many years now I have been talking shit about the embiotocidae as a food source. Even though I am very fond of them as a cool, dynamic family of beautiful fishes... and of course I made this chart when I worked with the DFG several years back. But last year I found that surf perch make a truly excellent ceviche and it has since rekindled my interest in the culinary potential of the local perches. I actually liked pogie ceviche better than the redtail and calico but they were all really good... maybe I'll post more of this next month.

OK... that's gonna do it for October. Sorry for the tardiness of this update (again!). I'm a little overwhelmed with the fish biz right now... please come say hi at the Orbit Room on Oct 16^th, 6-8pm.