Sanddabs, in my opinion, are the tastiest fish found in salt water, surpassing albacore, sturgeon, salmon, rockfish, lingcod and other delicious species. Whenever I order a meal in a seafood restaurant in Santa Cruz or Monterey, grilled sanddabs are always my first choice, since they have a delicate, sweet taste that surpasses all other fish species.

Anglers now have the chance to pursue these delicious denizens from a variety of ports along the coast, including Emeryville, Berkeley, Half Moon Bay, Santa Cruz, Monterey and Morro Bay. These fish offer anglers and captains an angling option this winter until salmon season begins.

Four species of sanddab, a small flatfish, are found in California waters, the Pacific sanddab, longfin sanddab, speckled sanddab and gulf sanddab. “Most sport anglers catch the two largest sanddabs, the Pacific and the longfin sanddab,” according to the Department of Fish and Game's “California Finfish and Shellfish Identification Book. “The Pacific sanddab is the predominant species in the California catch, with some longfin sanddab catch in southern California.”

Both species are found on muddy or sandy bottoms from a depth of 30 feet to 600 feet, but  Pacific sanddad are most abundant between 120 and 300 feet.

Pacific sanddabs are small fish, ranging up to 16 inches and 2 pounds, but most are much smaller. However, when they’re biting, an angler can catch a lot of them.

Monterey Bay has an abundance of sanddabs exceeded by few other places. The sanddab fishing was excellent when the boats went out over the holidays. For example, a trip aboard the Checkmate on Friday, December 21, yielded lots of sanddabs, along with Pacific and Spanish mackerel, for the boat’s 12 passengers.

“The anglers went off the boat with a lot of fish,” stated Nick Lemon, captain of the Star of Monterey out of Chris’ Fishing Trips in Monterey. “The anglers had up to 50 pounds of mackerel and 6 to 20 pounds of mackerel apiece.”

The boats are also averaging 8 or 9 sand sole per trip. Anglers are fishing with 4 hook Sabiki or Tom’s rigs, tipped with squid or mackerel strips, to entice the sanddabs, mackerel and sole. The mackerel range from ¼ to 2 pounds, depending on the size of fish in the school.

“We don’t have to go far for the sanddabs and mackerel, since we’re fishing inside Monterey Bay,” noted Lemon. “We generally start fishing about a 15 to 20 minute boat ride from the harbor in 200 feet of water.”

The 18 passengers aboard a sanddab/crab combo adventure aboard the Sur Randy on Sunday, December 23 experienced top-notch sanddab and mackerel fishing. “They  averaged 75 mackerel and 30 sanddabs per rod,” said Chrissie Chonacki at Randy’s Fishing Trips. The boat also had 10 Dungeness crab and 9 rock crab.

Boats from Chris’ and Randy’s Fishing Trips will begin fishing for Humboldt squid during the first week of January.

Sanddab fishing has also been good off Half Moon Bay. Tom Mattusch, captain of the Hulicat, has been booking a mixture of sandddad/crab combos and squid/crab combos out of Pillar Point Harbor. 

“On our last sanddab/crab combo, we caught limits of Dungeness crabs and averaged 5 sanddabs per rod, though some anglers caught as many as 15 fish, “ said Mattusch. “We were fishing 7 miles off Moss Beach near where we dropped our crab pots. We caught the sanddabs at 200 feet that day, although we have experienced the hottest fishing at 240 feet deep.”

Humboldt squid fishing is also decent, but the action is a far cry from the hot fishing of the past two years. “We’re averaging 25 to 30 squid per trip on squid/crab combos, as well as taking limits of crabs,” Mattusch stated. “The majority of squid are being caught deep at 1244 feet, although last Saturday we coaxed the squid up to 200 feet from the surface.”

Although rockfish season is closed and the salmon season hasn’t begun yet, don’t despair. Diehard salt water angling enthusiasts still have the option to catch sanddbabs, mackerel, crabs and Humboldt squid on the central and northern California coast.  

More Articles by Dan