NorCal Kayak Anglers
Kayak Fishing Zone => Fishing Pics => Topic started by: SanddabMan on June 15, 2017, 06:21:32 PM
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The new regs on petrale sole have opened up an entirely new fishery. Not only did we tie into them on the first trip out, but it's opened up a discussion on how we might catch a bag of other less-sought flatties like diamond turbot or starry flounder. I've been fishing all my life and have never caught a flounder and have only seen two caught in Humboldt County. I'll add some sanddab photos when I get a chance. I love sanddabs, hence my login name. The petrales we caught a couple weeks ago ran up to 2.5 pounds and provided some exceptional table fare. Butter sole and CA halibut make fun fish to add to your list, but sanddabs and petrale are up there with Pacific halibut in quality. Anyone out there with other flattie experience?
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The new regs on petrale sole have opened up an entirely new fishery. Not only did we tie into them on the first trip out, but it's opened up a discussion on how we might catch a bag of other less-sought flatties like diamond turbot or starry flounder. I've been fishing all my life and have never caught a flounder and have only seen two caught in Humboldt County. I'll add some sanddab photos when I get a chance. I love sanddabs, hence my login name. The petrales we caught a couple weeks ago ran up to 2.5 pounds and provided some exceptional table fare. Butter sole and CA halibut make fun fish to add to your list, but sanddabs and petrale are up there with Pacific halibut in quality. Anyone out there with other flattie experience?
I've been wanting to Target sand dabs for a while. All I've heard it's they like it deep and sandy. Any other tips? I was considering trying the Monterey area because it gets fairly deep close to shore but if there are any good spots closer to the bay is appreciate the tip
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Yes, lots of flatter experience . Today I caught 7 petrales and kept 5. I have caught both kinds of sand dabs, sand soles, petrales sole, rock sole, rex sole, ca halibut, and Pacific halibut.
Did you catch those on a yak or boat?
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Nice score of flatties man!
Petrales were only lumped into the Fed Groundfish list (and bound to the RCG depth limit & seasons) for the past few years. Other flatfish were still fair game during that time.
Petrales are better eating that rock, sand, and english soles IMO...and easier to clean! I really like eating starry flounder though, especially when they're over 20" and you can fillet them like halibut!
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Nice haul, sanddabman. I don't know if we have many petrale sole down in the HMB area, but I have been meaning to head out after dabs.
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Yes Matanaska, I pretty much fish exclusively in a kayak. We finally got a flat day so we paddled four miles out. We couldn't find them at 170 or 210, but around 190' it was pretty consistent. It feels really good to paddle off the deep water with a kayak full of fish. KPD, I actually caught my first sanddabs off of the HMB area years ago. One meal of those and I was hooked on flatfish. Seabird, we started out back then with small sabikis and then worked our way up to a size 4 or 2 hook and typically get sanddabs 10-11.5 inches on the bigger sabikis. One major trick I seem to catch more fish on than my neighboring boats is using Smelly Jelly's Crawfish or Procure's Flounder Pounder. In our area, sanddabs pick up at 150' and seem to be really good at around 180'. Cooked whole the sanddabs make a killer meal, pretty similar to the petrale. Any advice on finding rock or rex sole, matanaska? None of my buddies have landed them in a kayak (or even on a boat). Cen Coast, you have any advice on catching flounder?
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Sweet lineup! I also love targeting the "other flatfish". Only got into it a couple years ago so I'm still learning the intricacies, but the table fare quality of the "other flatfish" is amazing and eclipses rockfish by a long shot. I was very excited to see the "de-regulation" of petrales, but then I moved to Oregon before I could partake in it. I'm excited to give them a shot up here though. So far I've caught sand sole and butter sole up here in OR. Now that Pac halibut season is open, I'm itching to give the deeper waters a shot for a halibut/petrale combo trip.
I've had success on rock sole, sand sole, and starry flounder by fishing sandy troughs in between rock pinnacles. Anywhere there is some current to wash food off the rocks and onto the sand. 40-60 FOW. Finding productive areas can be challenging, as it's not as easy as looking for structure on a depthfinder when targeting rockfish. But when you find a hot spot, it tends to be a reliable producer trip after trip.
About 10 years ago, I caught a 20.5 inch starry inside Humboldt Bay in about 10 feet of water. I was still-fishing a chunk of clam neck off the bank near King Salmon. So they're around...
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From yesterday with Matanska, flatfish stack very well inside the ice chest.
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I've shot a few Starry Flounder over the years, and last year my buddy Andrew blasted a big 25 inch 7 pound Starry and the same day I got a little 15 inch Sand Sole...
They weren't the target species but they were nice bycatch.
:smt001
Can see the sand soles "free rays" well in this little vid...could see them before I shot it so I knew it wasn't a short butt.
https://youtu.be/9L05WJBtRkY
:smt006
Sincerely,
Jim
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nice pic's guys. Love them flat fish :smt007
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Sweet photos guys. Thanks for adding your insights. We're always out on the open flat bottomed ocean for flatties or in dense rocks for rockfish. Guess we'll have to try for some sand between the rocks. Thanks for sharing. That'll definitely give us a new challenge.
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This, to me is very, very interesting. Do the other flatfish bite seasonally?