9/1/06 Monterey Dabs

The sanddabs heard that Pat was in Alaska, so they moved in to (at least) 50 ft of water off the hotel at San Carlos St Beach.  Smooth as glass- a good place to take a kid.  Sabiki with little bits of squid. I think they have to take a number to get a hook to bite. They were snatching my halibut bait,herring,  so I just gave up on butts and kept at dabs til I had to take a break for lunch.  If I went for them again,I'd try bigger hooks so they don't swallow. Wind started to come up at 11, but still not much.  Lots of red octopi too, so I'll bet the lings are onto that. I saw one yak angler going NWtoward Pinos before I launched, never saw again.  A "Ron" in a" MB Sanctuary" yak paddled by and we had a pleasent chat.  I did get one mac up to see, so there might be others there. Water a little brown. 
   

Interesting.  Thanks for the report.  I too noticed some brown waves when I was commuting home the other day.  I wonder if there is some south swell developing from that storm down in Mexico?  If CRSB is too rough Saturday, the SC St. Beach is an option but I hate dealing wth all of those divers upon landing on a weekend.  I usually launch too early for them to be an issue launching.

When you speak of Brown conditions, please do so with respect!
I am curious as to what size Dabs you were able to hook.  Had a
fairly good day out at the Farralons about a month ago catching
Dabs for use as live bait for lings.  Sand Dabs are DELICIOUS.  But,
the average Dab was rather small.  Small means about 4"-6".  Did
catch a few around 8" that had some 'shoulders' on 'em.  I like
your idea about utilizing larger hooks.  And, the calmer conditions
of kayaking in Monterrey sound appealing.  Re Dabs: Bigger is better.

3-6".  O.K. as a novelty dinner, but it would be much better to get some that could be filleted and breaded.  I just pulled the skeletons out at the table and ate them on toast.  The brown water is also on the Santa Cruz side, but there seems to be patches of it and clear water, pretty common, from my experience the last 3 years or so.