Mack Dabby non Yacky.

This fishing addict has been craving some ocean time. Also been wanting to eat sanddabs, since I've never had them but have heard so many good things.

So we hopped on a half-day Stagnaro's charter out of Santa Cruz. Caught a bucketful of dabs and mackerel. The ocean was bouncy, so I spent the entire trip chumming   but I still had a great time and caught a load of the Little Fish. Bite detection was kinda hard with 8 inch flatfish in 200FOW, you basically had to wait until a mack decided to join the show and then you knew there was at least one fish on. This isn't sportfishing folks, it's fresh fish harvesting  . Tho' a few times we drifted over a school of the bigger macks; reeling in a full sabiki of those was a lot of fun. They tasted amazing as well.

Some pics.

It's winter


M'lady, exhausted after a gruelling battle with an 8 oz sinker.


Is there a jackpot winner in there?


We had a bunch of folks over for a mack dabby dinner. Pan fried dabs.


Grilled mackerel.

yummy.  i miss the open ocean.    
i wished i was there on the charter boat with you killing some dabs and macks.

Nice pics, ever try fishing for them off the yak? There are a couple good spots off Monterey I usually fish from with pretty good success. At times though the sea gets rough and makes the fishing a bit uncomfortable.

Remember to club those things.  If they get loose in the boat, they could be trouble 

Great report - I needed that ocean fix too.  My compliments to the chef as well - tasty looking grub.   

Ever tried smoking your mackerel? If not, you should. Outstanding flavor/texture.

Ever tried smoking your mackerel? If not, you should. Outstanding flavor/texture.

That's my valentines night project. I'm a true romantic. Gonna smoke a load and then use some to make smoked mackerel pate.

I wanted to fish for them from the yak in Monterey, but a break in the weather hasn't coincided with a break in my work schedule. It wouldn't have been fun on the yak yesterday.

What are you doing eating all the rockfish bait?.  . Actually I find the small fish are some of the best eating. That iced down dab pan looked pretty good.

Good jodb on getting into some dabs after the weather relaxes I plan on going to Monterey for some myself...Exept on A yak!!!

Looks like fun, except the chumming part. (Man, I hate that part...) Guess I'll buy my dabs at the market. It would sure be nice to try, tho. Glad you had a good time.

Awwww....lucky.  I love those mack & dab trips out of SC w/ Stagnaros.  They're such a great deal too.  I'm thinking about doing one this next weekend if the weather gets better.  Good job man.

-SF

Hey Phil, I am with you on getting out on the big blue. Sorry about the chumming
part of your trip. You know if I was there, I'd be on the other side of the boat
doing the same thing. WTG on the dabs and macks. Thanks for taking
some pictures of your fabulous dinners.

Jedmo

Glad to hear you put a hurt on the dabs and macks, sand dabs are my favorite fish to eat and just today I took my 16yo daughter out for lunch and she had baked makeral and just loved them.sounds like I need to learn to smoke them now

Those macks are really tasty.  We used to get pretty big ones out at the Farallones when we were bottom fishing.  Back then we considered them a trash fish but they fight great and taste awesome and of course are loaded with omega oils.  Any place closer to the Bay Area that anyone has had success in fishing for them off the kayak?  In terms of nasty stuff like mercury etc, small is beautiful, so a 10-12" mack is really a perfect fish to eat. 

When I lived in Japan they would grill them or have them with miso sauce...wow was that good. 

Pacific Mackerel are actually pretty low in mercury.   

http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~frf/sea-mehg.html