More dabs

Randy and I enjoyed "Lake Monterey Bay" as well on Sunday.  He has the picture of my candlefish that looked for halibuts all day........or were those bumps him avoiding them????

We found a bed of the nicest sand dabs we have ever been into.  We kept six.......this one was 10 1/4".

My recipe is to sever the head and pull out the guts.  Rinse.  Add garlic to olive oil and saute' the dabs about 3-5 minutes on the first side and then 30 seconds to 1 1/2 minutes on the second.  We then lift the fillets and bones away and enjoy their sweetly delicate flavor.  We served ours on fresh greens and garnished with black sesame seeds....yum.

way to go sounds good

dang! thats a big a__ sand dab! are they typically this large?

i caught a 12" flatfish once that was not a halibut or starry and now i can tell it was not a sand dab. i think it was a sole of somesort. it did not taste too good. it had some orange spots here and there.

john

Great post, thanks for the detail in the recipe!!

Here's Pat's Lizardfish/Candlefish:  Unfortunately, we were unable to get any Halibut interest on it, or the greenback I caught, or dead squid.  Oh well, the 'dabs were delicious!

That's  a fl atty!!! Nice dab! Did you get them at the usuall spot (red can)? Your description of your preparation on the dish made my Mind to go out and harvest some of those dabbys'


Thanx Pat and randy for the report.

Alex,

We found them in 140 feet of water straight out from Lover's Point.  Here's another shot of the Candlefish.  Cute, huh? 

hi randy,

Is the candlefish the same as the California Lizardfish?

Alex,

Unless Brian says different, they are one and the same.     By the way, I think Joel caught one last year in Monterey Bay also.

By the way, I think Joel caught one last year in Monterey Bay also

Here's what I caught at Monterey - in about 60 ft. of water / sandy bottom

I think they are different.

candlefish:



the evil california lizardfish:



brian[steve] must be on vacation, 

What does that tiny fish do that earned him the title of "evil"?

you have never caught a lizardfish have you? 


 

oops, my bad.  I thought candlefish was just another name for lizardfish.

I guess Brian is calling it evil because it has teeth to give a lingcod pause?  The one I fished with all day and then let go was a sweetie......

John,

Common names can really trip me up sometimes. 

The DFG site lists candlefish as an alternative name for California Lizardfish.  I believe the photo you posted was of a smelt. Curiously, I've also seen smelt referred to as candlefish. 

 Maybe Brian will enlighten us when he returns from vacation.