Monterey Bay 3/30

Launched at San Carlos Beach around 7.  Headed straight to a spot a buddy told me about (Thanks Buddy!)  Right away I was pulling up 3 or 4 sand dabs at a time.  Got my fill of winding up 180' of line every few minutes around 9ish.  Kept 25 dabs and one mackerel.  Kept the mackerel to try eating....now I know why nobody keeps those.  The dabs weren't large, and I wouldn't have kept so many but most of them would have died anyway.  I did release as many as I could that weren't hooked to badly.  So I probably caught 40-50.  I was fishing in 180 feet out past the red buoy.  I moved in and tried every 10 feet of depth or so for expirimentation.  Got some around 165-170', but was pretty much skunked shallower than that. 

Unfortunately, twice I drifted through a school of rockfish that were either hanging out over sand, or there was some small bottom feature they were on.  I figured I was pulling up 4 record sized dabs or something cause it all looked flat on the FF.  The first time it happened I had 2 olives, a blue, and a gopher on my sabiki rig.  The second time it was more blues and a stary or rosy. 

When I was done dabbin' I slow trolled back to the beach with a squid on one rod and a chartruese scampi on the other.  No 'buts today. 

Like I alluded to earlier, the mackerel wasn't too tasty, but those dabs sure were.  I felt guilty for not picking up a bag of dogfood yesterday so my lab got a gourmet meal as well.

- Paul

NICE work!
Lucky dog too.

Thanks for the report,
PK

Nice going on the dabs.  Those things are delicious.

That sounds like the spot for dabs.  Has anyone ever used them successfully as butt bait?  I know that some have used them when targetting lings.

Dabs are the best ling bait going.  I have been on a number of trips out of Emeryville where the Captain has made a baitstop to pick up Dabs.  Generally lings don't care too much if the dabs are alive or dead.  Vacuum seal up some portion of what you caught and keep them for bait.

I have been told that they are the hot ticket for Butts as well, but the guy told be they were drifting them as live bait.

Thanks,  I will give them a try when targetting butts after loading up for dinner and might even save a few for the May lingcod opener.

WTG Nomad!
If I didn't have to work this morning I would have been on those dabs with you.They're tasty!

Nomad,
How big were the Mackerel? I hear that they were being caught all around the Bay up to three pound.

could you confirm ? If this is true I will be down to try and harvest some for the smoker this week end.

thanks for the report and way to go on the dabs

Sounds like awesome day!   Please, put some pictures next time...

Mackerel don't have as strong of a taste if you remove the dark strip of meat on both sides of the body. Many people covet it, even in sushi. But many people also shy away from it even after removing the dark strips.

Thanks for the nice report. How do you cook these dabs?

The mackerel was small....10 inches or so.  I just kept it to try...I did remove the dark meat which didn't leave more than a couple morsels.  Don't get me wrong....I wouldn't turn my nose up at it but it wasn't a favorite.  I just fried the dabs in butter and garlic.

Thanks for the nice report. How do you cook these dabs?

There are many ways to cook dabs...some like to dip in egg and flour and fry whole,others do the olive oil and garlic pan fry,deep fry with beer batter...Here are some my wife and I made with tempura batter...



It's all good eats.Enjoy!

Nice!!!

how long did you stay out ?

that dish looks great Aaron!

We really need to get a "NCKA Iron Chef Cook-Out" one of these days....and of course, I'd be one of the judges 

Seriously! We Should! Maybe when we do our first rockfish derby (which is currently on the works) we can get the "Cooks" together and go crazy! Anyone interested?