LJ 4/22
 

Launched at 7am to tiny surf and grey conditions, got out past the point and found tons of macs but no squishies.

Had a pod of dolphins as well as a mother and calf whale do a drive by on me, tried fly lining macs as well as frozen squid all to no avail!:(

Long story short no love for the keeper kind for me but an absolutely amazing day on the water! I will add some pics later!

There were 8 other yaks on the water as well as three pb's but the few guys that I talked to were in the same boat I was (pun intended) with nothing to take home other than beautiful conditions!!!

Did catch a few small sand dabs (new species for me) anyone ever keep or eat them? If so what's a good size? The ones I was bringing up were about 8 to 12 inches long and seemed pretty meaty for the size......just wondering if they are worth keeping????

Sand dabs
 

I've never eaten them so not much to offer. I caught a couple on Sunday in the 6-8" range. I send em back down as bait.
My day Sunday was basically the same report as yours.

Pan fry sand dabs.......super delicious. 12 inch sand dabs , that's a very nice size.

Oh man, when we caught them on the boat the captain would cook a few of them right on the spot and make sandwiches out of them..YUM!

For sand dabs you descale them, dehead them, gut them and fry them. They do hade some bones but on the bigger ones like 10 or more inches they can be good.

I thought sand dabs have the same regulations as halibut since its a flat fish...so i threw mine back

Putting in your time Joe...

Trying Jim! LOL

To everyone else, thanks for the recommendations! Guess I will have to try and bring some of those home next time. They looked good , going to have to try them now!

I had sand dabs at a restaurant in Monterrey. They were excellent eating. If you catch enough of them, they would make a great meal.

Sand dabs are very good eating. If you have the patience you can fillet them but it is easier to fry or saute them whole. I've seen the fast n easy way to clean them by taking kitchen shears and cutting off the head, guts, and then around the body to remove fins and tail. After that you can eave the skin on rip it off. Mike

Haha, if the minimum size for sand dabs is the same as halibut, that would be a monster fish....

Great eating fish no doubt.! The best size is about the width of your frying pan.

Tight lines

John

Fry em up in olive oil and garlic the meat falls right off the bones then make a tasty sandwich or mix it up with some rice.

:reel:So all this talk about Sand dabs is making me Hungry!:drool5::drool5::drool5::drool5: Does anyone know what the legal size is?:confused:

from what i know, no size limit, no qty limit. but i would only keep enough to eat for the day.

X2

You know fishing is slow when you talk about the edibility of sand dabs ha