It was a great quote-"You just watch for a wiggle on your rod tip. Then wait for a second wiggle, and then reel up two of the tastiest little critters you ever met. Take them home, fry them quick-like in peanut oil, and there's nothing like it!"

That's the way one overheard, but unnamed angler, recently summed up sanddab fishing to his buddies. He had talked them into going after sanddabs, and had some serious convincing to do because some of the people wanted to go after something a bit more substantial. After promising everyone a dinner of sanddabs at his place, they went along. Chances are, they all had fun and caught as many fish as they needed to take home. There is no limit on sanddabs. And that is good, because it takes a few of them to make a big meal for a hungry person.

Finding sanddabs can be tricky, but once one is found, many more will probably appear, since they seem to congregate in great numbers. The best place to look is on a mixed mud and sand bottom at 100 to 300 feet, although it is amazing the various depths and bottom composition where they may be foraging at any given time. Their tendency to feed voraciously and competitively helps in finding them. One way is to use a fish finder to make sure the right type of bottom is under the boat, and then drop down a baited line. If bites don't come almost instantly, it is time to move on and test another area. Sanddabs can be found both along our mainland coast and around our islands, so there are plenty of places to search for them.

There are few rules pertaining to sanddab fishing. It is permissible to use as many hooks as an angler wants. It is fairly common to catch an occasional rockfish, along with sanddabs, when the boat drifts over isolated structure spots on a generally mud/sand bottom. During a rockfish/lingcod closure, however, incidental rockfish may not be kept. During the rockfish/lingcod season, only two hooks per rod can be used for sanddabs, once a rockfish comes aboard and is kept.

Rigging up for catching sanddabs is pretty simple. One common rig is a double dropper loop. To set this up, run the line through two hook eyes, and then tie onto a weight. Slide the hooks up the line and tie each one into it's own four-inch dropper loop about a foot or two apart. Squid is the bait of choice for these voracious critters, and they compete fiercely for the tasty baits. Cut squid into strips about four inches long and a half-inch wide. Run a hook twice through the end of a squid strip so there are a couple of inches of the strip left to undulate in the current. That's what attracts the sanddabs.

Drop the rig all the way to the bottom and take up the slack. It is important to fish right on the bottom because these fish lie on the bottom just like their big cousins, the California halibut. Wait for a couple of wiggles, like the angler said, and reel up the catch. Unhook them, check the bait and drop back down to do it all over again. It is frequently possible to load up on sanddabs in short order and then go prospecting for other fish.

These fish don't get very big. A 10-inch sanddab is a big fish, while seven or eight inches is more the norm. When really small ones come up - say four or five inches - they are quite easy to release, providing the hook doesn't tear flesh while being removed. Sanddabs do not have air bladders so the pressure decrease doesn't bother them on the ascent. The hook can be carefully removed and the fish put back in the water, with a minimum of handling. They usually swim away unhurt, and that is gratifying. Putting the keepers in cool water in a fish box, or on ice, will help keep this delicate-tasting fish at it's freshest.

It is important to be able to distinguish between a sanddab and a baby halibut. One way is to look at the lateral line on the underside of the fish. The lateral line on sanddabs is straight, whereas the line makes a substantial curve up and over the pectoral fin of a California halibut. That's one way a game warden will tell them apart. Many people also use the guideline that habibut have teeth and sanddabs don't. To allow for the inspection, cleaning them is best done in a simple manner. It is unlawful to fillet a flatfish other than a California halibut at sea, and a game warden needs to be able to see the entire lateral line, so it is easiest to just cut out the body cavity. It's simple. Once home, anglers can scale and pan fry them just as they are, or remove the head and tail first.

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