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View Full Version : Late Sand Dab Report 11/22/08



Lightline
11-25-2008, 08:28 AM
11-22-20083/4 Day 19 anglers 3480 Sanddab, 5 Sand Bass, 1 Wolf Eel

Went out on the Sea Angler at 22nd Landing for their Sand Dab trip.

Never been on one of these trips before so I wanted to give it a shot.

Total anglers 19. Calm day no big swells. Crew was very nice and helpful.

Choice of bait for these trips is squid and a lot of it.

Fished about 300 ft of water with 1-2lb sinker with 10-12 hooks some anglers with more.

I used all spectra. Most guys were using mono with 10-12 long shank hooks.

Pretty easy pickings. Drop all the way down and reel up so there is no slack and just wait till they catch themselves. Some guys were setting the hooks but with 10-12 hooks not sure how you can set each hook in each fishes mouth.

Dropping down was easy. Reeling up was the hard part. Doing this the whole day can get pretty exhausting. I figure I was killing two birds with one stone, fishing and exercising at the same time.


There were some other fish caught as well. I saw a guy with a big sand bass that came up. I also heard that there were 4 other sand bass caught. The captain said the sand bass that they get in the sand dab area are all big for some reason. He said he wasn’t sure why but they were just big. I mean these sand bass were big.

A few rock fish were brought up and also a few sculpin.

I also saw a moray eel that was snagged.


So there are other fish you can catch when going sand dab trips. Not only sand dabs. Rock fish and Moray eel live near structure so I guess there were structures around.

Was schedule for a 3/4 day fishing but left around 2:00 probably because every caught their limits, which is a boat load of Sand Dab.

This kind of trip would be nice for taking the kids out and letting them try out fishing with out getting a skunk. Remember to have a rock cod reel with a long handle, if you dont have one you can rent it from them.

Total fish for me was 133 sand dabs. .10 for the deck hands to cut the head off and remove the guts.

Fish size was about 8-12 inch.

Sorry no pictures.

ghetto dad
11-25-2008, 12:52 PM
Must have been a slow day...thats only 183.157 dabs per person!! Thanks for the report man...

GD

Brian_GSC
11-25-2008, 12:55 PM
Those 'dabs are sure good to eat.

When I go on the dab trips on the Sea Angler I usually go up to the bow to avoid most of the tangles, AND I can order my burgers and beers through the little port hole up there! :)

b20monster
11-25-2008, 01:11 PM
yeah... and they make a killer breakfast burrito!!!!

Cangler
11-25-2008, 03:40 PM
Ive caught plenty by accident when rockfishing , but that sounds
like a great day out ..

Ricky-Ray
11-25-2008, 03:49 PM
I usually get some of those too on the rock fish trips. I usually send it back down and try to "exchange" it for a ling instead.

Sounds like it was a fun day anyway.

boxl0bster
11-25-2008, 04:35 PM
great report man, i remember the first and last time i went sand dab fishing on the sea angler. not that i didnt like the boat/crew but it was a pain in the @&!! reeling in from 300 ft lol. we caught a buttload of dabs that day too. my arms were killing me at the end of the day.

JapanRon
11-25-2008, 05:17 PM
Hi Halibutseeker,

Nice, informative report.

Thank you very much for the details.

JapanRon

Ifishtoolittle
11-25-2008, 05:38 PM
Wow that's a lot of dabs, by the way how many hooks were you using?

ghetto dad
11-25-2008, 05:55 PM
Wow that's a lot of dabs, by the way how many hooks were you using?

He was fishing legally...the others with "more" weren't......

GD

victor101
11-25-2008, 06:38 PM
Nice! thanks for the report. I need to get on a sanddab trip this winter and load up. they are good eating for sure...

gavin310
11-25-2008, 09:36 PM
man that's pretty cool. how much was the trip? is the long-handled reel because it's too exhausting with a smaller handle or what? oh also what pound test do you use out there? does it even matter?

supasportkid
11-25-2008, 11:00 PM
sounds cool because so many fish, but i dont like catchin them too much, thanks for the report

Lightline
11-26-2008, 11:04 AM
man that's pretty cool. how much was the trip? is the long-handled reel because it's too exhausting with a smaller handle or what? oh also what pound test do you use out there? does it even matter?


Trip is $48 plus what ever you eat on the boat and the number of beers you drink on the water plus your .10 a dab, if you choose to have them do it.

Yeah the long handle is much better, less strain on your knuckles and more leverage to bring up the 1-2lb weight and the dabs and or other fish you bring up.

I called the landing and asked that same question what lb test you need for Sand Dab trips. The told me 100lb..I was like wooott???:EyePop:.

I read this prior to going it was helpful but you have to go through it yourself to figure things out some times.

http://fishingnetwork.net/forum4/showthread.php?p=265266#post265266

So I figure I use 50lb spectra and it worked out ok.

They sell Sand dab rigs (gangnion (not even sure if this is spelled correctly, cant find a picture of it on line) at 22nd landing for $7.50 and the one they rig for $2.50 (comes with 6 hooks). I'd buy the $7.50 to see how you rig it up.

They use 50lb mono with stoppers and swivels about 2-3 inches apart. You just have to buy some parts and put in a little time to put it together.

Someone might have a picture of one that is already set up.

Make sure you space yourself apart from all the other anglers. Dont hang around the back of the boat where everyone is orgied together because you will get tangles. and if your using spectra your pucked :Angry:.

The fish are every where. Capt will set anchor and you drop to the bottom. I bet if you bring some shrimp you can catch a sheep head.

gavin310
11-26-2008, 09:58 PM
Awesome, thank you very much for that info. I think I need to try my hand at some sand dabs!

ghetto dad
11-27-2008, 06:12 AM
Out of 4,000 fish, a couple RF were caught...so yes, it is possible to catch other fish while fishing sand dabs....:ROFL:

GD

chris
11-27-2008, 08:03 AM
Awesome, thank you very much for that info. I think I need to try my hand at some sand dabs!

mackeral off the peir fight harder and are less work.