BY MERIT McCREA
DANA POINT– Halibut tournaments kept the competitive spirit going and sand dabs kept the buckets overflowing as a few boat based anglers found ways to keep their lines wet and productive. In addition to a few local runs out of San Diego being flatfish focused like the Wednesday 1/2-day run aboard the Dolphin where they netted 23 and kept 5 there are regularly scheduled runs out of several landings currently targeting flatfish. In addition Dana Wharf Sportfishing is running its annual landing-wide halibut tournament and Captain Aaron Graham on the Native Sun out of 22nd Street Landing in San Pedro has a halibut tournament with lots of great prizes offered.
At Dana Wharf Sportfishing anglers can sign up for their halibut tournament at a cost of $5 and be entered on any of their fishing trips they offer. In addition they have scheduled “drift trips” where the whole objective is to put anglers in halibut turf for that tournament and the ticket includes entry into the tournament.
In addition to the 3-month grand prize of $500, halibut anglers are eligible to win monthly prizes for the largest halibut of the month and are entered into a monthly raffle drawing. Winning the January prize is Jerry Vhynis who took home a Daiwa rod and reel combo, Costa sun glasses, a Hogan’s tackle pack, a gift certificate from Turner’s Outdoorsman and an annual membership to CCA-Cal. He, of course, is the current leader in the tournament with his 19.4-pound flatfish.
Capt. Graham on the Native Sun has a string of great sponsors for his hali tounie out of 22nd Street Landing Sportfishing too. He posts, “Starting January 17th 2025 and running through April 30th 2025 we are excited to announce the 2nd annual Native Sun Fishing Derby. Wednesday-Sunday targeting halibut and bass (bass must be released to qualify as an entry!) No entry fee required to enter! Top 5 places and a Junior division of each category overall will win the grand prizes in addition to a monthly prize for biggest fish from each category. Thousands of dollars in Rods, reels, gift certificates, tackle packs and more!”
Recently Graham also posted “Rolling into week 4 with some changes to the leader board! Tony Hamilton with a 35lbs halibut and Mike A. with a 24.5 lbs halibut! See if we can keep things going with the little bit of a weather change the next few days and we will have a mix of sardine AND anchovy the next few trips! We’re back out fishing Wednesday through Sunday. “
But there’s sand dabs to be had too, and these deep-water delights are perhaps the tastiest fried fish there is. Cleaning and preparing them is super easy, classic rinsing of scales, beheading takes the guts out too, dredge in egg, then flour then fry until the fins are crispy – just like a trout or smelt.
Perhaps the best thing is they often come up 8 or 10 on a line and anglers quickly pull in over 100 in an outing. Here’s and example. Saturday the Ahra Ahn out of Long Beach Sportfishing had 31 anglers aboard their sand dab run. They caught 3,200 sand dabs!
A bit farther up the coast are the boats Speed Twin and Gentleman out of CISCOs in Oxnard. These two trade off running dab trips to Anacapa Island and the catches typically average 100 to 200 sand dabs per angler! Skippers there tell me the most experienced at the dab game actually fish two rods sequentially. While one set of gear is down loading up, another is being worked on, on deck – fish unhooked and hooks re-baited.
This season Morro Bay also has a flatfish boat and the variety is impressive. Not only have anglers aboard the Black Pearl been boating halibut and dabs on the same trips but also a considerable number of black cod or sable fish. In addition there’s been a few big petrale sole each trip.
Here are a few words by Santiago Dominguez on a recent run. “Great trip today with the most beautiful weather and great fishing. Buckets of sand dabs, 64 black cod, some nice sized sole, everyone went home with dinner for the family today! Great trip for kids, and the electric reels option means dad doesn’t need to help reel up the catch even on the deep drops! With the whales making an appearance and even a slime eel coming up, it was a solid marine excursion all around.”
