Pacific Sanddab

Features: The Pacific sanddab is left-eyed, meaning both eyes are on the left side of the body. The eyed-side is dull light brown, mottled with brown or black, and sometimes yellow or orange. The blind-side is off-white to tan. They have an oval shaped body with large scales. They can grow to be 16-inches long and up to 2 pounds, though most weigh less than 1/3 pound.

Habitat: As you probably guessed, sanddabs like to hang out on sandy bottoms. They are most abundant at depths of 20-50 fathoms, and are common in shallow coastal waters from British Columbia to California.

Technique: Sanddabs are notorious for going after just about anything that crosses their paths. They hunt by scent though so make sure your bait is smelly. Dead bait fish or plastic grubs near the bottom work great when sanddab fishing.