MINIMUM SIZE
None
Species · Flatfish
Pacific sanddab fishing in Southern California
Citharichthys sordidus
A small sand flatfish nobody plans a trip around, and that everybody is pleased to find in the bag at the end of it.
TYPE
Pacific sanddab
SCIENTIFIC NAME
Citharichthys sordidus
TYPICAL SIZE
0.5–1 lb
LIVES ON
Soft bottom, 120–600 ft
CAUGHT ON
Multi-hook bottom rigs
BEST MONTHS
Year round
Pacific sanddab regulations
DAILY BAG
No limit
OPEN SEASON
Year round
14 CCR 28.48, 27.60(b), as read on October 9, 2026. Limits, seasons and marine protected area boundaries change, so the CDFW ocean sport fishing regulations are the authority, not this page. Check them before you keep anything.
Meet the sanddab
A small left-eyed flatfish, light brown and mottled, rarely much more than a pound. They live on soft bottom in deeper water than most people fish for flatfish, and they are abundant enough that a drift over the right mud will keep a rod bent the whole way.
Where sanddabs hang out
Mud and fine sand, usually between 120 and 600 feet, off the beaches and between the hard-bottom spots. The same featureless bottom everyone motors across on the way somewhere else is full of them.
How to catch sanddabs
A multi-hook rig with small hooks and strips of squid, dropped to the bottom and barely moved. Doubles and triples are normal. It is the standard way to fill the last of a slow afternoon, and a good way to keep a kid interested.
On the plate
This is the actual reason to catch them. Sanddabs are delicate, sweet and very good, traditionally cooked whole, pan-fried, and eaten off the bone. They have been a San Francisco and Monterey restaurant staple for a century and they are just as good down here.
🐟 FUN FACT
Sanddabs have a small mouth that stops short of the eye, which is the quick way to tell a small one from a baby California halibut in the bag: a halibut's jaw runs back past its eye, and its lateral line arches high over the pectoral fin.
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Heading out for something we do grade?
This is a profile, not a scored species. Fish or Pass grades seven fish across the Bight every day, so if you are going anyway, see what the water is doing for those.