Odd surf catch yesterday...

I'm new to fishing the central Oregon coast, so maybe this is more common than I think it is.  But to a CA angler, this was a total trip.  After work yesterday, I walked my dog down to the beach below my house to catch the sunset.  Also brought a rod along rigged with Berkley Gulp sandworms.  The redtail surfperch bite was really good, as I landed four in a row in quick succession.  Then this thing latched onto my bait.  At first I thought it was a HUGE perch when I saw its size, then as I got it closer, I was like WTF is that??  It came in with little struggle.  My first-ever spotted ratfish catch, and from the surf no less!  After some photos, I let it go.  This was in northern Yachats, top of the incoming tide.  Pretty good swell coming in, so I guess this guy got pushed around until he was close to the beach.

OR coast guys, are ratfish a common catch up here?  I was totally stoked to get such an odd catch.  Can't wait to get my kayak out there!

Dude that's cool! Never seen one landed.all I hear about them they are mostly deep dwelling fish but don't quote me on that.still bad ass!

Dude that's cool! Never seen one landed.all I hear about them they are mostly deep dwelling fish but don't quote me on that.still bad ass!

 I've caught ratfish in the Straight in 200+ fow. They sure are an ugly fish. Unless you're another ratfish.

Dude that's cool! Never seen one landed.all I hear about them they are mostly deep dwelling fish but don't quote me on that.still bad ass!

 I've caught ratfish in the Straight in 200+ fow. They sure are an ugly fish. Unless you're another ratfish.

Not always deep.  I have seen some up in the Sound while scuba diving in 30-50 fsw...

Definitely not a common surf/nearshore catch in my experience - cool!

Cool catch!! I love the look on your dogs face "What the heck is that thing?!?"

Definitely not a common surf/nearshore catch in my experience - cool!

Have you ever caught one?  I think I speak for many when I say I look forward to a Clayman vs Capt. mega species slam competition.

My fish book says they are Demersal to 3000' but are also found in the surf and intertidal zone. They look like an evolutionary throwback. Sort of like sturgeon.

Awesome catch!

Cool! Thanks for sharing. About how long is it?

Thanks for the info and feedback guys.  It surprised the hell out of me, to say the least.  From the info I could gather, it looks like these guys are found all across depth ranges.  This guy was in 3-4 feet of water.  It was evening, and they're supposed to move shallow to feed at night, but I do think the bigger swell had something to do with pushing him so close to shore.

Cool catch!! I love the look on your dogs face "What the heck is that thing?!?"

Haha, it was funny because he's usually all over the surfperch.  But when he caught wind of this, he didn't want anything to do with it.  It made my hands smell like ammonia, or the same scent as a shark's blood.  Pretty stinky.

Cool! Thanks for sharing. About how long is it?

Probably 16 or 17 inches.

How cool is that! I nominate you for the "most interesting catch" category!

We haven't seen many posts of catching lately, so it's way cool to see such a unique fish.  Thanks for sharing.

I debated whether to cough this up again, but shortly after moving to WA from WI, another transplant and I were fishing east of Neah Bay.  We caught a fairly large rat fish, I'd guess 2+ times the size of the one you caught.  When trying to unhook we swore it actually snarled with those teeth. The plates appeared to be riveted to the head of it and neithere had ever seen/herd of something like this coming out of the depths of the huge Pacific.  We brought to the dock and showed a fellow in a boat and without batting an eye he said maybe it was a unique species and thought we should bring it up to the bait shop/store.  We did with the appropriate amount of excitement and another fellow suggested we hang it on the scale for all to see, and it might be a state record of some sort.  Luckily I noticed the smirk on the face of about the 2nd guy going past and turned to see the others smiling.  It was a long walk back to the boat with everyone smiling at us.

Ratfish ? That's a thing ?

Huh. I was gonna say Fukushima. Go figure.

Ratfish ? That's a thing ?

Huh. I was gonna say Fukushima. Go figure.

Puget sound has lots of them

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