Video - Pacific City Dreamin'

I'm not afraid of a little rain but I'm about done with the constant wind, flood-stage chocolate brown rivers and ponds, and 15 foot surf at the coast. So I made this video to tide me over until brighter days.

Great video, Cap'n, but please, have mercy!  I was already pacing the floor.

Thanks for posting this.

That's what I was dreamin...  what a fun creation!
Cool flounder!

Really enjoyable video as always, Captain.  We need a lot more bathtub days like those.

Thanks for the kind words, everyone, I appreciate it!

How did you so quickly distinguish the flounder from a halibut?

I'm not any kind of expert on halibut but what I saw was a complete lack of "diamond shape" to it once it was flat. There were no "points" on the sides. There are some flounder around here that have pointed sides (notably the arrowtooth flounder, perhaps others?) but as far as I understand there aren't halibut without the diamond shape. FWIW the fish checker agreed and identified it as a rock sole.

When is is not legal to keep halibut at PC?

In 2015 the nearshore season for the central coast started July 1. This video was shot in June that year. (2015 regs: http://www.dfw.state.or.us/mrp/finfish/halibut/seasonmaps/2015_hbt_map.pdf)

Here's the current 2017 Oregon halibut info: http://www.dfw.state.or.us/mrp/finfish/halibut/

Nice video.  I had to laugh, because that is so me.  Maybe if I check Magic Seaweed again today there will be a window that opens up.  I am so ready when the conditions do allow a trip again.

Love'n the video!!!!

Sweet video Cap!  I can't wait to check out the salt from my kayak, everything from Depoe Bay to PC.  At least the steelhead have been treating me well in the meantime  .

Cool flatfish you have there in the video too.  You keyed it out as a rock sole eh?  Doesn't quite look right to me.  I've done some "other" flatfish fishing in NorCal, and the rock sole I'm familiar with are much more mottled with clearly visible scales on the topside and a small mouth with fleshy lips.  Do you have a good still photo of it you could post?  I love flounder and sole and look forward to chasing them up here.  My primary technique to catch them in NorCal is to fish sandy troughs near rocks (but not too close to rocks, otherwise the rockfish and lings will gobble your bait) and drag a dead anchovy on a Carolina rig along the bottom.  It's a great technique and I imagine it'll work well up here too.

The photo below is from last May fishing for a few hours from Shelter Cove, CA.  The second and third fish from the bottom right are sand sole, two starry flounder up near the top, and the rest are rock sole.  For size reference, the starries clocked in between 21-22 inches.  All of them were excellent eats.

Wow!! Nicely done Red Beard!!!

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 Very nice video.  I might have to get an Oregon license and head down sometime this year.

Cool flatfish you have there in the video too.  You keyed it out as a rock sole eh?  Doesn't quite look right to me.  I've done some "other" flatfish fishing in NorCal, and the rock sole I'm familiar with are much more mottled with clearly visible scales on the topside and a small mouth with fleshy lips.  Do you have a good still photo of it you could post?

Well I'm definitely not a flatfish expert, so I'm all ears. If I dug a little I could probably find a few more photos, but my AOTY entry for it shows the overall fish pretty clearly.

http://aoty.northwestkayakanglers.com/catches/2352

The fish checker was mostly interested in if it was a halibut or not. After she was satisfied it was not a halibut she called someone to ask about it and they had a discussion for a few minutes while she poked and prodded it. The diagnosis came back rock sole. Back at my computer later I went through the common Oregon flounders and rock sole definitely fit what I was looking at better than any other description. Also the habitat was dead on.

EDIT: I do remember it having a little bit more color in the water, FWIW. It seemed like the second it was stabbed it turned really flat color-wise. Also, nice fish in your picture!

I certainly hope you have good luck on flounder up here and maybe I can learn a thing or two from you. From posts online and talking to a few people it seems that the bay flounder scene has been pretty dead since the 70s/80s due to the seals/sea lions. It sounds like there's a few out of the way spots in bays where you can still catch them but everyone is tight-lipped. Hopefully they're more plentiful in the ocean. I did make it back to the exact spot where I caught the one in the video a time or two with no more to show.

Thanks for the pic.  Petrale sole, 99% sure!  The big mouth and gradually-rising lateral line above the pectoral fin are telltale signs of a petrale.  I haven't caught one personally, but I've seen plenty loaded off commercial trawlers and several friends have caught them incidentally while targeting Pac halibut in NorCal.  I bet that was a tasty fish!

Yeah, I've heard the same thing about the bay flatfish and their declines due to seals/sea lions.  Bummer.  But I aim to do some searching for them on the open ocean this summer.  The ones caught in Shelter Cove came from 50-60 feet of water on the open ocean.  Just need to find that magical combination of sandy lanes between rock pinnacles that have decent current to pull food off the reefs and deposit it on the sand.

The fish checker was mostly interested in if it was a halibut or not.

How often do you encounter a fish checker at PC?  I've only been a few times, but have never seen one.  This isn't a warden that can write you a ticket, or is it?

Not the ticket writers but I'm sure they can get the writer of tickets there in a hurry if needed. I have seen them there about 25% of my trips out and several times never got checked because they were busy with the dory guys.

Cool video!! I've been trying to get back to PC for months. 

I trust you have since graduated to not dragging fish around?

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Thanks for the pic.  Petrale sole, 99% sure!  The big mouth and gradually-rising lateral line above the pectoral fin are telltale signs of a petrale.  I haven't caught one personally, but I've seen plenty loaded off commercial trawlers and several friends have caught them incidentally while targeting Pac halibut in NorCal.  I bet that was a tasty fish!

Cool, thanks for the info. It was indeed a very good eating fish! The reason I didn't think it was that was the habitat; I wasn't deep and it was rocky bottomed where I was fishing. But of course the physical characteristics of the fish are more important in IDing. Thanks for the help!