Posted on May 5, 2018

My favorite fish is a creature few anglers on the West Coast pursue, possibly never heard about or know how to identify, a fish that on rare occasions is caught as by-catch by sportsfishermen on rockfishing trips who mistakenly stray away from a reef: the deliciously mysterious Petrale Sole.

Deep into the Monterey Bay, almost seven miles southwest out of Elkhorn Slough, Moss Landing, 36°45'31.7"N 121°53'23.3"W, 300 feet down at the seafloor is where Petrales roam.

Petrale Sole make for excellent table fare. It's flesh is of fine but firm texture, and with an excellent, mild and delicate flavor. Petrale Sole is my personal favorite food fish which adds greatly to the attraction of catching one. I like my Petrale steamed & served with green onions, ginger and a touch of soy sauce.

It takes quite an effort to catch Petrale Sole from a kayak, and that is the other reason why I value this fish so highly. On top of that, considering their weight, Petrales hit hard and are feisty fighters throughout the water column. Be careful when landing a Petrale, they are easy to lose at the boat. One can get lucky and occasionally find Petrale Sole nearshore in relatively shallow waters, perhaps in 80 to 100 feet, but to target this species one needs to paddle out to deeper ranges of 300 to 500 feet of water. And this can be far, at times very far for a kayak on the West Coast, as the continental shelf drops off slowly. In Half Moon Bay, for example, it would take an 8-Mile paddle straight offshore to get into Petrale Sole habitat. This makes for a 16-Mile round trip through shifting marine conditions, currents, wind drift and the actual fishing part not included.

Fishing itself comes down to finding Petrales, which accounts for several more miles of paddling, and getting the baited rig hundreds of feet down to the seafloor without tangles. Feeling a bite can be difficult if there's slack in the line. Fortunately, Petrales are ferocious predators and will ring the bell so to speak. Fishing is either hit or miss since they are social creatures moving around in large shoals, there's no point in sticking around for long if you don't get a bite. Once you find a good patch, mark it on your GPS and work the area. There is no guarantee, however, that on the next trip this spot still produces as the shoal may have moved on.

During winter months Petrale Sole retreat to deeper waters, from 900 to 1500 feet. Petrales can grow as big as 28 inches in length and 8 pounds in weight. Best baits for Petrale Sole are anchovies, but octopus and squid also work well.