Flatfish, Flounder, Sole, Sanddab, Place and Halibut

By Ralph Shaw

According to the Guide to Northeast Pacific Flatfishes, we have at least 17 species of flatfish in British Columbia coastal waters. The British Columbia Tidal Sport Fishing Guide lists all flatfish except halibut under the broad classification of flounder and sole. For purposes of simplicity I shall do the same.

In the northeast Pacific 39 species are listed, and worldwide there are over 500 species of flatfish, which are important food fish and are much sought after by the commercial fishing industry. They are also important fish to the recreational fishing sector on a worldwide basis...

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When I was editor of BC Outdoors (the old BC Outdoors when it had such a great mix of fishing, hunting and environmental stories), I regularly went through many submissions from would-be contributors.

On one particular evening in downtown Vancouver, the after-hour avails of the Georgian Court pub were wearing thin, so I headed back across Beatty Street to my third floor office.

Mail had come and I opened a few letters before coming across a brown envelope that was thick and interesting. I opened it and the covering letter told of an amazing steelheading story that had ‘great’ pictures. There were three sheets of slides – about 72 pictures if I remember correctly.

I took them to the light table (yes, it was that long ago) and put the eyepiece on the first one. There, before my eyes, was a Thompson River buck steelhead, about 19-pounds, rosy and bright and fresh like strawberry ice cream.

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