Best Fishing Spots in California

A Deeper Look at Fishing in California

Fishing Heritage in California

California has the largest and most diverse fisheries of any state in the Lower 48, and a fishing history that maps almost perfectly to the state's wider environmental story. For thousands of years, the Yurok, Karuk, Hupa, Pomo, Miwok, Ohlone, Chumash, and dozens of other tribal communities built their year around salmon, steelhead, eulachon, sturgeon, and shellfish. Yurok fishing platforms on the Klamath River and Karuk dipnet sites at Ishi Pishi Falls are still active today and remain among the most important cultural sites on the West Coast. Spanish missions and ranchos in the 1700s and 1800s brought Mediterranean fishing methods to the coast, and Italian and Portuguese immigrants in San Francisco and Monterey turned the central coast into one of the great commercial fishing regions of the world by the late 1800s.

The Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers once carried a salmon run that rivaled the Columbia's, with chinook returns measured in the millions. Hydraulic mining sediment, dam construction (Shasta Dam, Friant Dam, Folsom), and water diversion to Central Valley agriculture decimated the runs, but striped bass introduced in 1879 thrived in the brackish Delta and created an entirely new sport fishery. Coastal canneries gave way to recreational saltwater fleets after the collapse of the sardine fishery in the late 1940s (the era John Steinbeck wrote about). Today the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) manages everything from alpine cutthroat fisheries above 10,000 feet to deep-water rockfish a hundred miles offshore, plus reintroduced steelhead programs, Delta striper hunts, and one of the most contentious ocean salmon management environments in the country.

Drought, dam removal projects (notably on the Klamath), and tribal co-management make California fishing a constantly evolving picture.

The Best Fishing Spots in California

Clear Lake in Lake County is widely regarded as the best big-bass lake in the West and one of the top largemouth fisheries in America, producing multiple double-digit fish every spring and a string of national-tournament wins. The California Delta, where the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers meet salt water, is a 1,000-mile maze of sloughs, levees, and tidal channels famous for trophy largemouth, striped bass, and sturgeon. San Francisco Bay and its tributaries hold a strong fall and spring striped bass run, salmon (when seasons are open), halibut, leopard shark, and white sturgeon, the largest freshwater-spawning fish in North America with state-record fish over 400 pounds. Lake Shasta, the state's largest reservoir, produces trophy spotted bass and the official world-record spotted bass weighed over 11 pounds.

Lake Berryessa, Folsom, Don Pedro, and New Melones round out the Sierra foothill bass and trout reservoirs. The Eastern Sierra around Bishop, Mammoth Lakes, and Bridgeport offers some of the country's best high-elevation trout fishing in waters like Crowley Lake, the Owens River, Hot Creek, and Convict Lake. The North Coast Klamath, Trinity, Smith, and Eel Rivers hold steelhead and salmon runs and are the heart of California's anadromous fishery. Saltwater anglers run out of Bodega Bay, Half Moon Bay, Morro Bay, San Diego, and Oceanside for rockfish, lingcod, halibut, white seabass, yellowtail, dorado, and bluefin and yellowfin tuna.

Long-range trips out of San Diego target wahoo, marlin, and giant tuna.

Game Fish Species You'll Find in California

California's freshwater fish list is enormous. Largemouth bass dominate the lowland reservoirs and the Delta, with the (now-disputed) world-record largemouth of 22-plus pounds caught at Dixon Lake near San Diego in 2006. Spotted bass set world records at Lake Shasta and New Bullards Bar. Smallmouth thrive in the Sacramento drainage and Trinity.

Striped bass live and reproduce in the Delta and surrounding bays, supporting one of America's only significant inland striper populations. Native rainbow trout and steelhead (the sea-run version) are central to the North Coast and Eastern Sierra; California is also home to several distinct native trout including the redband, McCloud River bull trout (extirpated), Lahontan cutthroat (state heritage trout, growing huge in Pyramid Lake just over the Nevada line), Paiute cutthroat, golden trout (state fish, native to the Kern River drainage), and Eagle Lake rainbow. King and coho salmon return to Central Valley and North Coast rivers when seasons permit. White and green sturgeon, kokanee salmon, brown trout, brook trout, lake trout (Mackinaw) at Lake Tahoe and Donner, channel and flathead catfish, crappie, bluegill, and redear sunfish round out freshwater.

Saltwater species include Pacific halibut and California halibut, white seabass, yellowtail, calico (kelp) bass, sand bass, dorado, yellowfin and bluefin tuna, albacore, lingcod, vermilion and yelloweye rockfish, cabezon, and sharks.

Fishing Licenses and Regulations in California

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) manages sport fisheries. Anglers age 16 and older need a license to fish public waters. Licenses are sold online through the CDFW portal, at CDFW offices, and at thousands of license agents including outdoor stores and bait shops. California's annual sport fishing license is among the more expensive in the country; resident annual licenses typically cost around $60, and non-resident annual licenses run roughly $160.

Short-term one-day, two-day, and ten-day non-resident options are popular with visitors. Add-on validations and report cards are commonly required and add cost: a steelhead report card, a salmon report card, an ocean enhancement validation for fishing south of Point Arguello, an Inland Bay Delta sturgeon report card with sturgeon fishing report card, and a North Coast Salmon and Steelhead report card depending on where you fish. A second-rod validation lets freshwater anglers fish two rods. Reduced-fee licenses are available for low-income seniors, recovering service members, mobility-impaired and disabled anglers, and disabled veterans.

Tribal lands such as the Yurok and Hoopa Valley reservations have separate tribal fishing rules and may not be open to non-tribal anglers. Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) cover hundreds of miles of California coast and prohibit or restrict take in many areas, so always check the MPA boundaries before fishing the ocean.

Best Seasons for Fishing in California

Bass fishing in the Delta and Clear Lake peaks during the prespawn and spawn from February through April. Eastern Sierra trout streams open the last Saturday of April under the historic 'opening day' tradition, and many high-country waters fish best from June through October once the snow melts. Salmon ocean seasons are set annually by the Pacific Fishery Management Council and the California Fish and Game Commission and have been heavily restricted in drought years; check the current regulations every spring. Steelhead runs hit the North Coast rivers from late November through March.

Striped bass run upriver in spring and again in fall. Halibut fishing in San Francisco Bay peaks May through July. Yellowtail and tuna show up off Southern California from June through October, with warm-water years extending the season into November. Rockfish seasons rotate by depth and management area, generally open spring through fall with closures in winter for most central and northern areas.

CDFW stocks trout heavily in put-and-take lakes and streams across the state from spring through fall.

Local Fishing Tips for California Anglers

On Clear Lake, throw big swimbaits and umbrella rigs around tule edges in late winter. The Delta runs on tides, not clocks; learn the tide tables and you'll catch fish, ignore them and you won't. For Eastern Sierra trout, small jigs, PowerBait, and barbless flies under indicators are the daily standards; try perch fry imitations on Crowley in fall. Steelhead anglers swing flies and side-drift roe on the Trinity, Smith, and Klamath, with the best months October through January depending on river and conditions.

Saltwater half-day boats for rockfish out of Half Moon Bay or Morro Bay are an easy entry point for new anglers. Yellowtail off La Jolla bite best on live mackerel or sardines fished on the kelp lines. Fire and drought have closed access to many California waters in recent years, so check current closures before you drive. Tribal lands on the Klamath, Trinity, and Hoopa systems are not open to general public fishing, and tribal fishing rights take precedence on these rivers.

MPAs change every few years; the CDFW website has interactive maps. Boating regulations require boater education cards for most operators and require life jackets for kids under 13.

California Fishing FAQ

Sources & Further Reading

• https://wildlife.ca.gov/
• https://wildlife.ca.gov/Fishing
• https://wildlife.ca.gov/Licensing/Fishing
• https://wildlife.ca.gov/Conservation/Marine/MPAs