Point Loma fishing spots and seasons

Why San Diego stays bent the longest

Point Loma sits at the very bottom of the state, closest to the warm water that pushes up from Baja every summer. That southern jump gives San Diego boats a head start on the season and a tail end nobody else gets. Duck a few miles south across the line to the Coronado Islands and there's biting structure when the rest of SoCal has gone cold and quiet.

Add the close-in banks, the La Jolla kelp on the lip of a deep canyon, and a straight shot to the offshore grounds, and you've got the most flexible home port on the coast: a short-range calico morning or a long-range tuna run, same ramp.

Point Loma fish species

Leaving Point Loma, on any given week you could tangle with:

Fishing spots within range of Point Loma

• THE CORONADO ISLANDSA short run south across the border: island structure, boiler rocks and kelp. Yellowtail hold here into the cold months, later than anywhere north. Mexican waters.
• 9 MILE BANKClose-in high spot off the point, a reliable first stop for meter marks and tuna in the warm months.
• LA JOLLA KELP & CANYONThick kelp on the edge of a deep canyon: calico, bass, yellows and the occasional surprise, minutes from the ramp.
• THE OFFSHORE BANKSThe 178, 302, 371 and 425 out in the blue, where the tuna and dorado stack under paddies on a warm push.

Which ground holds which fish

The grounds above, grouped the other way round. Where to go is the part that does not move; what you may keep, and when, is not, so read the note at the foot of this page and check the current CDFW rules before you run.

• Yellowtail

  • THE CORONADO ISLANDS
  • LA JOLLA KELP & CANYON

• Bluefin

  • 9 MILE BANK
  • THE OFFSHORE BANKS

• Yellowfin

  • 9 MILE BANK
  • THE OFFSHORE BANKS

• Dorado

  • THE OFFSHORE BANKS

• Calico Bass

  • THE CORONADO ISLANDS
  • LA JOLLA KELP & CANYON

• Rockfish

  • LA JOLLA KELP & CANYON

• Marlin

  • THE OFFSHORE BANKS

• Sheephead

  • THE CORONADO ISLANDS
  • LA JOLLA KELP & CANYON

• Whitefish

  • THE CORONADO ISLANDS
  • 9 MILE BANK

• Sculpin

  • 9 MILE BANK
  • LA JOLLA KELP & CANYON

• Mako

  • THE OFFSHORE BANKS

• Skipjack

  • THE OFFSHORE BANKS

Best time to fish out of Point Loma

San Diego gets the coast's longest season. Yellowtail turn on as the water warms in spring and hang tough at the Coronados deep into fall, later than anywhere north. Tuna and dorado light up on the summer-and-fall warm push. Winter slows down, but the islands still give up fish on the better days.

Warmer = redder. A rough shape of the year, not a promise: the ocean writes its own calendar, which is exactly why you check the daily read.