San Pedro fishing spots and seasons
The historic heart of LA sportfishing: the closest jump to Catalina, the Horseshoe Kelp, and the big summer sand-bass flats.
Today's read out of San Pedro
Horseshoe Kelp grades Pass for calico bass today, scoring 60 out of 100.
One ground, read every day, so you can watch it move. A trial opens the rest: every species, and the best water in range. Updated SAT 31 OCT · 15:00 UPDATE. A Bite Score grades the conditions, it does not promise a fish.
Start free trial →LA's classic launch to Catalina
San Pedro is where LA sportfishing grew up: a working harbor with a straight, short crossing to Catalina Island, 26 miles out. When the yellows and seabass are on the island, this is one of the handiest ramps to reach them.
Closer in, the Horseshoe Kelp and the harbor flats are money in summer, when the barred sand bass stack up to spawn. Add breakwater calico and warm-water bonito and you've got a port that fishes something nearly all season.
San Pedro fish species
Leaving San Pedro, on any given week you could tangle with:
Fishing spots within range of San Pedro
- CATALINA ISLANDA short, straight crossing to island kelp and boilers: yellowtail, calico and white seabass.
- HORSESHOE KELPA close deeper hard-bottom grounds: bass and, when open, rockfish, minutes from the harbor.
- THE HARBOR FLATSSand around the breakwater where barred sand bass gang up to spawn in summer.
- THE BREAKWATERMiles of rock holding calico and bass close to the ramp.
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
- CATALINA ISLAND
Calico Bass
- CATALINA ISLAND
- HORSESHOE KELP
- THE BREAKWATER
Rockfish
- HORSESHOE KELP
Sand Bass
- THE HARBOR FLATS
White Seabass
- CATALINA ISLAND
Bonito
- THE BREAKWATER
Sheephead
- CATALINA ISLAND
- THE BREAKWATER
Whitefish
- CATALINA ISLAND
Sculpin
- HORSESHOE KELP
Thresher
- HORSESHOE KELP
Best time to fish out of San Pedro
San Pedro's signature is the summer sand-bass spawn on the flats and the kelp, the warm months are the peak. Catalina fishes best spring into fall for yellows and seabass, and bonito show on a warm push. Things slow through winter close to home.
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.
More on San Pedro
Mackerel off the pier: catching Pacific mackerel from Southern California piers
Mackerel are the pier fish everybody catches. Where they hold around a pier, when they come up, what to tie on, and what to do with them after.
How to catch sheephead in Southern California: reef, bait and the fall bite
Sheephead keep eating when the calico bite goes quiet. Here is where to drop, what bait stays on the hook, and how to win the first ten feet.
How to catch bonito in Southern California: breakwaters, bubbles and fast chrome
Bonito come close to shore when the water warms. Here is where to look, what light tackle to bring, and four rigs that get them to bite.
Barracuda in Southern California: when they arrive, where they hold, why some years boom
Barracuda ride warm water up from Baja each spring and can fill a slow morning by summer. When they show, where they hold, why the numbers swing, and how to beat the teeth.
Ocean whitefish: the island reef fish nobody targets and everybody takes home
A tilefish from south of the border that rides the warm years into the Bight. Where it holds on the island reefs, how to fish for it, and why its colours fade so fast.
California sheephead: how the reef's red-and-black wrasse lives and changes sex
Every sheephead starts life as a female, and the biggest become the red-and-black males that hold a stretch of reef. What that means for where you fish and what you keep.
Read the water from San Pedro
See today's Bite Score for the grounds you can actually reach from here.