Southern California fish species, guide by guide

Big, silver and famously moody. The fish that turns a spring squid spawn into a week of no sleep.

The summer spawn fish. Broad open sand, a fleet of boats on one spot, and a bite that runs on the tide.

An ambush predator buried in the sand, and some of the best eating that swims in the Bight.

Fast, toothy and everywhere once the water warms. The fish that rescues a slow morning.

Pound for pound the hardest pull close to home, and the best live bait you can put on a hook.

All head and teeth. The bottom fish that eats whatever you just hooked, on the way to the surface.

The red-and-black kelp wrasse that crunches urchins for a living, and changes sex to get the job.

Spiny, grumpy and genuinely venomous, and still one of the best meals on the boat.

Nobody's target and everybody's favourite dinner. Island hard bottom, all year round.

The Paralabrax bass that never leaves the bay, and the one you can fish from a kayak.

Greenbacks. The fish that feeds everything else, including the one you are actually trying to catch.

The old backbone of the summer tuna fleet, now a long way offshore in most years.

Blue water, bad attitude, and a habit of jumping. The shark that takes this fishery seriously.

Half of it is tail, and the tail is the weapon. A nearshore shark that fights like an offshore one.

A car-sized kelp-forest giant, protected from take in California. Look, photograph, let it go.

Round, red-finned and genuinely strange. Mostly caught by accident, and worth knowing about anyway.

Deep-drop, long days and a fish that fights like a truck. The hardest trip on this coast.

Nobody's first choice and everybody's first bite. When skipjack show, the warm water has arrived.

The shallow-rock bruiser with the crab habit. Good eating, and a roe you must never touch.

Small, easy and delicious. The soft-bottom fish that turns a slow day into dinner.