MINIMUM SIZE
None
Species · Tuna
Albacore tuna fishing in Southern California
Thunnus alalunga
The longfin that built the Southern California long-range fleet, and that now mostly runs well north and west of it.
TYPE
Albacore (longfin tuna)
SCIENTIFIC NAME
Thunnus alalunga
TYPICAL SIZE
15–30 lb
LIKES WATER
58–66°F, clean and blue
NOW MOSTLY
Far offshore or well north
BEST MONTHS
Jul – Oct, in the years they show
albacore regulations
DAILY BAG
10, on top of the general limit
OPEN SEASON
Year round
Ten south of Point Conception, twenty-five north of it, either way in addition to the twenty-fish general finfish limit.
14 CCR 28.38(a), as read on October 9, 2026. Limits, seasons and marine protected area boundaries change, so the CDFW ocean sport fishing regulations are the authority, not this page. Check them before you keep anything.
Meet the albacore
The one tuna you can identify from across the deck: the pectoral fins are enormous, reaching back past the second dorsal. Steel blue above, white below, and the only tuna the law lets a US cannery label “white meat.” For decades it was the fish that filled SoCal boats in summer.
What changed
Albacore follow a cool, clean, blue band of water, and that band has mostly sat further offshore and further north since the middle of the last decade. Oregon and Washington still have a real fishery; Southern California gets them in some years and not in others. That is an honest statement of where they are, not a seasonal forecast.
How big albacore get
A “peanut” is under ten pounds, a normal fish is in the high teens to upper twenties, and a forty-pounder is a genuinely big albacore. They do not grow to bluefin size, and they do not need to: they pull hard and they do it in circles, straight down, under the boat.
How to catch albacore
Historically trolled feathers and cedar plugs to find a school, then stop the boat, throw live bait, and fish the resulting foam. The method has not changed. What has changed is how far you have to run to use it.
🐟 FUN FACT
Albacore are one of the longest-migrating tuna there is: fish tagged off California have been recovered off Japan, having crossed the entire North Pacific and in some cases come back again.
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From the logbook
More on albacore
Heading out for something we do grade?
This is a profile, not a scored species. Fish or Pass grades seven fish across the Bight every day, so if you are going anyway, see what the water is doing for those.