MINIMUM SIZE
24 in fork length or 5 lb
Species · Bonito
Pacific bonito fishing in Southern California
Sarda chiliensis
A mackerel-family rocket with an outsized motor, and pound for pound the hardest pull you can get inside the breakwater.
TYPE
Pacific bonito (a bonito)
SCIENTIFIC NAME
Sarda chiliensis
TYPICAL SIZE
2–8 lb
LIKES WATER
62–70°F
FOUND
Breakwaters, harbour mouths, offshore
BEST MONTHS
Warm years, Jun – Oct
Pacific bonito regulations
DAILY BAG
10, up to 5 of them short
OPEN SEASON
Year round
Most bonito here run two to five pounds, under the size limit, so the five-fish allowance for undersize fish is the number that actually binds.
14 CCR 28.32, 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 bonito
Not a true tuna, though it is built on the same plan: bonito sit in the mackerel family alongside the tunas, on a branch of their own, and carry dark slanting stripes along the back. They are warm, oily, fast, and they do not stop. A five-pound bonito on light line pulls harder than most ten-pound fish you will hook here.
Where Pacific bonito hang out
Wherever the water is warm and there is bait: the Long Beach and San Pedro breakwaters, harbour mouths, the kelp line, and well offshore around paddies. Numbers swing enormously year to year, because they ride the warm push, so a strong El Niño year can fill the harbours with them.
How big Pacific bonito get
Most are two to five pounds. Anything over eight is a “firecracker” gone right, and a true double-digit bonito is rare on this coast. They make superb live bait for bigger fish, which is most of what the big ones end up doing.
How to catch Pacific bonito
Small chrome, a bonito splasher with a feather trailing behind, or a fly-lined anchovy. They school tight and feed competitively, so once you find them the hard part is landing one before the next three hit your line. Bleed them straight away; the meat is dark and strong if you do not.
Where to catch Pacific bonito
The grounds that hold Pacific bonito within reach of each home port, south to north. Follow a port through for its season, the rest of the water it reaches, and the rules that apply there.
- Long Beach
- THE BREAKWATER
- San Pedro
- THE BREAKWATER
- Marina del Rey
- THE BREAKWATERS & JETTIES
Seasons, depth limits, size and bag limits and marine protected area boundaries are set by CDFW and change from year to year. Check the current rules for the ground you are running to before you keep anything.
🐟 FUN FACT
Bonito numbers are one of the better amateur indicators of a warm year. When the harbours fill up with them, dorado and yellowfin are usually not far behind offshore.
More species
Bluefin TunaYellowfin TunaYellowtailDoradoCalico BassRockfishMarlinWhite SeabassBarred Sand BassCalifornia HalibutCalifornia BarracudaLingcodCalifornia SheepheadSculpinOcean WhitefishSpotted Bay BassPacific MackerelAlbacoreShortfin MakoCommon ThresherGiant Sea BassOpahSwordfishSkipjack TunaCabezonPacific Sanddab
From the logbook
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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.