MINIMUM SIZE
None
Species · Tilefish
Ocean whitefish fishing in Southern California
Caulolatilus princeps
The yellow-finned fish nobody books a trip for, which quietly turns out to be the best meal on the boat.
TYPE
Ocean whitefish (a tilefish)
SCIENTIFIC NAME
Caulolatilus princeps
TYPICAL SIZE
2–6 lb
LIVES ON
Island reef and hard bottom
DEPTH
Often 60–250 ft
BEST MONTHS
Year round
ocean whitefish regulations
DAILY BAG
10, inside the general limit
OPEN SEASON
Year round
14 CCR 28.58, 27.60(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 ocean whitefish
A long, tapered, sandy-gold fish with a continuous dorsal fin running most of its back and yellow in the fins. It is a tilefish, not related to anything else on this list, and it has the unglamorous job of being the fish you catch while trying to catch something else.
Where ocean whitefish hang out
Island and offshore hard bottom, strongest around Catalina, San Clemente and the Coronados, and on the banks. They hold just off the rock rather than buried in it, so they turn up on the same drops as rockfish but a little higher in the water.
How big ocean whitefish get
Two to four pounds is typical and a six-pounder is a very good one. They do not grow enormous and they do not fight especially hard, which is most of the reason nobody targets them deliberately.
How to catch ocean whitefish
Squid strips or cut bait on a dropper loop, fished a few feet off the bottom rather than on it. They bite all day and all year. Ask anyone who fishes the islands regularly what they take home most often and a surprising number will say this.
Where to catch ocean whitefish
The grounds that hold ocean whitefish 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.
- Point Loma
- THE CORONADO ISLANDS
- 9 MILE BANK
- Oceanside
- SAN CLEMENTE ISLAND
- Dana Point
- SAN CLEMENTE ISLAND
- Newport Beach
- CATALINA ISLAND
- Long Beach
- CATALINA ISLAND
- San Pedro
- CATALINA ISLAND
- Marina del Rey
- CATALINA ISLAND
- Channel Islands Harbor
- ANACAPA ISLAND
- SANTA CRUZ ISLAND
- Santa Barbara
- SANTA CRUZ ISLAND
- ANACAPA ISLAND
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
Ocean whitefish is the fish most often mislabelled on a SoCal dock count, usually logged as “assorted” or lumped in with the rockfish, which is part of why the recreational data on it is thinner than the catch would suggest.
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From the logbook
More on ocean whitefish
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.