California: Excellent Year-Round Fishing on the West Coast

There are so many great spots to fish in California that a few words may not be enough to do them justice. Suffice it to say, though, that you will never find a bad area or an unproductive season for fishing in the state. You will also fill your bucket in California, as long as you know which fish are biting during your season and how you can best land them.

If you find yourself in the bays of Northern California or NorCal, get your gear ready for Chinook salmon, halibut, black rockfish, and more. Bodega Bay along Sonoma is a great place to start. Here you can fish on the jetties and piers along the shore or hop on a charter to go deeper. On the Redwood Coast, you’ll find the stunning Humboldt Bay, where you can target striped bass and steelhead, among many others. Take advantage of the many public access points in town such as the Del Monte Street Pier. If you don’t want to stray too far out of the city, San Francisco offers access to its wonderful piers and wharves along with guided fishing tours. 

For a truly mind-blowing salmon fishing experience, head to the eastern side of the Bay Area where you will find the Delta. It is formally called the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and is known as a hotspot for Chinook salmon migration. Other fish you might find in this incredibly rich water body are catfish, sturgeon, striped bass, bluegill, steelhead, and common carp. 

NorCal likewise has its fair share of inland lakes and streams, many of which boast the clearest and cleanest waters on the West Coast. Lake Tahoe is a prime example. Flanked by majestic mountains, the lake is home to monster mackinaw or lake trout. For rainbow trout and brown trout, the McCloud River running off Mt. Shasta should be high up on your list. There are a great many largemouth bass fishing lakes in NorCal as well. But if you can only fit one in your itinerary, then it has to be Clear Lake, the so-called Bass Capital of the West. While the lake record has yet to be beaten, Clear Lake regularly produces ten-pounders more than any other bass lake in the area.

Golden trout is considered the state freshwater fish, but it is sadly not as common throughout California. The species is mainly found in Golden Trout Creek, Volcano Creek, and the South Fork Kern River and is native to the southern part of the Sierra Nevada mountains. While it’s not illegal. To fish for golden trout, anglers are advised to practice catch-and-release on the species to keep their population healthy for generations to come.

Should you find yourself in Southern California or SoCal, you would be amiss if you don’t fish on the Pacific Coast. SoCal offers some of the most accessible spots to fish this legendary water body. To start with, try pier fishing. Virtually every beach on the coastline has a pier that allows anglers to fish the saltwater on steady ground. Ventura Pier is perhaps its most iconic. More than a thousand feet long, the pier offers easy access to deep water fish species such as mackerel and shark. Cayucos Pier on Morro Bay is a perch haven while the historic Oceanside Pier in San Diego County offers access to a great range of SoCal favorites from croaker to sand bass.

For some adrenaline-filled deep-sea fishing, book a charter going to Catalina and San Clemente Islands where you can have the fight of your life with some of the Pacific’s greatest catch, including a range of marlin and tuna species, yellowtail amberjack, and barracuda.