Best Places to Fish in California: 14 Spots From Coast to Sierra

California has 840 miles of coastline, more than 7,000 lakes and reservoirs, and thousands of miles of rivers that run from 14,000-foot Sierra peaks to the Pacific. The fishing is as diverse as the geography — kelp-bed calico bass off San Diego, chinook salmon in the Sacramento River, trophy largemouth from Southern California reservoirs, steelhead on North Coast rivers, bluefin tuna on offshore banks, and golden trout in high-Sierra streams above 10,000 feet. No other state offers this range. Whether you’re casting from a pier, drifting the Delta, or running 60 miles offshore, California has a destination that matches. These are the spots that consistently produce the best fishing in the state.

Best Saltwater Fishing Spots

San Diego

San Diego is the sportfishing capital of the West Coast, and it’s not close. The city’s fleet of long-range and half-day boats runs out of Point Loma, Mission Bay, and Oceanside, targeting everything from yellowtail and calico bass on the kelp beds to bluefin tuna, yellowfin tuna, and swordfish on the offshore banks. The deep submarine canyons — Nine Mile Bank, Butterfly Bank, Tanner Bank — put big pelagics within day-trip range, and the recent explosion of Pacific bluefin tuna (fish over 200 lbs regularly since the mid-2010s) has put San Diego on the international big-game map. Many of California’s saltwater records come from these waters.

Inshore, the La Jolla kelp beds produce calico bass, sheephead, and yellowtail. The bays — Mission Bay and San Diego Bay — hold spotted bay bass, halibut, and corbina. Shore anglers work the jetties, piers (Ocean Beach Pier, Shelter Island Pier), and the rocky points along the coast. San Diego also offers the best surf fishing in the state for corbina, spotfin croaker, and barred surfperch on the sandy beaches south of La Jolla.

Channel Islands

The Channel Islands — Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa, Anacapa, San Miguel, Santa Catalina, San Clemente, Santa Barbara, and San Nicolas — create some of the most productive offshore fishing habitat on the Pacific coast. The islands sit at the convergence of cold northern currents and warm southern water, supporting both temperate and subtropical species. Catalina Island is the most accessible (a short boat ride from Long Beach or Dana Point) and produces calico bass, yellowtail, white seabass, and barracuda year-round. The outer islands — particularly San Clemente and San Nicolas — hold the biggest yellowtail, lingcod, and rockfish.

The deep water around the islands is where California’s big-game fishing happens. Mako sharks, blue sharks, and thresher sharks patrol the edges, and the offshore banks between the islands and the mainland hold bluefin and yellowfin tuna during summer and fall. The kelp forests around the islands are among the healthiest on the coast — and the best place to see California’s state marine fish, the garibaldi, in its natural habitat.

San Francisco Bay and the Farallon Islands

San Francisco Bay is one of the great urban fisheries in the country. The bay itself holds halibut, striped bass, leopard sharks, and bat rays on the flats and channels, with the Vallejo Wall, Candlestick Point, and the Berkeley Flats being the most productive areas. Sturgeon fishing in San Pablo Bay — the northern arm of the bay system — was a legendary winter fishery before catch-and-release-only regulations took effect in 2025. The bay’s piers (Pacifica Pier, Fort Baker, the Marin Headlands) offer no-license-required fishing for a variety of species.

Run 35 miles offshore to the Farallon Islands and the fishing changes completely. The deep, nutrient-rich upwelling around the Farallons creates one of the most productive marine ecosystems on the Pacific coast. Chinook salmon, lingcod, rockfish, and halibut concentrate here, and the Farallons historically produced some of the best salmon fishing in Northern California when the season is open. Charter boats run from Emeryville, San Francisco, and Half Moon Bay.

Central Coast: Monterey Bay to Morro Bay

The Central Coast from Monterey south through San Luis Obispo is rockfish country — and the best of it in California. The deep submarine canyons (Monterey Canyon drops to over 10,000 feet) and rocky reef structure support incredible diversity, including vermilion, lingcod, cabezon, bocaccio, and copper rockfish. Morro Bay is a particularly productive home port, with access to both the near-shore kelp beds and the deeper reef systems off Piedras Blancas and Point Buchon.

Monterey Bay produces excellent halibut fishing in the spring and summer, plus albacore tuna when the warm water pushes close during fall. The pier fishing is some of the best on the coast — Monterey’s Wharf No. 2 and the Seacliff State Beach pier produce a variety of perch, smelt, and small rockfish. The area is also the most accessible place to target lingcod from shore, with rocky points and jetties producing good fish from November through March.

North Coast: Crescent City to Bodega Bay

The North Coast is wild water — cold, productive, and less pressured than anything south of San Francisco. Crescent City and Eureka (Humboldt Bay) are the primary ports, offering access to world-class salmon fishing (when the season is open), lingcod, Pacific halibut, and rockfish. The Smith River, flowing into the ocean near Crescent City, is the crown jewel — it holds the state record steelhead (27 lb 4 oz) and produces wild steelhead runs from November through March that draw fly anglers from across the country.

The Klamath and Trinity rivers round out the North Coast’s reputation as the premier salmon and steelhead region in California. Fort Bragg and Bodega Bay offer access to excellent nearshore rockfish and lingcod fishing, plus Dungeness crab during the winter season. The North Coast is where California fishing feels most like the Pacific Northwest — big rivers, old-growth forests, and the chance at a chrome-bright wild steelhead.

Best Freshwater Fishing Spots

Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta

The Delta is the most diverse freshwater fishery in California — 1,100 miles of interconnected waterways where the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers converge before emptying into San Francisco Bay. The species list is staggering: largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, spotted bass, striped bass, chinook salmon, white sturgeon, American shad, channel catfish, blue catfish, crappie, and bluegill all live in the same system. The largemouth bass fishery is the best in Northern California, with fish over 10 lbs caught annually in the vegetation-choked sloughs and cuts around Franks Tract, Bethel Island, and the Mokelumne River.

Striped bass make the Delta famous nationally. Spring (April–May) brings the annual spawning run up the Sacramento River, and the fall return (September–October) concentrates fish in the lower Delta around Sherman Lake and Montezuma Slough. Fish over 30 lbs are caught every year. The Delta is accessible from Sacramento, Stockton, and the Bay Area, with dozens of marinas, public launches, and bank-fishing access points spread across five counties.

Clear Lake

Clear Lake, the largest natural freshwater lake entirely within California (over 43,000 acres in Lake County), is the bass capital of the West. The lake’s warm, fertile water and abundant tule and vegetation produce largemouth bass that rival anything in the Southeast. Fish over 10 lbs are caught with regularity, and the lake hosts multiple professional tournament circuits annually. Both the state record black crappie (4 lb 5 oz) and white crappie (4 lb 8 oz) came from Clear Lake — it’s not just a bass lake.

The fishing is productive year-round, but the spawn from February through April is when Clear Lake produces its biggest fish. The town of Lakeport on the west shore and Clearlake on the south shore are the primary launch points. Catfish, bluegill, and Sacramento perch round out a warm-water fishery that’s genuinely world-class.

Sacramento River System

The Sacramento River is the backbone of California’s freshwater fishing. The Upper Sacramento, from Lake Siskiyou down to Shasta Lake, is one of the best wild rainbow trout streams in the state — fly anglers from Redding north have access to 40 miles of productive water. The Lower Sacramento, from Shasta Dam through Red Bluff and Sacramento to the Delta, hosts the state’s most important chinook salmon runs and excellent striped bass fishing.

The river’s tributaries add even more. The McCloud River (one of the finest wild trout streams in the West), the Feather River (American shad capital of California), and the American River (urban steelhead and salmon fishing through Sacramento) all feed the system. When the salmon season is open, the Sacramento River from Red Bluff to the Delta is one of the most productive king salmon fisheries on the Pacific coast.

Lake Shasta and Trinity Lake

Lake Shasta, the largest reservoir in California at over 30,000 acres, sits north of Redding in the shadow of Mt. Shasta. The lake holds spotted bass, largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, rainbow trout, brown trout, and chinook salmon, making it one of the most diverse fisheries in the state. The spotted bass fishing has become the headline draw — Shasta’s deep, clear arms produce oversized spots feeding on trout and shad.

Trinity Lake, an hour west of Shasta, is wilder and less pressured. The lake produced the inland chinook salmon state record (20 lb 15 oz) and holds quality smallmouth bass, largemouth bass, and kokanee salmon. The Trinity River below the dam is a major steelhead and salmon river, adding to the region’s appeal as a multi-species destination. The Shasta-Trinity area is the best base camp for anglers who want lake fishing, river fishing, and wild trout water all within an hour’s drive.

San Diego City Reservoirs

San Diego’s network of urban reservoirs — San Vicente, El Capitan, Otay, Lower Otay, and Hodges — represent one of the most unique fisheries in California. Managed by the city’s water authority, these deep canyon reservoirs have been stocked with Florida-strain largemouth bass and blue catfish that have found ideal conditions. San Vicente produced the state record blue catfish (113 lb 5 oz), and Castaic Lake in LA County holds the #2 largemouth bass in the country (21 lb 12 oz). Access is regulated (limited launch days, no private boats on some lakes), which keeps pressure low and quality high.

Eastern Sierra: Lake Tahoe and the High Country

The Eastern Sierra is trout country. Lake Tahoe — split between California and Nevada — holds lake trout (mackinaw), rainbow trout, brown trout, and kokanee salmon in its deep, clear water. The lake produced the state records for cutthroat trout (31 lb 8 oz, 1911), lake trout (37 lb 6 oz), and kokanee salmon (5 lb 2 oz). Crowley Lake near Mammoth Lakes is the most popular opening-day trout destination in California, and the small streams and alpine lakes along the 395 corridor from Bridgeport south to Lone Pine offer accessible trout fishing in spectacular scenery.

For the adventurous, the high-country lakes above 9,000 feet hold golden trout — California’s state freshwater fish — in some of the most remote and beautiful water in the lower 48. The Cottonwood Lakes near Lone Pine and the backcountry of the Golden Trout Wilderness are the primary destinations.

New Bullards Bar and the Foothill Reservoirs

California’s Sierra foothill reservoirs have emerged as the national hotspot for trophy spotted bass. New Bullards Bar Reservoir in Yuba County holds the all-time state record spotted bass (11 lb 5 oz, 2022), and Pardee Reservoir in Amador County produced both the state record smallmouth bass (9 lb 13 oz) and Sacramento pikeminnow. These deep, clear reservoirs — which also include Lake Oroville, Folsom Lake, and Don Pedro — produce oversized bass feeding on trout and shad in the cold, clean water flowing out of the Sierra. It’s a distinct California fishery with no real equivalent elsewhere in the country.

Where to Fish by Species

Frequently Asked Questions

Sources: California Department of Fish and Wildlife. Best Fishing in America — California.