Baja California Pacific Coast

Rockfish (Sebastes spp.)

Sebastes spp.

Dozens of species share one habit: structure. Rockfish are the reliable backbone of BC bottom fishing and perfect for new boat anglers.

California Yellowtail

Seriola dorsalis

Southern California's signature gamefish — a yellow-striped jack of the islands and kelp beds that surface-feeds in summer and pulls like a train year-round.

Pacific Mackerel

Scomber japonicus

The west coast's bait-machine — Pacific mackerel swarm piers and kelp lines in green-backed schools, keeping pier kids busy and filling bait tanks for the whole fishery.

Ocean Whitefish

Caulolatilus princeps

The party-boat professional of Southern California — ocean whitefish school over island rockpiles by the hundreds, bite squid strips all day, and eat like the tilefish they are.

Kelp Bass

Paralabrax clathratus

The calico bass of southern California kelp forests — kelp bass ambush swimbaits and baitfish from the weeds and fight hard for the kelp. Summer is prime time, when big bull bass gather along the outer edge.

Roosterfish

Nematistius pectoralis

The eastern Pacific's iconic inshore gamefish, reserved for sport fishing in Mexico and almost always released. Roosters hunt mullet and sardines in the surf and around rocky points, raising their comb-like dorsal fin when excited.

Striped Marlin

Kajikia audax

Los Cabos is the world capital for this acrobatic Indo-Pacific billfish, which follows cooler 20-25°C water and bait schools over offshore banks. Most fish are released; it is the most widely distributed marlin.

Pacific Sierra

Scomberomorus sierra

The most abundant gamefish on the Pacific coast of Mexico and Central America — a schooling Spanish mackerel that slashes bait in the surf and around nearshore reefs, and makes first-class ceviche.

Green Jack

Caranx caballus

A small, green-backed schooling jack of Pacific beaches and reefs — willing on light tackle, abundant from Baja to Panama, and a staple live bait for larger predators as well as a food fish.

White Snook

Centropomus viridis

A large, pale Pacific snook — with black snook one of only two Pacific snooks that grow truly big — famous for heavy surf fish at Baja river mouths and for mangrove lagoon fish on the mainland.

Shortfin Corvina

Cynoscion parvipinnis

A steel-blue-backed corvina of Baja's Pacific lagoons and the whole Sea of Cortez, taken south only to about Mazatlán — a bread-and-butter surf and bay fish on light tackle and an excellent table fish.

Black Croaker

Cheilotrema saturnum

A dark, perch-shaped croaker of Southern California and Baja rocky reefs — the 'China croaker' — that shelters in caves and crevices by day and feeds around kelp and reef edges.

Zebra Perch

Kyphosus azureus

A barred, oval sea chub of Baja Pacific reef flats — formerly placed in the genus Hermosilla — and a true herbivore that grazes red, brown and green algae in water often less than 8 m deep.

Finescale Triggerfish

Balistes polylepis

The cochi — the largest eastern Pacific triggerfish — patrols rocky reefs of the Cortez and Baja, cracking sea urchins and crabs with powerful beak-like jaws; a tough-fighting, thick-skinned bottom fish.

Pacific Crevalle Jack

Caranx caninus

The eastern Pacific sister species of the Atlantic crevalle jack — a schooling, hard-running predator of surf beaches, estuary mouths and nearshore bait schools from Baja to Panama. Revered for its fight rather than its flesh.

Broomtail Grouper

Mycteroperca xenarcha

The broomtail grouper is a large Pacific Mycteroperca named for the ragged, broom-like margin of its tail fin, with juveniles in mangroves and adults on rocky reefs and wrecks from Baja to Panama. Catches have declined, so big fish matter for the spawning stock.

Black Skipjack

Euthynnus lineatus

The eastern Pacific's small tuna, forming mixed schools with yellowfin and skipjack over warm coastal and offshore surface water. It is a fast, opportunistic predator and a lively light-tackle and bait-boat fish.

Blackblotch Pompano

Trachinotus kennedyi

The big Pacific pompano of surf and estuaries, common from Magdalena Bay and the southern Gulf of California to Ecuador. It is a strong, deep-bodied coastal fighter and a valued local food fish.

Paloma Pompano

Trachinotus paitensis

A slim Pacific pompano of surf and bays, ranging from southern California to Chile but common only from Baja southward. It schools over sand, feeds on bottom invertebrates and is a pleasant light-tackle surf catch.

Fantail Sole

Xystreurys liolepis

A large Pacific sand flounder from Monterey Bay to the Gulf of California, named for its broad fan-shaped tail, most abundant off Baja California and a prized incidental catch on small crustacean baits.

Stone Triggerfish

Pseudobalistes naufragium

The world's largest triggerfish — a metre-long, plate-scaled Pacific giant that blows into sand to uncover urchins and crustaceans, and a rare, powerful catch for bottom anglers on the Baja and mainland Pacific coasts.