Creel Quick answer: CDFW manages California's ocean as six regions, running from the Oregon border to Mexico, plus San Francisco Bay as its own. The same species carries different bag limits and different season dates in each, and nothing on the water marks where one ends and the next begins. Pick yours below.
| Region | Boundary | Species | MPAs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Northern Region | Oregon border to Cape Mendocino (40°10′ N) | 24 | 14 |
| Mendocino Region | Cape Mendocino to Point Arena (38°57′ N) | 25 | 14 |
| San Francisco Region | Point Arena to Pigeon Point (37°11′ N), ocean coast | 25 | 30 |
| SF Bay Region | San Francisco Bay proper | 28 | 8 |
| Central Region | Pigeon Point to Point Conception (34°27′ N) | 27 | 29 |
| Southern Region | Point Conception to the Mexico border | 30 | 62 |
Why six regions and not one rulebook
A fishery that is healthy off Crescent City is not necessarily healthy off San Diego, so CDFW sets its numbers by area. The practical result for an angler is that a limit memorised on one trip can be wrong on the next one, 200 miles down the same coast — and that a printed booklet is a statewide document answering a regional question.
The clearest example is California halibut: 22 inches everywhere, but five fish a day in the Central and Southern regions and two in the four northern ones. Rockfish is the other: open at all depths through December 31 in the north, closed entirely in the Southern Region from October 1.