Creel Quick answer: Every species below carries its own season, bag limit and size limit, and most of them change between California's six management regions. Pick one for the numbers that apply where you fish. Creel carries all 39 species; these are the ones people look up most.
| Species | Open in | Size limit |
|---|---|---|
| Rockfish | 5 of 6 regions | All Rockfish: No minimum size limit Cabezon and Greenlings: No minimum size limit |
| Lingcod | 5 of 6 regions | 22" total length |
| California Halibut | 6 of 6 regions | 22-inch minimum |
| Spiny Lobster | 0 of 1 regions | No minimum |
| Dungeness Crab | 0 of 5 regions | No minimum |
| Ocean Salmon | 2 of 6 regions | 20-inch minimum |
| White Seabass | 4 of 4 regions | 28-inch minimum |
| Yellowtail | 1 of 1 regions | 24-inch minimum |
| Surfperch | 6 of 6 regions | 10½-inch minimum |
| Red Abalone | 0 of 6 regions | No minimum |
| California Scorpionfish (Sculpin) | 5 of 5 regions | No minimum |
| Kelp Bass & Sand Bass | 1 of 1 regions | 14-inch minimum |
| Leopard Shark | 6 of 6 regions | 36-inch minimum |
Why "no minimum size" is not the same as "no limit"
Rockfish, cabezon and greenlings have no minimum size anywhere in California. That does not make them unregulated — they are controlled by a 10-fish aggregate across the whole complex, with hard sub-limits inside it: one copper, two canary, four vermilion in the Northern Management Area and two everywhere else. Ten fish is legal; ten fish that happen to include two coppers is not.