Inshore · 60 ft · beaches, bays, inlets and rips

Pacific Barracuda

Sphyraena argentea. Prime water reaches San Francisco in California right now (62°F at the surface). Fish it around 27 ft down — that is where 63°F water sits off San Francisco.

Pacific Barracuda identification illustration
LaneInshore · 10 fa (60 ft)
Depth it holds16–131 ft
Prime water61–72°F (workable 61–77°F)
Holds in the column0–98 ft down below the surface, over 16–131 ft of water
Judged onsurface temperature (NASA MUR satellite)
Structurenone

The water column off San Francisco

0 ft26 ft52 ft26 ft of workable water0–26 ft · 63–61°F

The strip is the water itself, coloured by temperature from the surface down to the 52 ft surveyed bottom at that spot — one band per RTOFS model level. The outlined stretch is where Pacific Barracuda's temperature band (61–77°F) and the depth it holds actually overlap. That thickness is the number that matters: it is how much water you can work, not just whether the spot is warm enough somewhere. One model cycle, not a weekly archive — this holds still while the surface map scrubs.

In 3D

Drag to rotate, pinch or scroll to zoom. 3D model traced from a Brad Tenge / FDA Reference Fish Encyclopedia, United States government work reference — source.

How it's fished

Fast-retrieved chrome or a fly-lined sardine along the kelp line and outer edges.

Region by region — right now

RegionSeasonPrime waterTempFish it atMonths
California in season reaches San Francisco 62°F ~27 ft
J
F
M
A
M
J
J
"Fish it at" is where this species' temperature band and its holding depth overlap in the water column, from the RTOFS profile (13 levels, 0–300 m) — the depth to actually put a bait, not just the place. "Prime water" is the furthest sampled station on the 10-fathom lane whose surface temperature sits inside this species' band. It is water, not a sighting report.
Charted grounds on the 10-fathom lane
The Farallon Islands