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

Spotted Bay Bass

Paralabrax maculatofasciatus. Prime water reaches San Francisco in California right now (62°F on the bottom). Fish it around 23 ft down — that is where 60°F water sits off San Francisco.

Spotted Bay Bass identification illustration
LaneInshore · 10 fa (60 ft)
Depth it holds3–39 ft
Prime water59–75°F (workable 59–81°F)
Holds in the column3–39 ft down (on the bottom)
Judged onseabed temperature (RTOFS at depth)
Structurerequires bay riprap, eelgrass and pilings

The water column off San Francisco

0 ft26 ft52 ft20 ft of workable water3–23 ft · 60–59°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 Spotted Bay Bass's temperature band (59–81°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.

How it's fished

Small plastics worked slow along bay riprap, eelgrass and dock pilings.

Region by region — right now

RegionSeasonPrime waterTempFish it atMonths
California in season reaches San Francisco 62°F ~23 ft
J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
"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 seabed temperature sits inside this species' band. It is water, not a sighting report.
Charted grounds on the 10-fathom lane
The Farallon Islands