Creel Quick answer: California Scorpionfish is open in all 5 California regions where CDFW regulates it. The bag limit is the same in every region it applies to. Read on September 7, 2026; seasons change in-season with days of notice.
How to identify California Scorpionfish
A stocky, slightly compressed body with a large head, a large mouth and large pectoral fins, coloured red to brown with dark blotches and spotting over the body and the fins. It has venom in the spines of its dorsal, anal and pelvic fins, and a prick is intensely painful without being fatal. Nearly every California angler calls it a sculpin, which is the wrong family: it is a scorpionfish.
Also called sculpin.
Size, range and where it lives
| Size | Usually mature by 6.7 inches. CDFW records them to 18.5 inches and 4.4 pounds. |
|---|---|
| Range | Between Uncle Sam Bank, Baja California, and Santa Cruz, California, with an isolated population in the Gulf of California. Far more common in the south of the state than in the north. |
| Habitat | Hard, rocky bottom, with a preferred depth range of roughly 20 to 450 feet. |
California Scorpionfish by region
| Region | Status | Bag limit | Size limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mendocino | Open | 5 fish daily | — |
| San Francisco | Open | 5 fish daily | — |
| SF Bay | Open | 5 fish daily | — |
| Central | Open | 5 fish daily | — |
| Southern | Open | 5 fish daily | — |
Season dates
- open year-round, at all depths
Depth restrictions
- at all depths
What it costs to get it wrong
An undersize fish or one over the bag limit runs roughly $430 to $485 in total bail as an infraction, plus a further $71 to $82 for every individual fish over the line. Charged as a misdemeanor the base part is about $958 to $1,095, with the same per-fish amount on top. The range is real: two of the assessments are set county by county.
How California fishing fines are actually calculated →
This page is a snapshot taken on September 7, 2026. Creel re-reads every CDFW regional page daily and shows current status for your region, offline. Always confirm with CDFW before fishing.