Creel Quick answer: Surfperch is open in all 6 California regions where CDFW regulates it, with a 10½-inch minimum. The bag limit is not the same everywhere, so the table below has the number for each region. Read on September 7, 2026; seasons change in-season with days of notice.
How to identify Surfperch
Surfperch are a family, not a species: 23 worldwide and 18 in California waters. They share a compressed, elliptical outline with a furrow along either side of the dorsal fin, a continuous dorsal fin and a forked tail, with the lateral line running high on the side. Barred surfperch is the common southern one, redtail the northern one. A non-barred colour variant of the barred surfperch is common north of Santa Cruz, so the bars alone are not enough.
Also called seaperch, perch.
Size, range and where it lives
| Size | Barred surfperch average about 6.8 inches standard length at 2 years old, which is also the age at which females are carrying developing embryos. |
|---|---|
| Range | Barred surfperch run from Bodega Bay to central Baja California; redtail from Vancouver Island down to Avila Beach, rarely south of San Mateo County. The two overlap for about 300 miles, from Bodega Bay to Port San Luis. |
| Habitat | Open-coast sandy beaches, juveniles and adults alike, in high-energy surf. Sandy beach makes up 57% of the open coastline north of Point Conception and 82% of the mainland coastline south of it. |
Surfperch by region
| Region | Status | Bag limit | Size limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Northern | Open | 20 fish daily | 10½-inch minimum |
| Mendocino | Open | 20 fish daily | 10½-inch minimum |
| San Francisco | Open | 20 fish daily | 10½-inch minimum |
| SF Bay | Open | — | — |
| Central | Open | 20 fish daily | 10½-inch minimum |
| Southern | Open | 20 fish daily | 10½-inch minimum |
Season dates
- open year-round
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.