Creel Quick answer: Yellowtail is open in the one California region where CDFW regulates it, with a 24-inch minimum. Read on September 7, 2026; seasons change in-season with days of notice.
How to identify Yellowtail
A jack, not a tuna: family Carangidae. The body is elongate and fusiform and ends in a deep forking yellow tail, which is where the name comes from. The back runs blue-green to olive-brown down to a white belly, with a yellow stripe separating the two.
Also called mossback, forktail, yellowtail jack, jurel.
Size, range and where it lives
| Size | Yellowtail start maturing at 20 inches fork length at about 3 years old, and all of them are mature by 25 inches at 4 years. |
|---|---|
| Range | British Columbia to Mazatlan, including the whole Gulf of California, with the bulk of the population from southern California through Baja. In warm El Nino years large numbers move into southern California. They range from just under the surface down to about 984 feet. |
| Habitat | Nearshore reefs, kelp forests, offshore pinnacles and floating kelp mats. Young fish live on offshore kelp mats until about 31 inches and then move to inshore reefs. Tagging off La Jolla found they favour the outer edge of the kelp forest, where reef drops into canyon. |
Yellowtail by region
| Region | Status | Bag limit | Size limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Southern | Open | 10 fish daily | 24-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.