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Best score today · 7 PM · Rockfish

82/100Great

Now: 494 AM PDT
Best window: 7-10 PMFlood tide
Tide now: Ebbing0.5 ft ▼

Data from: NOAA CO-OPS + NDBC + ECMWF + Open-Meteo Marine · Waterlands engine

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14-day forecast

Best days to fish

Best: Mon · 83

24-hour conditions · rolling from now

Conditions · 4 AM · now

DRAG OR TAP AN HOUR

Time4ANOW

Score49Good

Tide0.5 ft ▼Ebbing

CurrentEbb0.5 kn · toward NNW

Wind3 kn SSEgusts 5 · steady

Sea stateModerate2.9 ft · 9 s

Air temp57°Mild

WeatherPartly cloudy31% cloud

Water66°FObserved

WED · SEP 23

THU · SEP 24

1A

2A

3A

NOW

5A

6A

7A

8A

9A

10A

11A

12P

1P

2P

3P

4P

5P

6P

7P

8P

9P

10P

11P

12A

56

54

57

49

61

64

59

61

54

63

62

57

54

55

62

67

62

58

52

50

59

1.5

1.8

1.3

0.5

○0.0

0.3

1.0

1.7

1.1

0.4

○0.0

0.4

1.2

1.7

1.3

0.4

○0.0

0.5

1.2

0.6

○0.1

○0.2

85

74

64

53

52

42

31

41

52

63

95

116

138

148

159

158

136

104

73

52

42

31

3.0

2.9

2.8

2.7

2.6

2.5

2.4

66°

65°

Hour

Current regulations

What you can keep here today

San Francisco Groundfish Management Area

IN EFFECT NOW

Rockfish

Retention open

Daily limit: 10 per day (10 rockfish, cabezon and greenlings combined)
Possession: Not published
Size: No minimum size limit.
Season: Apr 1 to Dec 31, 2026
Annual quota: Not published
Other: Shore-based anglers and spear divers are exempt from groundfish seasons and depth limits. All groundfish fishing is prohibited at Cordell Bank. Within the 10-fish RCG limit: no more than 1 copper rockfish, 2 canary rockfish, and 2 vermilion/sunset rockfish. RCG complex: all rockfish, cabezon, and kelp and rock greenlings combined. A descending device must be aboard when fishing from a boat. Yelloweye, cowcod, bronzespotted and quillback rockfish may not be kept.

From CDFW Summary of Recreational Groundfish Fishing Regulations (updated June 23, 2026), read Sep 13

Other species here

Albacore tuna Retention open (25 per day)
Barred sand bass Retention open (4 per day (5 kelp bass, barred sand bass and spotted sand bass combined))
Cabezon Retention open (10 per day (10 rockfish, cabezon and greenlings combined))
California halibut Retention open (2 per day)
Chinook salmon Retention open (2 per day (2 salmon combined))
Coho salmon Closed (No retention)
Kelp bass Retention open (5 per day (5 kelp bass, barred sand bass and spotted sand bass combined))
Kelp greenling Retention open (10 per day (10 rockfish, cabezon and greenlings combined))
Leopard shark Retention open (3 per day)
Lingcod Retention open (2 per day)
Mahi-mahi Retention open (10 per day)
Pacific bluefin tuna Retention open (2 per day)
Pacific halibut Retention open (1 per day)
Sablefish Retention open (10 per day)
Striped bass Retention open (2 per day)
Surfperch Retention open (20 per day)
White seabass Retention open (3 per day)
Yellowfin tuna Retention open (10 per day)
Yellowtail Retention open (10 per day)

Always check with CDFW ↗Fishing license ↗

Source: CDFW · synced yesterday

Seasonality · 52-week view · this week ringed

When Rockfish is best here

Peak season for Rockfish · 1 more week at peak

Peak
Shoulder
Off
This week

Rockfish in California →

Spot profile

Lash Lighter Basin

Depth: 1-15 ftSlope
Structure: Bay · Inner · Semi-exposedBay · slope
Season: Peak seasonRockfish

NOAA NCEI DEM, sampled Sep 14 on a 3.4 m grid. Depths are feet below NAVD 88, not chart datum (MLLW), so they can differ from a chart by a few feet. Not for navigation.

About this spot

Fishing Lash Lighter Basin

Lash Lighter Basin is a bay in San Francisco Bay South of the Bay Bridge, California. Depth is 1-15 ft, with a slope. Its profile reads bay, inner water and semi-exposed.

Waterlands scores 11 species here; the best right now are striped bass, white seabass and surfperch. It is peak season now for striped bass, surfperch, rockfish and cabezon, and shoulder season for white seabass, Pacific halibut, California halibut and kelp greenling. Striped bass peak from June through July and from September through October. Surfperch peak in May and from July through September.

Tackle & technique

Rockfish: Rockfish live on rocky reefs, pinnacles and kelp from the shoreline out past 300 feet, with black and blue rockfish schooling mid-water over shallow reefs and copper, quillback, yelloweye and vermilion sitting tight to deeper bottom. Drift over the structure with a shrimp fly above a lead-head grub or metal jig, or a squid strip, and reel up a few cranks after touching bottom to cut snags. Use a descending device to release any fish brought up from deep water.
Striped bass: Striped bass feed where moving tide pushes bait past structure: inlets, points, jetties, bridge pilings and rips in the surf, usually in 2 to 40 feet of water. Fish dawn, dusk and night hardest, casting plugs, bucktails and soft plastics or drifting live bunker and eels, and chunk bait on the bottom in current. In midsummer the larger fish drop deeper or feed mostly after dark.
White seabass: White seabass hold along kelp bed edges and over nearby sand where market squid gather, usually in 20 to 80 feet of water and shallower as the water warms. Fish a live squid on a dropper loop or fly-line a sardine near the kelp at dawn, dusk and after dark, especially around the spring full moon. Tagged fish spend most of their time in 52 to 66 degree water.

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Potrero Point
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- White seabass 61
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India Basin
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- White seabass 54
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South Basin
Bay · 1.3 mi
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Top: Striped bassPeak season
- Striped bass 65
- Surfperch 53
- White seabass 53
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Bar Channel
Bay · 4.5 mi
63
Top: Striped bassPeak season
- Striped bass 63
- Pacific halibut 56
- Surfperch 50
3 kt SSEL 4:27 AM · 0.3 ftH 11:14 AM · 5.2 ft