San Pedro, CA fishing times, tides & weather

Spot type

Harbor fishing in the Port of Los Angeles outer harbor, centred on the Cabrillo Beach Fishing Pier. CDFW lists it as a public fishing pier for Los Angeles County (CDFW: California Beach Fishing). A pier-fishing guide describes it as a low pier extending about 1,200 ft into San Pedro Harbor, just inside and parallel to the north end of the Los Angeles breakwater (Pier Fishing in California: Cabrillo Pier, secondary).

Forecast point: the Cabrillo Beach Fishing Pier, at 33.71015° N, 118.28365° W, as given by the California Coastal Trail's "Cabrillo Fishing Pier" point (east end of Cabrillo Beach) (California Coastal Trail: Cabrillo Fishing Pier).

Public access

• Hours and parking: City of Los Angeles Recreation and Parks lists Cabrillo Beach hours of operation as 5:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m., lists a pier among the beach's features and marks fishing as permitted (LA Recreation and Parks: Cabrillo Beach). The Port of Los Angeles says the Cabrillo Beach parking lot is open 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. with paid parking, and that personal vehicles without boat trailers may not stay overnight and may be towed if left past 10 p.m. (Port of Los Angeles: Boaters). The Port's times cover the parking lot, so the two sets of hours differ.
• No fishing at Port public landings: the Port says no fishing is allowed at its public landings at Berth 84 and Berth 186 (Port of Los Angeles: Boaters).
• Status: check LA Recreation and Parks for current pier status before you go ([4]). CDFW notes that a landowner may close a public pier for safety, maintenance or other reasons at any time. As of 2026-10-16, CDFW's public-pier list does not mark the Cabrillo Beach Fishing Pier as closed (CDFW). LA County Public Health issues separate beach closures and ocean-water warnings, which have included Inner Cabrillo Beach (for example, on 2024-02-29). These cover water contact at the beach, not the pier (County of Los Angeles, 2024-02-29).

Commonly caught species

Per a long-running California pier-fishing guide (secondary), the most common fish at Cabrillo Pier are white croaker and queenfish. Bottom catches also include halibut (many undersized), turbot, sand bass, white seaperch and sculpin (scorpionfish). Near the surface, the guide lists Pacific mackerel, jack mackerel, jacksmelt and topsmelt, with bonito at times and fairly common, mostly undersized, barracuda. Black perch and kelp bass are taken around the pilings (Pier Fishing in California: Cabrillo Pier, secondary; page last modified July 2023).

Local rules and authority

• Licence: CDFW does not require a fishing licence when fishing recreationally from a public pier in ocean or bay waters. A public pier is defined in Title 14 CCR §1.88: a publicly owned structure connected to the shoreline, with free, unrestricted public access, built or used mainly for fishing. All other regulations still apply, including minimum size, bag limits, report cards and seasons. Public piers also have their own gear limits (number of lines and crab gear per person); check CDFW's current rules before fishing (CDFW: California Beach Fishing; CDFW: Sport Fishing Licenses and Report Cards).
• Breakwater: CDFW's public-pier list notes that a fishing licence is required on the breakwater next to the Cabrillo Beach Fishing Pier (CDFW).
• Regulations: check CDFW's current ocean sport fishing regulations for size limits, bag limits and seasons (CDFW: Ocean Sport Fishing).
• Fish consumption: the Fish Contamination Education Collaborative (FCEC), the outreach arm of the U.S. EPA's Palos Verdes Shelf Superfund programme, places Cabrillo Pier in the "red zone" of its fish-contamination map (DDT and PCBs). Check FCEC's "Which Fish are Safe to Eat?" page and OEHHA's fish advisories before eating your catch (FCEC: Which Fish are Safe to Eat?; FCEC home; OEHHA: Statewide advisory for California coastal locations).
• MPAs nearby: Point Vicente SMCA (No-Take) and Abalone Cove SMCA lie along the Palos Verdes coast, west of San Pedro. Rules there differ from open waters; Point Vicente SMCA (No-Take) prohibits all recreational and commercial fishing (CDFW: Point Vicente / Abalone Cove).

Tide station

• NOAA 9410660, "Los Angeles" (prediction list name: "LOS ANGELES (Outer Harbor)"), at 33.72 N, 118.272 W (NOAA station metadata; NOAA station home).
• Type: reference station. NOAA's tide-prediction station list gives it type "R", and NOAA publishes a harmonic-constituent table for it (NOAA prediction stations list; NOAA harmonic constituents).
• Same water body: yes. It is in the Los Angeles outer harbor, about 0.9 mi in a straight line from the Cabrillo pier forecast point (computed from NOAA and California Coastal Trail coordinates, [13]; [3]). NOAA also lists a subordinate station, 9410650 "Cabrillo Beach" (type "S", referenced to 9410660) ([15]).

Other spots nearby

Distances are straight-line from the Cabrillo pier forecast point, computed from NOAA and OpenStreetMap coordinates ([15]; [17]).

• Santa Monica Pier: about 24 mi northwest.
• San Diego Bay (Shelter Island Pier): about 92 mi southeast.
• Big Bear Lake: about 86 mi east-northeast.

Note updates

• 2026-10-16: Checked against the sources listed below and approved, replacing the earlier draft shown on this page. Statements we couldn't confirm from those sources were taken out, and status lines now carry the date we checked them. Changes from the draft:
  • Species: the most common catches are white croaker and queenfish; we had said Pacific mackerel, white croaker and halibut.
  • Removed a 2021 closure report as out of date.
  • Removed La Jolla from nearby spots (it isn't a place on this site), and corrected the Big Bear Lake distance to about 86 mi.

Sources

1. California Beach Fishing — CDFW — https://wildlife.ca.gov/Fishing/Ocean/Beach-Fishing — accessed 2026-10-16
2. Cabrillo Pier (San Pedro) — Pier Fishing in California — https://www.pierfishing.com/cabrillo-pier-3-san-pedro/ — accessed 2026-10-16 (secondary)
3. Cabrillo Fishing Pier (info point) — California Coastal Trail — https://californiacoastaltrail.org/info-point/cabrillo-fishing-pier/ — accessed 2026-10-16
4. Cabrillo Beach — City of Los Angeles Recreation and Parks — https://recreation.parks.lacity.gov/node/388 — accessed 2026-10-16
5. Boaters — Port of Los Angeles — https://portoflosangeles.org/community/boaters — accessed 2026-10-16
6. Beach closure and ocean water use warning for Los Angeles County beaches (2024-02-29) — County of Los Angeles — https://lacounty.gov/2024/02/29/beach-closure-and-ocean-water-use-warning-for-los-angeles-county-beaches-2/ — accessed 2026-10-16
7. Sport Fishing Licenses and Report Cards — CDFW — https://wildlife.ca.gov/Licensing/Fishing — accessed 2026-10-16
8. Ocean Sport Fishing — CDFW — https://wildlife.ca.gov/Fishing/Ocean — accessed 2026-10-16
9. Which Fish are Safe to Eat? — Fish Contamination Education Collaborative (U.S. EPA) — https://pvsfish.org/fishing/what-fish-are-safe-eat — accessed 2026-10-16
10. Home — Fish Contamination Education Collaborative — https://pvsfish.org/ — accessed 2026-10-16
11. Statewide Advisory for Eating Fish from California Coastal Locations without Site-Specific Advice — OEHHA — https://oehha.ca.gov/advisories/statewide-advisory-eating-fish-california-coastal-locations-without-site-specific-advice — accessed 2026-10-16
12. Point Vicente SMCA (No-Take) and Abalone Cove SMCA — CDFW — https://wildlife.ca.gov/Conservation/Marine/MPAs/Point-Vicente-Abalone-Cove — accessed 2026-10-16
13. Station 9410660 metadata — NOAA CO-OPS — https://api.tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/mdapi/prod/webapi/stations/9410660.json — accessed 2026-10-16
14. Los Angeles, CA station home — NOAA Tides & Currents — https://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/stationhome.html?id=9410660 — accessed 2026-10-16
15. Tide prediction stations list — NOAA CO-OPS — https://api.tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/mdapi/prod/webapi/stations.json?type=tidepredictions — accessed 2026-10-16
16. Station 9410660 harmonic constituents — NOAA CO-OPS — https://api.tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/mdapi/prod/webapi/stations/9410660/harcon.json — accessed 2026-10-16
17. Place search (Santa Monica Pier, Shelter Island Pier, Big Bear Lake) — OpenStreetMap Nominatim — https://nominatim.openstreetmap.org/search?q=Santa+Monica+Pier&format=json — accessed 2026-10-16