Spotted Bay Bass

The year-round heartbeat of the SoCal bays. Spotties eat every month, fight over their weight class, and turn an hour of dock-and-eelgrass fishing into the West Coast's most reliable bite.

Paralabrax maculatofasciatus · Also known as: Spotties, bay bass. Ideal water temp 62–72°F.

Habitat & structure

Bay structure: eelgrass flats, dock pilings, rip-rap, channel edges and moorings in 2–20 ft. They hold tight to whatever breaks the current and eat what the tide brings past. San Diego, Mission Bay, Newport Bay and the LA inner harbors are the strongholds.

Where they’re biting

San Diego & Mission Bay — Eelgrass edges in Mission and San Diego bays — the year-round staple.
Newport & Dana Point — Newport Bay moorings and dock lines on the moving tide.
LA & Long Beach Harbors — Inner-harbor rip-rap and dock structure, every month.

Season by season

Season	Best bait	Best lures	Notes
Spring	Ghost shrimp on the flats	3" grubs on darter heads, small spinnerbaits over eelgrass	Fish spread onto the warming flats. The bite builds weekly.
Summer	Live smelt and ghost shrimp	Grubs, dropshot plastics on dock lines, topwater early	Peak numbers. Moving tide plus eelgrass equals fish — the most honest bite in the bay.
Fall	Ghost shrimp on channel edges	Grubs and small swimbaits slow-rolled deeper	Steady as the water cools; fish slide toward channel edges.
Winter	A slow ghost shrimp in the channels	Dropshot plastics worked dead-slow on structure	They never really quit — slow down, fish deeper structure, count your bites.

Preferred water temperature

Active from 56°F to 78°F — sweet spot 62–72°F. Watch the live water temp on our location pages.

Weather, light & cloud cover

Tide over light, every time. A moving tide across an eelgrass edge out-fishes any dawn window on slack water. That said, low light keeps them roaming off structure; bright sun pushes them tighter to the shade of docks and rip-rap — shorten your casts and hit the shadow lines.

Proven for spotted bay bass

3" Curl-Tail Grub on 1/4 oz Jighead — Soft plastic · spring / summer / fall / winter. The universal inshore search bait. Swim it steady over grass; hop it along bottom for flounder and bay bass.
3" Single-Tail Grub, Darter Head (CA bays) — Soft plastic · spring / summer / fall / winter. Cast to eelgrass edges on moving tide, slow-roll near bottom. Also takes halibut on the flats.
Dropshot 4" Straight-Tail Worm — Soft plastic · spring / summer / fall / winter. The winter spotty program. Pitch it to dock shadows and rip-rap, shake it in place, and count the ticks — bay bass eat it when nothing else moves.
Carolina-Rigged 4" Grub — Rig · spring / summer. Egg sinker, bead, swivel, 3 ft of fluoro. Drag it with the drift across the flats — when a halibut thumps it, keep it moving a beat before you swing.
Suspending Jerkbait 110 (Lucky Craft-style) — Hard bait · spring / summer / fall. Twitch-twitch-pause along the outside kelp edge and boiler rocks. Calicos crush it on the pause; burn it straight if bonito are around.

What should you throw today?

Get a live lure pick from the smart lure tool, browse the full lure & bait database, or go back to all species guides.