Today's best fishing in Crescent City: 7 AM to 10 AM
This page is full of real data to show you what you can see with ReelCaster in Crescent City.
The next 14 days in Crescent City
Data from: ECMWF + GFS + BlueCasterTwo weeks ahead
Most forecasts stop at the weekend. This one runs a full 14 days, so you can pick the day before you book the time off.
One number, out of 100
The best score anything in Crescent City reaches that day. Green is good, amber is fair, red is slow, and you can read it from across the room.
9,408 scores behind it
28 spots, every hour of every day, out to 14. This row is the best of them.
Hour by hour today at False Klamath Rock
All times PDTOne real spot
A city has no tide or wind of its own, so this is False Klamath Rock, the most fished mark in Crescent City, scored for Lingcod.
Six readings, one clock
Tide, current, wind, sea, air and sky, all lined up on the same hour, so you can see what is actually driving the score.
Currents, not just tides
Modelled flow for the water off Crescent City, so you can see slack coming before you leave the dock.
The spots people actually fish in Crescent City
22 more on the mapA year of catch reports
The order here is how much each mark actually gets fished, not today's guess. The busiest water in Crescent City comes first.
Today's number too
Beside each name is the best score that spot reaches today, so you can weigh a proven mark against a good forecast.
Every mark has a page
Its own chart, its own species and its own rules, worked out the same way as everything above.
- 88False Klamath RockKnown markBest 7 AM–10 AM · Mid flood · Lumpy · Rock reef
- 88Hump 3.3 km S of False Klamath RockKnown markBest 7 AM–10 AM · Mid flood · Lumpy · Rock reef
- 88Cone RockKnown markBest 10 AM–1 PM · Mid flood · Lumpy · Rock reef
- 88Hump 4.3 km S of False Klamath RockKnown markBest 7 AM–10 AM · Mid flood · Lumpy · Rock reef
- 88White RockKnown markBest 7 AM–10 AM · Late flood · Lumpy · Rock reef
- 88Low RockKnown markBest 10 AM–1 PM · Mid flood · Lumpy · Rock reef
Every spot we score in Crescent City
Bathymetry: NONNA-10 + NRCanReal charted seabed
Depth soundings, not a stock map. The banks, reefs and drop-offs are where you can see them.
28 marks, all scored
Every spot we cover around Crescent City, each one carrying its own number for today.
Point at any of them
The name, how busy a mark it is, and the tide, sea and seabed at its best hour.
Create custom spots
Our full model on your custom private spots.
- Drop a pinAnywhere on the water. The ledge you found, the bay nobody talks about.
- Name itYour name for it, not ours. It stays private to your account.
- Choose speciesPick what you fish there, and it starts scoring from the next run.
What you can keep in Crescent City today
- LingcodKeep2 a day · min 22"Open at all 28 spots we cover
- Rockfish (Aggregate)Keep10 a dayOpen at all 9 spots we cover
- Chinook SalmonClosedShut at all 28 spots we cover
- Black RockfishClosedShut at all 11 spots we cover
- Blue RockfishClosedShut at all 11 spots we cover
- CodClosedShut at all 13 spots we cover
Rules differ between groundfish management areas and change in season. Check CDFW for the groundfish management area you are fishing before you keep anything.
That was one day. Pro opens the next fourteen.
Every spot on this map, hour by hour, two weeks out, with alerts when your water crosses the score you set.
$0 today, then $33 USD a year, which is $2.75 a month. Card required, cancel any time.
When to fish Crescent City
Each row is shaded against that species' own best month here, so a dark cell means a good month for that fish rather than a comparison between them.
| Species | January | February | March | April | May | June | July | August | September | October | November | December |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chinook Salmon | ||||||||||||
| Lingcod | ||||||||||||
| Black Rockfish | ||||||||||||
| Rockfish (Aggregate) | ||||||||||||
| Blue Rockfish | ||||||||||||
| Cod |
Chinook Salmon: January none, February none, March good, April excellent, May excellent, June peak, July peak, August peak, September good, October poor, November none, December none. Lingcod: January fair, February good, March excellent, April fair, May fair, June fair, July fair, August fair, September excellent, October good, November fair, December fair. Black Rockfish: January fair, February fair, March good, April good, May good, June excellent, July excellent, August good, September good, October fair, November fair, December fair. Rockfish (Aggregate): January fair, February fair, March fair, April fair, May good, June good, July excellent, August good, September good, October fair, November fair, December fair. Blue Rockfish: January fair, February fair, March good, April good, May good, June good, July excellent, August good, September fair, October fair, November fair, December fair. Cod: January excellent, February good, March fair, April fair, May fair, June fair, July fair, August fair, September fair, October good, November good, December excellent.
- Chinook Salmon. Crescent City Chinook build through spring as ocean-feeding fish stage off the Klamath/Smith River mouths, with a strong late-summer to early-fall peak (late July–September) as mature adults stack up before their fall river runs. Abundance drops sharply through October–November as fish enter freshwater to spawn, leaving the nearshore ocean largely empty of Chinook through winter.
- Lingcod. Lingcod are resident on Crescent City's nearshore reefs year-round, but abundance concentrates as spawning males guard nests in late winter/early spring (Feb–Apr) and again in fall (Sep–Oct) when fish move shallow to feed. Summer sees fish disperse deeper and thin on accessible structure, while heavy winter swells and post-spawn dispersal create the lowest inshore densities.
- Black Rockfish. Black rockfish are a resident, non-migratory nearshore species off Crescent City, so they remain present year-round with only modest seasonal variation. Abundance peaks in summer (June–August) when warmer water, calm seas, and strong nearshore baitfish concentrations pull fish shallow and aggregate them on reefs, with a slight dip in late spring during upwelling and a gradual decline through fall/winter as fish spread and move deeper.
- Rockfish (Aggregate). Rockfish are resident, structure-oriented bottomfish present year-round off Crescent City, so the curve stays near baseline with no biological absence. A modest summer-to-early-fall bump (June–September) reflects warmer, calmer water and upwelling-driven forage that concentrate fish shallower and boost local density before winter storms disperse them back to deeper reefs.
- Blue Rockfish. Blue rockfish are resident, non-migratory reef dwellers off Crescent City, so they're present year-round with no true biological absence. Abundance appears highest late spring through early fall (roughly April–September) when they move shallower and school densely near kelp and rocky structure during upwelling and warmer surface temps, with modest winter thinning as fish go deeper and disperse during rough conditions.
- Cod. Pacific Cod in the far northern California waters off Crescent City are near their southern range edge, so they're a cool-water demersal fish present year-round but most abundant in late summer through fall (Aug–Oct) when deeper shelf aggregations build and juveniles recruit. Abundance dips in late winter/early spring as fish disperse to deeper, colder water during the post-spawn period, though they never fully leave the region.
Before you go
Water around Crescent City falls into one area, and the rules can differ between them. California Department of Fish and Wildlife sets them.
- Northern
Fishing Crescent City
Crescent City sits on California's far north coast, where the open Pacific meets a scatter of rocky reefs and offshore humps within reach of the harbor. The area holds 28 documented fishing spots, with Chinook salmon running strongest from April through September and lingcod peaking in late winter and again from August into October. Coho salmon and Pacific halibut fill out the catch across the same waters. The spots cluster around exposed headlands, submerged rock pinnacles, and deep offshore humps rather than sheltered inside bays, giving the fishery its outer-coast character. Anglers work the salmon run largely by trolling through the spring and summer months, when the fishery carries its heaviest activity.