FISHING FOR CABEZON

About Cabezon

Cabezon can be caught all up and down the west coast. They get themselves up in the rocks to hide and pounce on their prey. It’s not a widely targeted fish due to the difficulty in the terrain, with dangerous rocks and cliffs along many parts of the west coast, but there are good safe areas you can find and target these fish. The average fish is about four pounds, but they do get as big as over twenty pounds.

Cabezon Fishing Guides and Charter Boats

There are many different fishing guides that offer guided fishing trips for cabezon, and pretty much any other fish that you may want to target. FishingBooker is a service of local guides that you can choose from and schedule your next guided fishing trip. Book A Cabezon

World Record Biggest Cabezon

The world record sized Cabezon ever caught, as per the International Game Fish Association, was caught in 1990 and it weighed in at 23 lb 0 oz. It was caught in Juan De Fuca Strait in Washington, USA. Weight - 23 lb 0 oz Location - Juan De Fuca Strait, Washington, USA Catch Date- 04-Aug-1990

Cabezon Fishing Tips and Techniques

The good thing about Cabezon is that they are not hook shy. You can target them with bait including squid, rock crabs, baby octopus, cracked mussels and ghost shrimp. You can also target them with large swimbaits such as a two to four ounce jig head with a Keitech swimbait, big hammer swimbait, or Savage Gear swimbait. The best color to look for would be something that would look similar to a kelp greenling. A kelp greenling color would include deep blackish reds and hints of greens.

Best Cabezon Fishing Lures and Bait

Bait: Squid, Rock Crabs, Baby Octopus, Cracked Mussels, and Ghost Shrimp Lures: Large Swimbaits and Jigs like Keitech, and Savage Gear Swimbaits

Where to Fish For Cabezon

You should target rocky bottoms, areas between rocks popping out from the water, along the rock edges, because they are hiding on the bottom in these areas. You can also target them from a boat looking for similar areas with rocks protruding from the bottom if you are in deeper water, or up along rocks coming up out of the water in more shallow areas.

Using A Jig or Swimbait To Fish For Cabezon

With the jig or swimbait in shallow water you want to cast it out up against the rocks, and let it hit the bottom, jig it up off the bottom, up and down and reel a little, and repeat this motion. In deeper water you use a similar technique, but leaving your lure down on the bottom, jigging up and letting it down.

Using Squid As Bait To Fish For Cabezon

With squid, you can use the head with tentacles to make it look like a lure, or slice the squid in thirds length wise and thread it on your hook to make it look similar to a rubber worm setup. I buy frozen squid locally, as it’s hard to find bait shops along the coast these days, and I throw in some non-iodized salt or rock salt to toughen the squid up, but squid is not fairly tough and this step is not an absolute must. The salt, on most days, tends to entice more strikes. You can also add color dye’s to the mix when you salt them to add a little color to add more attractant for the fish to bite. I like to use a double hook setup, one about a foot above the other, with a four ounce disc sinker. I like to cast out up against the underwater edge of the rocks, then jig it up off the bottom every couple of minutes and let it back down, to entice a strike.

Cabezon Fishing Swimbait Lure

Cabezon Fishing Swimming Mullet Lure

Cabezon Fishing Cutbait Herring Lure

Cabezon Fishing Soft Swimbait Lure

Cabezon Fishing Tsunami Shad Bodies

How To Identify Cabezon Fish

California Fish and Wildlife has created the California Coast Near Shore Rockfish Identification guide that has images of each type of fish, to help us identify rockfish and near shore fishes a little easier. About The Author Mike Mendenhall is the the founder of Mendenhall Outdoors. This website is an extension of the Mendenhall family’s lifestyle and passion for the great outdoors. Everything that they learn, and experience, along the way that they find may be valuable to our website visitors is on the site for you to enjoy. We highlight products and services that you might find interesting. We frequently receive free products from manufacturers to test. This does not drive our decision as to whether or not a product is featured or recommended. If you click a link on this page, then go on to make a purchase, we might receive a commission – at no extra cost to you, and does not impact the purchase price of any products that you may purchase. The Best Cabezon Fishing Experience Awaits!