A deeper-bodied perch that lives on the pilings you are standing over. Not a surf-trough fish.
Last reviewed: October 2026
Pilings, rocks, and harbor structure — Santa Monica, Redondo, Cabrillo, and Shoreline Village.
Same surfperch family bag: 20 combo, 10 of one species. They graze mussels and barnacles on pier piles. A small bait fished vertically along the piling outfishes a long cast into open sand.
Pile perch (Rhacochilus vacca) are large, deep-bodied surfperch, silvery to dusky, usually with a dark vertical bar in the middle of the side and a deeply forked tail. The soft rays of the dorsal fin are noticeably taller than the spiny part. They are one of the bigger perch found around LA structure.
As the name says, they live around pilings. Pier legs, jetty rocks and harbor docks covered in mussels and barnacles are where pile perch feed. Long Beach and San Pedro harbor structures, the Marina del Rey and Alamitos Bay jetties and King Harbor are good examples.
Present year-round. Like other surfperch they give birth to live young, typically in spring and summer.
Pile perch have good-tasting, firm flesh. OEHHA's LA coastal advisories list surfperch at up to 2 servings a week for all groups in both zones.
Pile perch count in the combined surfperch bag: 20 total, no more than 10 of any one species. No minimum size. Shiner perch have their own separate 20-fish bag.
Counts in the surfperch family bag.
CDFW Southern ocean regs — surfperch family →
Independent-site disclaimer: this summary is for orientation only and can change in-season. Confirm with CDFW before you keep a fish. Fish in LA is not affiliated with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Around mussel-covered pilings, docks and jetty rocks in harbors and at piers.
They count in the 20-fish surfperch combined bag with no more than 10 of one species.
Mussels, ghost shrimp, bloodworms and small grubs fished close to structure.
Last reviewed: October 2026. Rules, stocking and access change; confirm with the agency linked above before you go.
