UTER
Photo: Steve Lonhart (SIMoN / MBNMS), Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
Scorpaenichthys marmoratus
How to catch Cabezon
Cabezon feed in 46–60°F water and bite best at 50–56°F. Fish Scouter's season calendar follows them in 4 waters; in October they are at their peak in Central Coast & San Francisco Bay, The North Coast, The Oregon Coast.
25 pts · trophy at 22"Feeds 46–60°FBest 50–56°FIn season nowArtificial reefLedge / hard bottomPass / inletFishing pier
About
A big-headed, mottled sculpin of the shallow rocks and tide pools from central California to Washington. Blue-green meat that cooks white; don't eat the roe — it's toxic.
How to fish it
Rock-hop the jetties and shoreline rocks at low tide, a crab or squid on a short leader dropped into the holes.
What it eats
crabssquidsmall jigs
Live bait for it
SquidStrips on a bottom rig for snapper, grunts and porgies; whole on a deep-drop rig.Sand crabs (Pacific mole crabs)A soft-shell sand crab on a #4 to #2 hook, Carolina rig, cast just behind the first break — the corbina and barred surfperch bait.
What to fish it with
the sizes that fish itLeader30–60 lb fluorocarbon
Hook2/0–7/0
Braid30–65 lb
The rule
not confirmed hereRules differ by state — check CDFW, ODFW or WDFW before you keep one.
The current rule →Where it is, month by month
PPeakSSpawningAArriving·AroundLLeaving
Pacific