A guide to SoCal's offshore banks and spots

Listen to the radio on a tuna morning and you’ll hear a lot of numbers: the 182, the 43, the 302. If you’re new to fishing offshore of Southern California, here’s what they mean and where they are.

Why the numbers

Most of the numbered spots are named for the depth in fathoms of their high spot: an underwater hill or ridge that comes up shallower than the water around it. The 302 tops out around 302 fathoms, the 209 around 209. (One fathom is six feet.) Others are named for how far they are from land, like the 9 Mile Bank and the 14 Mile Bank, or for a feature, like the Corner.

High spots matter because currents hitting them push nutrients up, bait gathers, and gamefish follow. That doesn’t mean tuna are on a bank every day. Tuna follow warm, clean water and bait, and some days that’s on a famous bank and some days it’s in open water nobody has a name for.

Distances

The numbers below are straight-line nautical miles from the harbor entrance to each spot, rounded. Your actual run will be longer if you have to go around a point or an island. MX means the spot is in Mexican waters, where you need Mexican fishing licenses (more on that here).

Off San Diego

Spot	San Diego	Dana Point	Newport
9 Mile Bank	11	51	62
178 Spot	13	47	58
Coronado Islands MX	18	66	78
182 Spot	24	46	55
302 Spot MX	24	61	71
The Corner	30	50	59
43 Fathom Spot	38	50	57
371 Bank MX	31	72	82
425 Bank MX	29	74	85
60 Mile Bank MX	64	88	94

The 9 Mile Bank is the closest real offshore structure to San Diego, a long ridge running roughly north to south, about nine miles off Point Loma. It’s fished hard and often holds fish when warm water is close.

The Corner is where the US-Mexico boundary bends, west-southwest of Point Loma. Boats fishing right on the line call it the Corner.

The 43 Fathom Spot sits well offshore, west of San Diego, and is often a turnaround point for boats working the area between the 182 and the outer waters.

The 302, 371 and 425 are south of the border off northern Baja. The Coronado Islands are right off Tijuana, inside Mexican waters, and have their own protected-area rules.

Between Dana Point and Catalina

Spot	San Diego	Dana Point	Newport	Long Beach
14 Mile Bank	56	15	13	23
267 Spot	46	11	19	33
209 Spot	40	23	30	41
277 Spot	52	25	26	33
312 Spot	34	27	35	47
181 Spot	35	34	41	52
289 Spot	45	37	41	49

This is the water Orange County boats know best. The 14 Mile Bank (also called Lasuen Knoll) is a short run out of Newport. The 267, 209 and 312 are a short run out of Dana Point, and the 277 and 289 sit toward the back of the Catalina channel. When warm water pushes up from the south, this area can get good fast, close to home.

The outer banks

Spot	San Diego	Dana Point	Newport	Long Beach	Channel Islands
Tanner Bank	96	85	83	78	88
Cortes Bank	97	94	93	91	103

Tanner and Cortes are the big ones, around 100 miles out, west of San Clemente Island. Cortes comes so close to the surface at Bishop Rock that it breaks in big swell. These are serious trips for a private boat: you need the range, the weather window and the fuel to do them safely. Parts of the area also have federal fishing restrictions for bottom fish, so check the rules if you’ll fish anything other than tuna.

The islands

San Clemente Island is about 50 miles from Dana Point, Newport and Long Beach and 65 from San Diego. Its south and west sides see tuna in many seasons. Navy operations close parts of the waters around it at times, so check before you go.

Catalina is about 22 miles from Long Beach. Tuna aren’t the usual target right at the island, but the back side of Catalina and the water between it and San Clemente see fish in warm years.

Using the names

A bank is a place to start looking, not a promise. Ten boats on the 182 with nothing biting is still a skunk. Check the water temperature and look for birds, bait and marks on your way, and be ready to fish wherever the fish actually are.

Not for navigation. Positions and distances are approximate. Use proper charts and your plotter.