Long Beach runs short. Sportfishing leaves out of two landings on opposite ends of the waterfront — Long Beach Sportfishing at Berth 55 and Pierpoint Landing at Rainbow Harbor — and the named grounds sit close enough that a 6 a.m. departure has lines in the water before 7. Horseshoe Kelp, Izor's Reef, and Huntington Flats are all inside an hour's run; Catalina is 22.5 nautical miles off the breakwater.
The harbor
Long Beach sits about 20 miles south of downtown Los Angeles. The waterfront is dominated by the Port of Long Beach, the second-busiest container port in the United States, which handled 9.7 million TEUs in 2024 across 3,200 acres, 25 miles of waterfront, and 80 berths. Sportfishing tucks into the corners: Long Beach Sportfishing operates from Berth 55 at 555 Pico Avenue, on the site of the old Queen's Wharf Sportfishing operation, and Pierpoint Landing operates from 200 Aquarium Way on the Rainbow Harbor side.
Grounds
Grounds are close in by SoCal standards:
- Horseshoe Kelp — coordinates 33° 40.07'N × 118° 12.15'W, running roughly 10 miles along the Long Beach Shelf from the San Pedro lighthouse toward the Huntington Flats dropoff.
- Izor's Reef and Huntington Flats — adjacent muddy-sandy bottom holding calico and sand bass, barracuda, and halibut.
- Catalina Island — 22.5 nautical miles from the Long Beach breakwater, the standard full-day target for yellowtail, white sea bass, and rockfish.
Regulations
Regulations tighten to the west along Palos Verdes. The Point Vicente State Marine Reserve and adjoining Abalone Cove State Marine Conservation Area together cover 19.87 square miles, adopted by the California Fish and Game Commission in December 2010 and effective January 2012. Point Vicente SMR prohibits all take. Abalone Cove SMCA allows recreational spearfishing for pelagic finfish and white seabass, plus hand-net take of market squid; everything else is off-limits. Charter boats running off Berth 55 work east of these closures.
Getting there
Berth 55 sits just off the 710 Freeway. Long Beach's climate averages 74.3°F in August and 56.7°F in December, with 12.02 inches of annual rainfall — 81% of it falling December through March — which leaves the calendar effectively year-round.
