Top target

Spotted Sand Bass

Cabrilla de roca

Paralabrax maculatofasciatus · Serranidae

Category: Grouper & Cabrilla
Found in: Pacific Baja, Sea of Cortez
IUCN status: Least Concern
Mexico fish counts: 604 counted

About Spotted Sand Bass in Mexico

How to recognize it

This compact sea bass is covered in small dark spots on a tan-to-olive body, with faint darker bars along the sides and a fairly short head. The spiny front of the dorsal fin is stout and joined to a softer rear section, and breeding fish can darken noticeably. The overall look is busier and more freckled than the larger, plainer barred sand bass it shares water with.

Where and when in Mexico

Known officially as cabrilla de roca, it is a shallow-water fish of bays, estuaries and eelgrass beds. On the Pacific side of Baja it lives in places like Estero de Punta Banda near Ensenada and Bahía San Quintín, and it is common along the Sea of Cortez shoreline from San Felipe south through Bahía de los Ángeles. Warm months are best, when fish move onto the flats and feed aggressively. In Mexico Fish Reports' counts, most of the logged fish came from San Felipe boats in 2006–2007, with a smaller number from Ensenada over the years.

How it's fished

Light spinning tackle does the job. Soft plastic grubs and swimbaits on a light jighead, worked slowly along the bottom near channel edges, mussel beds and weed lines, account for most fish. Small live baits and cut squid also work from pangas or kayaks drifting the inner bay. Strikes are sharp, and fish dive for cover immediately.

Good to know

Most run under a couple of pounds, so many anglers treat them as a fun light-tackle target and release the bigger breeders. Smaller ones make a mild, flaky white fillet.