The "where" is associated with the season, and the species. In the winter, I primarily fish the Cherry Bank, San Nicholas Island, and Santa Barbara Island, for deep water rock-cod.
In the spring, I might fish the local waters off Huntington Beach, Catalina Island, San Clemente Island, and the Cortez Bank, for sand bass, calico bass, yellowtail, whitesea bass barracuda and bonito. In the summer, I normally fish out of Sand Diego and Ensenada, Baja, for yellowtail, tuna, and dorado.Fish counts help me decide the "where" to fish from and "what". A good source is the Los Angeles Times. Updates daily, covers landings from Santa Barbara to San Diego.
I also subscribe to the Western Outdoor News, which provide the information I use to plan multi-day trips and fishing in Baja.