Seasonal variations in fish community structure characteristics in the Laizhou Bay and the Yellow River Estuary were analyzed by combining data collected from bottom trawl surveys on 9 different voyages in May-November, 2011 and March-April, 2012 with existing historical data. A total 62 fish species were caught, belonging to 11 orders and 34 families, which mainly comprised warm water and warm temperate species. The Perciformes were the most abundant (37 species), followed by the Scorpaeniformes (7 species) and Pleuronectiformes (6 species). In terms of total catch per haul (kg) and the number per haul, warm temperate species were the most abundant followed by warm water species and cold temperate species. The warm temperate species catches were highest in spring in the coastal region, whereas warm water and warm temperate species catches were higher in summer and autumn, which were mostly distributed in the northeast Laizhou Bay deep-water area in autumn. Warm temperate species were widely distributed in summer and warm water species were mostly distributed in the coastal region of southern Laizhou Bay. The dominant species in spring were mainly non-commercial demersal fish; Chaeturichthys stigmatias, Callionymus beniteguri, Synechogobius hasta, and Enedrias fangi accounted for 66.4% of the total catch. The dominant species in summer were also mainly non-commercial demersal fish species; C. stigmatias and C. beniteguri accounted for 44.6% of the total catch. While in autumn, the dominant species were mainly commercial pelagic fish; Engraulis japonicus, Sardinella zunasi, and Konosirus punctatus accounted for 40.8% of the total catch. According to the dominance curve, the dominant species were most prominent in summer, autumn, and spring in that order. The catch per haul exhibited significant seasonal variation, being highest in autumn (22.66 kg/h) followed by summer (16.75kg/ h) then spring (1.29 kg/ h). The average catch per haul of the dominant species in spring (May) was 0.69 kg/h, which is 0.3%, 0.3%, 1.7%, and 541.2% of the surveys in the spring (May) of 1959, 2003, and 2008, respectively. Despite the small increase in fish resources, the overall trend shows a substantial decrease. Species composition exhibited higher similarities in adjacent months, i.e. each month of the same season and the months of summer and autumn. The number of fish species and abundance and diversity indices were all highest in summer, followed by autumn and then spring. However, the evenness index calculated by number was highest in summer and lowest in spring, this trend was inversed when the index was calculated by weight. The species abundance and diversity indices were significantly correlated with sea surface temperature (P<0.01). The species abundance index and evenness index were significantly correlated with sea surface salinity (P<0.01).