1) gel like thing oozing out of the tree on few branches
2) bark of the tree does seem to have ridges
3) fungus kind of thing has grown on few branches.

I read about bacterial canker for (1) and some have suggested to cut down those branches. Is it okay? what about 2 & 3? I'll attach some images.

I am looking to prune the tree so that it is ready for spring here in CA.

any help would be great, Thanks - Vijay

Your tree looks pretty rough, you might want to strongly consider planting another peach tree.

Peach trees can be replaced easily, grow fast and come into bearing fairly quickly, so it's not as big an issue to replace them, as say an ornamental or an apple/pear/Euro plum tree.

In terms of pruning this tree, it's generally recommended to prune out canker, which I generally do. I pruned a row of peach trees today and found canker on one scaffold. I cut it off.

That said, I have one peach tree in my yard I like very much. It has had canker for several years and is slowly in decline. If I cut off all the canker, it wouldn't have any scaffolds left. I've made 4 copies of the tree and my plan is to cut the mother/cankered tree down once the copies start producing.

But like I said, ideally it's best to cut canker out.

I think your tree has Valsa/perennial canker, not bacterial.

Scott