Artificial Lure checking in with your Saturday, October 25th, Pacific Ocean fishing report for California. Weather’s sitting in the mid-60s along the coast this morning—clear skies, just the lightest breeze, calm swells and ideal conditions for early bites. Sunrise is at 7:25 AM, sunset at 6:14 PM, so you’ve got a full window for action, especially with the first high tide cresting at 6:17 AM and evening highs returning at 7:31 PM according to Tide Forecast. We’re working with moderate tidal movement, which keeps fish active and feeding, especially tight to inshore structure and kelp beds.
Boat counts from SoCalFishReports and Fisherman’s Landing show the past 24 hours have delivered excellent results for both inshore and offshore anglers. Offshore, long-range boats out of San Diego call in limits of bluefin tuna—some boats reporting 90 to 112 BFT per trip, with grade running 20 to 120 pounds. Yellowtail and yellowfin also made solid showings, with boats like Pacific Queen, Mavrik, and Islander all scoring limits. Dorado and wahoo are popping up for those running south and working temperature breaks around Cortes and Tanner Bank.
Inshore, bottom fishing along Morro Bay, Avila Beach, and Oxnard is on fire. From the Endeavor in Morro Bay: twilight trips stacked up to 180 rockfish with lingcod mixed in. Patriot Sportfishing out of Avila Beach reported 2 lingcod—up to 12 lbs—over 146 rockcod, and a handful of reds. Channel Islands boats like Aloha Spirit and Speed Twin pulled crazy numbers—130+ rockfish, 26 sheephead, and over 100 whitefish in a single day by just working squid on dropper loops and double rigs over rocky bottom.
Up and down the coast, anglers working structure and kelp lines are seeing solid calico bass counts, with the Monte Carlo out of San Pedro sticking just shy of 60 hefty keepers along with 115 mixed rockfish and bottom species. Dana Wharf boats saw big bluefin counts offshore, and for half-day inshore runs, 40 calico bass and mixed bottom grabs like sculpin, sheephead, and whitefish.
Best lures right now: on the tuna grounds, you want to toss flat falls, knife jigs, and sinker rigs loaded with live sardine, especially at gray light and dusk. Inshore, plastics like Big Hammer swimbaits or MC paddle tails in sardine or smelt are producing calico and sand bass—especially around kelp lines. For bottom fishing, salted squid and shrimp pieces on dropper loops are killing it. Many locals bulk up their jigs with power bait on the hook shank and back it with a couple of salted shiners for extra scent, as noted in Hooked Magazine.
If you’re after numbers, bottom fishing remains unbeatable—sheephead, whitefish, rockfish, and lingcod in deep structure from Point Conception down into Santa Monica Bay. But if you want quality, do not sleep on the bluefin and yellowtail moving offshore.
A couple of hot spots to dial in:
- Tanner and Cortes Bank: big bluefin and yellowtail, with chance on dorado and wahoo for those running long.
- Channel Islands reefs (Oxnard/Ventura): loaded with rockfish, sheephead, and lingcod.
- San Pedro and Dana Point kelp beds: excellent calico bass, sand bass and mixed inshore targets.
Weather is gorgeous with little wind, and the ocean’s wearing a late-October calm, but beware of sneaker waves and large surf risk through the weekend—especially if you’re beach fishing or launching small vessels.
That’s your Saturday rundown. Thanks for tuning in to Artificial Lure—don’t forget to subscribe for the latest California fishing reports. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai.
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