Artificial Lure here with your Thursday, October 23, 2025 Pacific Ocean, California fishing report.

First light hit at 7:23AM today and we’ll have sun until 6:16PM. The skies are fair up and down the coast, with a light morning breeze rising mild through midday. Tides start with a high at 5:03AM just off the flats—running through a midday low at 11:14AM, then picking up again with an evening high at 6:07PM. On the water now, there’s a little leftover swell but nothing that should knock you off anchor unless you’re way out near the islands, so get after it early or tuck in for the dusk bite.

Fish activity has been hot, especially near San Pedro and San Diego. According to 22nd Street Landing and Fisherman’s Landing, there’s been a blitz of rockfish, whitefish, sanddab, and halibut inshore, with deeper boats scoring bluefin, yellowfin and yellowtail on the overnight runs. Monte Carlo half-day boats pulled over 250 rockfish just last week, while the 3/4 day Native Sun landed a mixed bag with 13 halibut and a handful of calico bass, bonito, and sheephead. San Diego boats like Pacific Queen returned with limits of bluefin, 25 yellowtail, and 18 yellowfin on the open party trip yesterday—pretty stellar surface action.

If you’re fishing inshore, the best baits right now are drop-shot soft plastics—Z-Man Scented Jerk ShadZ and Berkley PowerBait MaxScent Flux-Gill have been tearing it up especially for calicos, sand bass, and halibut. For rockfish and lingcod, squid strips or cut sardines are putting fish on the deck—fresh is best, so hit up Roy’s Bait and Tackle in the morning. Offshore chasers are cashing in on bluefin and yellowtail with Bomber Saltwater Long Shot hard minnows in deep blue or chrome patterns, rigged on heavy tackle and trolled or slow-pitched. For surface foamers, casting MadMacs or flat-fall jigs is getting bit—keep a rod rigged just in case the birds start to work.

Island zone is red hot. The south side of Santa Catalina is seeing excellent numbers—Freedom Crew reported 56 bluefin and 7 yellowtail for their 1.5 day charter last week. Sheephead and whitefish are stacked in the shallow reefs, so drop a little shrimp or PowerBait Flux-Gill and hang on. The Farallon islands off NorCal are also banging with lingcod and rockfish limits—Nor Cal Fish Reports called it “lights out” and “another day of LIMITS.”

A couple of today’s top hotspots:
- **Palos Verdes kelp line**: Inshore bass and halibut have been aggressive in the current, especially early on the incoming tide.
- **Clemente Island, Pyramid Cove**: Offshore/overnight boats hitting bluefin and yellowtail from sunrise into the dusk bite.
- **Farrallon islands**: If you’re heading north, rockfish and lingcod are schooled up and hungry.

Right now, the wise move is to fish sunrise and sunset around the tide swings—water movement is prime and toothy critters are on the prowl. If you’re plugging plastics, go natural colors like Green Pumpkin, Blue Pearl, or classic sardine for pressured waters. For bait, keep your squid and sardines fresh and keep moving until you find the right structure and marks.

Thanks for tuning in to today’s Pacific fishing rundown! Be sure to subscribe for daily local updates and insider tactics. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai.

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