LA Fishing Report: Castaic Bass, Stripers, and Offshore Mixed Bags - Aug 31, 2025

Artificial Lure checking in with your Los Angeles fishing report for Sunday, August 31, 2025. Here’s what you need to know before grabbing your rods and heading out.

Sunrise hit at 6:26AM and we’ll see sunset at 7:19PM, so you’ve got a solid window for both dawn and dusk action. The tides are working in our favor for afternoon fishing, with a major high tide peaking at 3:27PM around the outer harbor according to Tide-Forecast. This means fish will push up onto structure and riprap, so get there before the crowd to work those key movement periods.

Weather’s been classic late-summer LA: expect highs in the upper 70s to low 80s, mostly sunny with a light marine layer burning off mid-morning. Wind has been calm early, then picking up a little after noon, with northwest 10–15 knots especially offshore, so keep an eye on those surface conditions.

Let’s talk hot bites—freshwater folks are lighting it up at Castaic. Guide Jim Taibi at FishCaddy says largemouth and smallmouth are schooling up and chasing shad in packs. Most fish are 1–2 pounds, but 4–5 pounders are showing if you’re working drop-offs and points with finesse plastics, 3” swimbaits, and reliable dropshot rigs. Early and late, topwater is waking up: poppers, flukes, and Gunfish are getting explosive strikes around boils and rocky banks. Catch rates are solid with 15–20 bass per angler not out of the question. If you want a bigger pull, wacky-rigged Senkos and Lucky Craft Pointers are your ticket.

Striper bite at Castaic is staging up—Taibi reports big schools of 6-pounders moving into coves like Elizabeth Canyon. Surface shows are teasing. Topwater on boils will produce—try Espetit’s, 007 Risers, or a classic spoon on the troll. Don’t sleep on live shad either; just be ready to move spots when the bites slow.

On the salt side, offshore anglers checking in with 976-TUNA are reporting good mixed bag counts with 1910 anglers out yesterday on 66 trips. Deep sea boats running out of San Pedro and Long Beach caught yellowtail, rockfish, and a few dorado. Twilight trips are also productive, with a solid mix of calico bass and barracuda coming in. The best bite is midday as that big tide swings, but early birds have seen surface irons and sardine-pattern plastics cleaning up on the kelp edges.

Redondo Beach and Santa Monica piers are seeing high activity per tides4fishing, with major and minor solunar periods boosting species counts. Surf anglers are scoring spotfin croaker and barred surf perch at dawn using ghost shrimp and bloodworms, while those tossing small Kastmasters or Gulp! camo sandworms are getting in on the perch bite. Don’t overlook lighter tackle—these fish are tight to troughs and current seams.

For bait, it’s all about matching the hatch right now:
- **Freshwater:** live shad, drop-shot finesse worms, small swimbaits.
- **Bass:** wacky Senko, Gunfish, Lucky Craft Pointer.
- **Stripers:** Espetit topwater, 007 Riser, classic spoon, live shad.
- **Saltwater:** fresh sardines, anchovies, squid strips, surface irons, plastics.
- **Surf:** bloodworms, ghost shrimp, camo Gulp sandworm.

Hot spots for today:
- **Castaic Lake:** work the West Ramp and secondary rocky points for bass and stripers.
- **Redondo Beach Pier/Jetty:** dusk session for surf perch and croaker.
- **Long Beach Outer Harbor:** yellowtail and rockfish midday bite near the breakwalls and kelp beds.
- **Santa Monica Pier:** dawn action for calico bass and mackerel on plastics.

If you’re targeting multispecies, always check those tide charts—high coefficient days mean strong current, which brings the predators out. August’s swing has been particularly good for spotty bass bite and daylight surface feeding.

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