LA Fishing Report: Late-Summer Bite is On for Calicos, Bass, and More

Artificial Lure here, bringing you the Los Angeles fishing report for Wednesday, September 3, 2025.

You couldn’t ask for cleaner, nicer late-summer conditions on the water. According to Tide-Forecast.com, sunrise was at 6:32 AM and sunset rolls in at 7:07 PM. We’re on a big tide swing today with a strong 91 tidal coefficient, meaning plenty of water movement—always a good sign for hungry fish. The high tide is topping out late morning around 5.8 feet, backing down to a low tide just after five in the evening. That gives you good water for both the early topwater bite and the evening session as the water pulls out.

Weather has been perfect: plenty of sun, almost zero wind and glassy seas as reported by the crew on the Monte Carlo out of 22nd Street Landing. Water temps along the coast have crept into the low 70s, which is keeping the bite active for calico bass and the usual bottom dwellers.

In the salt, nearshore action out of San Pedro and Long Beach was excellent this week. The Pursuit and Victory boats both reported just shy of 60 keeper calico bass each trip, along with full bags of whitefish, sheephead, blue perch, and a healthy mix of rockfish and bottom critters. Monte Carlo also picked up one short halibut and a couple of short seabass. Further out, the Amigo scored limits of white seabass for the ride, 15 bluefin tuna, a handful of halibut, and a lone yellowtail. The key was finding the cleaner, warmer water and sticking tight to the reefs and edges.

For land-based anglers and kayak folks working the breakwalls, smaller swimbaits and weedless plastics fished tight to rock structure are the ticket. Dropper loop with strips of squid or cut shrimp has been the hot setup for sculpin, whitefish, and the odd sheephead. If you’re chasing bigger bites, the early morning topwater window is still solid—walking baits and big poppers parallel to kelp lines will give you a shot at bigger calicos and the odd yellowtail.

Over on the freshwater side, nearby spots like Castaic, Pyramid, and Silverwood are all seeing improved bass activity, especially early and late. FishCaddy reports the bass are on the chew for finesse baits like dropshots and small swimbaits, especially near deeper structure and weedy cover. Catfish have been reliable all month on cut bait and nightcrawlers. Striped bass are showing more consistency after dark, with white flukes, jerkbaits, and walking topwater baits doing work.

Your best bets for lures this week:
- For bass: dropshot rigs, small swimbaits, dark plastics, especially weedless presentations around rocks and grass.
- For saltwater: dropper loop with squid or shrimp for bottom fish, and jointed swimbaits or topwater poppers for calico bass and surface species. The multi-jointed swimbaits (like the 3.75” bull gill) have been getting bites from bigger bass and are user-friendly even for newer anglers.

A couple of hotspots to put on your map:
- Cabrillo Mole at the end of the San Pedro breakwall—great for bass and assorted bottom critters at the tide changes
- Belmont Pier in Long Beach—solid variety, especially on a rising tide and in low light
- For freshwater, work the shorelines at Castaic’s lower lake at dawn or Silverwood’s Cleghorn area, particularly around the submerged brush.

That’s the rundown for LA this week—from salt to sweet, the bite is on! Thanks for tuning in to Artificial Lure. Don’t forget to subscribe to get the latest local fishing tips and updates.

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