Late Summer SoCal Fishing Report - Calico Bass, Yellowtail, and Rockfish on the Chew

Artificial Lure here with your morning fishing report for Los Angeles and the surrounding coast, Friday, September 5th, 2025.

The day’s weather is starting calm, classic late-summer SoCal—marine layer should give way to sun by midmorning, with temps peaking in the upper 70s. Winds are light in the morning, picking up slightly out of the west come afternoon, so plan your trips early if you’re running out to the islands or fishing open water.

Sunrise hit at 6:32 AM and sunset will be at 7:07 PM, so you’ve got plenty of daylight for long sessions. Tides for the outer Los Angeles Harbor show a very early low tide at 2:18 AM, a solid high just before 9:00 AM, another low around 1:36 PM, then a nice evening high near 7:41 PM. These swings mean strong movement both early and late—expect feeding frenzies to key in around slack periods when baitfish stack up near structure, jetties, or kelp edges, especially on the inbound tide according to Tide-Forecast.com.

Fish counts from SoCalFishReports.com continue strong for late summer, especially on the boats working out of Marina Del Rey, Long Beach, and San Pedro:
- The Betty-O and Spitfire out of Marina Del Rey put up numbers on sand bass, sole, whitefish, calico bass, sheephead, lingcod, and rockfish just this week.
- Long Beach and 22nd Street crews report calico bass in the kelp, yellowtail on the chew offshore, and limits of rockfish on almost every run.
- Reports from Avila Beach show quality bocaccio (some up to 8lbs), copper rockfish, and big counts of mixed bottom dwellers—local structure spots and reefs are loaded.

Halibut have shown up in pockets from Redondo down to Huntington, especially where the beaches give way to eelgrass—target them with slow-rolled swimbaits and drop-shot rigged grubs. Calico bass are up shallow early, especially on rocky shorelines and the outer kelp, snapping at weedless plastics in green or smoke, with surface iron and hardbaits drawing violent strikes right at grey light. Yellowtail numbers have ticked up at the Horseshoe, Palos Verdes, and along the Catalina front—stick with yo-yo jigs on deeper marks and live sardines when they’re up chasing bait.

For bottom fishing, the classic double dropper loop rig with squid or anchovy remains unbeatable for sculpin, whitefish, and the bigger sheephead. For bass, try warbs or creature baits hopped tight to boiler rocks or piers—natural and darker colors (brown, watermelon, root beer) are out-catching the bright stuff. Night anglers are scoring catfish and bat rays in the harbors on cut mackerel and shrimp, especially near Wolford, per FishCaddy.

As for hot spots, set your sights on the breakwall at Cabrillo, or the kelp lines off Rocky Point—both have been lighting up for calico, sand bass and even the odd yellowtail. Better yet, jump on a half-day out of Marina Del Rey or Long Beach for a crack at mixed bags—these boats are filling sacks day after day.

That’s the bite for today—weather’s prime, tides look promising, and fish are on the chew. Thanks for tuning in, and don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss the latest from Artificial Lure.

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