Anglers Ahoy! Tuna Offshore, Bass Inshore - Your California Fishing Report for September 3rd, 2025

Artificial Lure here with your September 3rd, 2025 Pacific Ocean California fishing report. Let’s get to what matters: sunrise was at 6:37 AM, sunset at 7:32 PM, setting us up with long, prime daylight for chasing the bite. The weather is classic early September—mild mornings with a touch of mist, building to clear, bright conditions and highs in the mid-70s to low-80s along the coast. Winds are gentle, picking up to about 10 knots by the afternoon—perfect for both inshore and offshore runs.

Tides today are mellow: low at 6:57 AM, a “high” right around lunchtime at 12:13 PM, and a late low just before 7 PM. These softer tides—according to Tide-Forecast—mean lighter currents, so you’ll want to think more subtle, natural presentations, especially on structure and around kelp beds.

Offshore is seeing real action on the exotics. According to Fisherman’s Landing’s latest fish counts, bluefin and yellowfin tuna are on deck with solid size and numbers. The Pacific Queen just came back with 98 bluefin up to 140 pounds, and the Tomahawk landed 34 bluefin on a recent two-day. Yellowtail and the occasional yellowfin are in the counts too—Liberty pulled mixed catches on their full-day runs, while the Constitution weighed in some hefty bluefin, yellowtail, and a few halibut. For best results chasing tuna, anglers are scoring on flat-fall jigs and Colt Snipers during the early bite, and switching to live sardine or mackerel as the day brightens. If you’re chunking, small fluorocarbon leaders have been making the difference with the current’s slack.

Inshore and near coastal, the bass bite continues to hum along. Sand bass and calico are still showing decent numbers, with dolphins out of San Diego landing upwards of 25 sand bass, 10 calicos, and good numbers of rockfish and sculpin. The grassier and rockier pockets near Point Loma and La Jolla are holding fish—target these structures around low tide turn for best odds. Try a natural-colored swimbait or downsize with a drop shot rig if the bite gets finicky.

Speaking of rockfish, the deeper reefs off Palos Verdes and towards Newport are yielding red vermilion, sheepshead, and assorted mixed rockfish—15 or more a trip is not out of the question, based on Lucky B Sportfishing trips. Squid strips or cut sardines down deep do the trick, but don't sleep on a heavy jig tipped with scented soft plastics.

If you’re heading north or looking for a quick run from shore, the San Francisco Bay and the Pacifica pier have a steady showing of surfperch and an early start to the barred perch fall push. Grubs and sandcrabs are persistently solid baits here, but small jerkbaits in natural anchovy color are drawing the bigger models.

Bass anglers on the lakes inland may want to consider the current strategy on Clear Lake—last tournament, anglers found luck with chatterbaits, downsized soft plastics, and slow presentations near docks and grass edges, as per WesternBass reports.

Top Hot Spots today:
- The outer banks off San Diego (for tuna and yellowtail, live bait is king)
- Kelp lines off La Jolla for bass and yellowtail (try a weedless swimbait in sardine color)
- Pacifica Pier at first light for surfperch and stripers (small hardbaits or sandcrabs)
- Huntington Beach artificial reef for rockfish (squid or Gulp! baits on dropper loops)

Lures of the day: flat-fall and butterfly jigs in blue/white for bluefin, weedless swimbaits or jerkbaits for kelp bass, and drop shot rigs with natural plastics for finicky inshore bites. Live bait continues to produce across species—sardine, mackerel, or even squid if you can find it.

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