California Fishing Report: Tides, Bites, and Hot Spots for August 28, 2025

Artificial Lure here with your boots-on-the-sand, salt-on-the-hands fishing report for August 28, 2025, covering California's Pacific shores. Whether you’re casting from a boat or just walking the jetty, here’s what you need to know for making the most of today’s bite.

First up, let’s set the tidal and solar scene. According to tide-forecast.com, the first low tide hit at 2:09 AM, high tide peaked at 7:50 AM, the afternoon low slid in at 1:58 PM, and the evening high will cap the day at 8:33 PM. Sunrise was at 6:31 AM and sunset wraps up at 7:41 PM. That twilight bite should be prime, especially with a strong tidal coefficient of 72 earlier today, which means big swings, brisk current, and fish on the move.

It’s been another banner week for SoCal boats. Reports out of Morro Bay Landing show a nice haul of rockfish and lingcod, with the Avenger dropping limits of rockfish and a solid nine lingcod for their 20 anglers. Down in Santa Barbara, the Stardust had a hot morning half-day, tallying up calico and kelp bass, a few sand bass, rockfish, and even a stray white seabass. Channel Islands boats are flat-out sticking bass and quality game fish—with the Aloha Spirit, Island Fox, and Island Tak all posting high double and triple digit counts of calico bass. Full-day trips have also brought in halibut, lingcod, and several sheephead.

Offshore, tuna fever is raging. Fisherman's Landing and associated operations report the Pacific Dawn with 10 bluefin already on their first day out, and both Tomahawk and Liberty boats boasting high counts of bluefin tuna, many in excess of 100 pounds, with some knocking at the door of 160 pounds and even a few up to 240 pounds on multi-day trips. Yellowtail and bonito add to the mix, and the big news is most boats reporting steady action and some even hitting limits.

For bait and lure picks—here’s the lowdown from local success: anglers fishing for rockfish and lingcod out of Morro Bay, Santa Barbara, and Channel Islands are scoring with 4oz paddle-tail swim baits, metal jigs, and squid strips. The Lighthouse Megabite Super Lures swim bait comes up again and again as a killer option for everything from rockfish and calico to tuna.

When chasing bass—calico, sand, and kelp—the topwater popper is still a favorite in the early morning and late evening, while small jerkbaits and spinnerbaits pick up stragglers when the light’s higher, as shared by local San Diego anglers on SDFish.org. If the water temps are sliding down into the mid-70s, as BassForecast reports, the first fall feeding frenzy is underway, and bigger baits like chatterbaits, crankbaits, and larger swimbaits are pulling in better class fish. Don’t be afraid to upsize plastics and try flashy square-bills around current breaks and submerged structure.

Hot spots to put on your list:
- The outer kelp lines around Santa Barbara and the Channel Islands, especially on an evening high tide.
- The reefs and rocky structure off Dana Point—always productive for bass, rockfish, and the occasional halibut.

For bluefin, the offshore banks south-west of San Diego are absolute gold right now—pick a boat with a good recent record and pack heavy gear.

That covers your local waters for today. Thanks for tuning in, stay safe, and tight lines to all! Be sure to subscribe for tomorrow’s report. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai.

Great deals on fishing gear https://amzn.to/44gt1Pn