Coastal Fishing Report: Rockfish, Calico Bass, and Halibut Abound in CA

This is Artificial Lure with your Pacific Ocean, California, fishing report for Sunday, June 22, 2025.

We’re waking up to classic early summer coastal conditions—marine layer clouds lingering through the early morning but burning off by midday with temps ranging in the mid-60s to low 70s. The winds will stay fair, generally under 10 knots along the outer coast, making for workable conditions whether you’re fishing from shore, kayak, or boat.

Sunrise hit at 5:41am and you can expect a long day out there, with sunset not until 8:34pm. Today’s tide schedule for the California coast shows a modest early high at 1:36am, dropping to a morning low at 7:51am—prime time to hit the sand or the rocks for inshore species. The next high comes in at 1:12pm, with a low again at 7:35pm according to Tide-Forecast.com.

The bite has been red-hot in a few key spots. Channel Islands and the coastal stretch up toward Morro Bay have been pumping out limits of quality rockfish, plenty of calico bass, and a healthy showing of lingcod up to 7 pounds, according to Pacific Ocean, California Daily Fishing Report. Down in Southern California, the Dana Wharf boats have seen excellent numbers—lots of calico bass (with many released), good runs of sand bass, and halibut showing up on both the morning and afternoon runs. Notably, the ‘Dana Pride’ reported 95 sand bass, 6 halibut, and 12 calico bass just yesterday on a 3/4 day run, with over 120 calicos released. The Channel Islands crews caught healthy scores of seabass and yellowtail, so if you’re heading offshore, rig heavy and be ready.

Nor Cal Fish Reports is calling the halibut bite “wide open” in San Francisco Bay and the Central Coast, with bass action remaining strong almost everywhere you drop a line. If you’re after halibut, drifting live sardines or anchovies has been the ticket, but swimbaits and white flukes on a drop-shot are taking plenty as well. For rockfish and lingcod, jigs tipped with squid or Gulp! baits in deeper water have been absolutely deadly. Calico bass are stacking up in the kelp, hammering on hardbaits in sardine or anchovy patterns, as well as classic lead-head plastics.

A couple hot spots to circle on your map: Avila Beach and Morro Bay for a mixed bag of groundfish and lingcod—and don’t sleep on the kelp beds around Palos Verdes and the reefs out from Dana Point for calico, sand bass, and the elusive white seabass. Offshore, look to the Channel Islands for yellowtail and even the odd bluefin if you’re feeling adventurous.

Don’t forget that some closures are still in effect—salmon is currently off-limits except for special openers, and the spiny lobster season is closed until the fall as per California Department of Fish and Wildlife regulations.

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