Pacific Coast Fishing: Lingcod, Rockfish, and Offshore Tuna Bite Strong in California

Artificial Lure here with your live Pacific Ocean, California fishing report for Wednesday, August 20th, 2025!

Clear skies and mild early-morning temps greeted anglers up and down the coast today. Sunrise was at 6:24 AM and sunset will linger until 7:53 PM, giving you prime daylight hours to work the water. Tides started with a modest high at 2:12 AM, dropped low at 8:20 AM, another push to high at 1:43 PM, and end with an evening low at 8:15 PM per Tide-Forecast.com. Those changing tides mean your bite windows are best in the early morning and just after lunch.

Let’s get into the action—southern and central coast party boats have been hauling them in. Yesterday, out of Santa Barbara, 24 anglers aboard the Coral Sea tallied up a fat 36 lingcod and 240 rockfish, while the Stardust added another 210 rockfish and 3 lings to the score. Avila, Ventura, and Oxnard are all seeing robust action: the Flying Fish Patriot out of Avila Beach brought in 3 lingcod up to 15 pounds and almost 200 assorted rockcod. Ventura’s Island Spirit landed 41 whitefish, 114 rockfish, and a handful of lingcod and sculpin. Oxnard’s waters produced halibut, calico and sand bass, with standout counts of 10 halibut on the Graylight and 40 calico bass on the Island Tak, while the Mirage racked up 17 barracuda and a staggering 38 halibut overnight, according to SoCalFishingReports.com.

If you're offshore-minded, the bluefin tuna bite is holding steady for boats pushing from San Diego up toward the northern Channel Islands. Recent returns to Fisherman’s Landing report two-day boats decking solid bluefin numbers—22 on the Pacific Dawn and multiple trips seeing mixed bluefin and yellowtail, especially during dark hours.

On the northern coast, halibut catches remain inconsistent, with boats covering ground from Trinidad to the Eel River Canyon. There are some short hot streaks, but nothing wide open. That said, tuna water is visible off Eureka, and some boats found longfin albacore in numbers from a couple per boat into the teens. Word is the wind will shift over the weekend and open things up for more offshore action, per FishingtheNorthCoast.com.

For surf and inshore, bass are hanging tight to structure—rocks, weed lines, and submerged brush—especially in the first hour after sunrise. Early morning topwater action is happening, but most of the bigger bites are coming on slow, weedless soft plastics in natural or dark hues. Catfish are active on cut bait and nightcrawlers, and sporadic crappie are getting picked off with micro-jigs around submerged cover, according to FishCaddy.com.

Tackle and lure tips: On the boats, heavy jigs and swimbaits in deeper water are scoring most of the big rockfish and lings. Calico and sand bass are crushing weedless plastics, especially in green and brown patterns to mimic local forage. Offshore, big flat-fall jigs and glow baits are the top pick for bluefin, especially under a full moon or in low light. For trout in northern reservoirs, orange and chrome Trigger Spoons have been California’s hot ticket, Cal Kellogg reports.

For kayak and small boat anglers in the shallows, subtle is key—hair jigs and spybaits get the nod for spooky bass and even the occasional shallow halibut, says Wired2Fish.

A couple of hotspots to put on your radar:
- The reefs and kelp beds off Santa Cruz and Santa Barbara—prime for mixed rockfish, lings, and the shot at a white seabass or halibut.
- The backside of Anacapa and Santa Rosa Islands, where overnight trips from Oxnard and Ventura have been hitting halibut, calico bass, and barracuda hard.
- For surfcasters, Pacifica Pier is set up well for striped bass in early AM and late PM tides this week, with live anchovies or hair-raiser jigs.

Thanks for tuning in to your Pacific Coast fishing fix! Don’t forget to subscribe for the latest tides, tips, and fish stories. This has been a quiet...