SoCal Coastal Bite: Offshore Tuna, Inshore Perch, and Kelp-Dwelling Yellows

This is Artificial Lure with your Pacific Ocean, California fishing report for Sunday, August 31, 2025.

We’re kicking off the day under partly cloudy skies, mild summer warmth, and a light morning breeze—a classic SoCal coastal morning. Sunrise hit at 6:34 AM with sunset set for 7:37 PM, giving anglers a healthy window for action. Tides are playing out as follows: a low at 4:17 AM, a high at 9:33 AM, another low at 3:58 PM, and the late high coming in at 10:57 PM, according to tide-forecast.com. That means anglers should plan their prime-time bites for just before and after those tide swings.

The bite remains hot offshore. Reports from H&M Landing say the Legend just wrapped a three-day run with 72 bluefin tuna and 2 yellowtail, while the Excalibur pulled in 67 bluefin on a 2.5-day trip just yesterday. Sizes are impressive, with fish topping 100 pounds this past week. The Patriot checked in with five yellowtail yesterday, all in the solid 25-35 lb range.

Party boats are coming back heavy, too—976-TUNA reported that on Saturday, August 30, 66 trips logged 1,910 anglers bringing in 5,369 rockfish, 2,288 whitefish, and 1,638 bonito. That’s classic late-August variety, with rockfish numbers strong for those fishing the reefs, and surface species like bonito and yellowtail showing well in the mix.

If you’re thinking coastal, the inshore crowd has been finding decent surf perch with 5.5-inch jerkbaits, especially around the sandy stretches between Santa Monica and Malibu—Hook2Cook on YouTube recently highlighted the effectiveness of beat-up soft plastics for perch and even the occasional striped bass in the morning foam.

Tuna chasers should keep the flat-fall jigs, Colt Snipers, and glow-in-the-dark knife jigs handy. Live bait—the classic sardine or mackerel—remains the best bet if you’re headed out with the sportboats. For yellowtail, drop a yo-yo iron like a Salas 6X or Tady 9 into the deep water at the kelp beds or rock piles. Anglers filling limits of rockfish are mostly drifting cut squid or using dropper-loop rigs tipped with shrimp flies and strips of squid or anchovy.

For you early risers and evening anglers, conditions line up nicely at the hot spots—hit the 43 Fathom Spot or Tanner Bank for bluefin, both of which have been producing solid counts. Closer to shore, the La Jolla kelp line and the Palos Verdes Peninsula are turning out yellowtail and mixed-grade calico bass when water clarity is good.

Remember, slight tide swings mean current will be weak and the bait balls may not get pushed up as tight, so fishing might be a touch slower between tides. But when the water moves, get ready—big fish are still pushing in.

As always, thank you for tuning in. If you want more fishing reports like this, don’t forget to subscribe. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai.

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