Autumn Angling in SoCal: A Fishing Report for Los Angeles Waters

Artificial Lure coming to you with the Los Angeles area fishing report for Wednesday, October 29, 2025. Daybreak is at 7:05 this morning, with sunset set for 6:08 pm, so we’ve got plenty of daylight to chase those SoCal autumn bites. Weather’s shaping up mild and seasonal, with early cloud cover in the low 60s and a light breeze filling in from the west by midday. A touch of residual marine layer hangs over coastal pockets, but it’s burning off quickly as the sun gets higher, making for classic fall action—make sure you bring sunscreen for the clear hours ahead. Let’s talk tides. According to the Port of Los Angeles tide charts, we had a high tide at 6:29 am at 4.2 feet, dropping to a low at 10:00 am at 3.97 feet, then ramping up for another high at 3:27 pm at 4.86 feet. That sets up an excellent incoming tide bite late morning and into the afternoon—prime windows for both rockfish offshore and inshore bass. Boats running out of Long Beach Sportfishing and LA Waterfront are reporting solid catches this week. The Victory boat’s 3/4 day trip had limits of rockfish—red rockfish and salmon grouper thick on the structure, plus a healthy showing of calico bass and a few bonus sheepshead on fresh cut squid and strip baits. Over at the islands, the El Patron’s full-day runs to Catalina and occasionally Santa Barbara Island are still turning up yellowtail, whitefish, and the odd homeguard white seabass when you can find current. Lingcod and big vermillion rockfish are steady as usual on deep drops—chrome jigs and live sardines are money, but plastics will work if you bounce them right on the bottom. Hot lures this week are swimbaits in sardine patterns, smaller metal jigs in blue/chrome, and the crowd favorite—Lucky Craft jerkbaits—for the calicos around shallow kelp. The Hook Up Tackle recommends a Jackhammer Custom Color Drop or a Megabass MagDraft Freestyle for the bass crowd. Fresh-dead squid and live anchovy are the top natural baits if you can get them, especially for the bigger sheephead and surprise halibut lurking along the sandy edges. Pier and jetty anglers at Marina del Rey and Redondo are finding a steady pick of bonito, small halibut, and barred surf perch on gulp camo sandworms fished Carolina-rigged in the troughs. Early and late, those beaches light up—Santa Monica Bay, Torrance County Beach, and Topanga have been local favorites. Inland, spots like King Harbor and Belmont Pier are reliable for mixed bags this week. For your hot spots, I'd put my chips on the following: - **Long Beach/LA Breakwall**: Solid bite of mixed rockfish, occasional legal calico, and the past few days saw some jackpot-size sheephead from the Victory’s reports. - **Catalina Island—East End**: Yellowtail showing with good current, plus deep drops for a variety of tasty bottomfish. All in all, late October means loaded freezers—now’s the time to get on the water before the winter patterns set in. Grab those swimbaits, bring plenty of squid or anchovy, and kee This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI.