California Coast Fishing Report: Tuna, Halibut, and More for the Weekend Ahead

Artificial Lure here with your Saturday, October 11th, 2025 fishing report for California’s Pacific Coast. The weather’s mild up and down the California coastline this morning. According to Pacific Text Briefing Package, winds are moderate, so expect a gentle chop but nothing fierce for those heading offshore. Sunrise hit at 7:11am, and sunset’ll come at 6:33pm. Tides are running low at 2:03am, cresting to a high at 7:23am—perfect early window for working the kelp beds and rocky points. A slack low follows at 1:36pm before another high at 8:36pm, so plan your bite windows accordingly. These are modest tides by fall standards but still enough current to stir up hungry predators. Offshore, bluefin tuna’s still the headline in Southern California waters. Seaforth Sportfishing shows solid recent scores—the Tribute had 145 yellowtail, 8 dorado, 6 bluefin, and 2 yellowfin just a few days ago. The New Lo-An reported 71 bluefin with some yellowfin as well. Boats working further out—think 60–150 nm from shore—are regularly finding sizeable bluefin, sometimes pushing triple digits on the scales with day limits not uncommon. Most charters are running south of San Diego, toward the outer banks. For bait and lures, launching in San Diego, the hot ticket for tuna right now is the trusty Flat Fall jig and slow-pitch metals—drop them deep during midday slack and work them up fast. When yellowtail are around, go with surface irons or a live sardine. Dorado and bonito are still smacking trolled Rapalas and cedar plugs. If heading out yourself, visit local tackle shops—Pacific Angler says Mini-Gs, Crocs, and Rooster Tails are essential for surf and nearshore, especially if you want calico bass and bonito. Rockfish are reliable in deeper zones. Fisherman’s Landing reported great mixed bags recently: in one PM trip, 21 rockfish, 10 sheephead, 4 calico bass, 2 cabezon, and some sculpin and sand bass. Cut squid, anchovy, and shrimp flies rigged with a heavy weight lets you hit the magic zone below 300 feet. Lingcod’s still on tap with over 900 landed this season. Sheephead and calicos are taking shrimp bits near the bottom and plastics on the surface. Up in NorCal, Nor Cal Fish Reports says shad schools have been thick between 15–40 feet. Bass are stacked in the same areas, so drop shot rigs and shad imitations are putting fish in the boat. Halibut action’s solid—limits are more common, and some jumbo specimens have come in the past week. For the surf, low tide around mid-afternoon means digging clams or sand crabs if you want a chance at barred sand bass. Early birds using Carolina rigs with bloodworms or gulp sandworms before the sun gets high are picking up perch and juvenile halibut. Hot spots this weekend: - La Jolla kelp beds: mixed calicos, sheephead, and yellowtail on live bait and plastics. - Coronado Islands offshore: bluefin and yellowtail on jigs and sardines. - Monterey Bay: halibut and rockfish close to the harbor on squid strips. - Pacifica Pier: This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI.