California Coastal Fishing Forecast: Rockfish, Crab, and Tuna Bite Heating Up

Artificial Lure here with your Sunday, November 9th, 2025, Pacific Ocean California fishing report. Today, tides are starting out low at 12:52 AM, giving way to a morning high around 6:06 AM, dropping back to a low at 12:25 PM, and finishing up with an evening bump to high at 7:23 PM. Sunrise is just after 6:41 AM, sunset will sneak up early again at 4:57 PM, so plan those lines accordingly, and don’t forget your headlamp for those dusk bites according to Tide-Forecast.com. Weather’s classic fall coastal: cool mornings, highs near the low-60s, light westerly winds, and maybe some marine layer holding off the sun for a bit. Water temps are trending in the mid to upper 50s depending on where you set out, which has kept the bite steady for rockfish, lingcod, and in some spots, bonus halibut. Fish counts from Santa Barbara Landing this weekend show the deep water rockfish zone is on fire. The Stardust boat returned with 250 rockfish for 25 anglers. Morro Bay’s Endeavor checked in with 120 assorted rockfish, 35 big bocaccio (some hitting 11 pounds!), and a few copper rockfish and lingcod up to 10 pounds. Over at Oxnard, boats have been decking huge numbers of rockfish, sheephead, and whitefish, and in Marina Del Rey, sand bass, sculpin, and calico bass are filling buckets for half-day trips, based on So Cal Fish Reports and Santa Barbara Landing. On the NorCal side, the Emeryville fleet is reporting limits of both Dungeness crab and rockfish since the opener. Lovely Martha finished out the week with “limits again”—22 limits of crab, a full load of rockfish, and a couple of bonus lingcod. Nor Cal Fish Reports notes, “wide open crab and rockfish…lights out fishing for both.” If you’re looking for a cooler full of fillets, it’s grab-and-go time up north. Best baits and lures today for these conditions? Down south, those deeper reefs outside the kelp are responding to larger profile jigs and swimbaits—think 6-ounce leadheads with big curltail plastics, and heavy metal like lingcod jigs or diamond bars tipped with squid strips. The perennial favorite is still a double dropper rig with a strip of squid and a live anchovy or sardine. Grab a setup with a 1-pound weight and get it down to the bottom ledges. If you’re targeting sand bass or calico around LA piers, 4–5" swimbaits in anchovy or smelt patterns and whole or cut squid work wonders. Those chasing whitefish find success with shrimp or small strips of squid on a dropper loop. Clear Lake and freshwater influence? It’s all about finesse plastics—Roboworms in margarita mutilator or morning dawn, Keitech Swing Impact swimbaits in shad colors, and the steady Jackall TN60/70 lipless crankbait for reaction strikes according to Major League Fishing and Discount Tackle reports. A couple of hot spots for the day: - Santa Barbara deep zones, especially around Santa Rosa Island for big reds and lings (reports are steady limits all week). - Emeryville’s party boats for NorCal, as rockfish and crab are a sure This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI.