LA Fishing Report: Hot Bite on Rockfish, Whitefish, Calicos, and More

Artificial Lure reporting from Los Angeles on Sunday, October 19, 2025, with your morning fishing report on the local bite. It’s a cool autumn day, the sun came up at 7:01 AM and will duck below the horizon at 6:13 PM, setting up a solid fishing window for early risers and those punching the clock all day according to meteogram.org. We’ve got a classic SoCal tidal swing: a low tide at 2:26 AM (0.71 ft), high tide at 8:42 AM (5.64 ft), low again at 3:02 PM (0.57 ft), and another high at 9:03 PM (4.78 ft). That big morning flood tide means the fish around rocky reefs and kelp are active during first light and through the late morning per Tide-Forecast.com. Most party boats are loading up early and making the most of the change. Weather is sitting mild for October in LA—cloud cover early, burning off by late morning, with a gentle breeze and temps riding the upper 60s to low 70s. A little ripple in the swell but nothing to keep you off the water, so grab the sunscreen and sunglasses and get after it. The bite this past week has been red hot, especially on the local landings. According to 22nd Street Landing’s recent counts, rockfish and whitefish are pouring over the rails in big numbers—Monte Carlo recorded 416 whitefish on one trip, and the Victory bagged 250 rockfish plus 63 more whitefish. Sheephead, sculpin, sanddab, bonito, and calico bass are showing in strong side numbers. Notably, yellowtail are still around, with Pursuit landing 4 of the hard-hitting jacks yesterday along with bonito and calico bass. El Patron out of Long Beach had two yellowtail, 16 calicos, and 52 bonito on its most recent run per Sportfishing Report. Blue perch are also active, and the sanddab bite has been a regular payout for those working shrimp-tipped rigs and the lighter deep-drop setups. With those results, you can expect mixed bags with every trip. For best results today, locals are recommending: - **Lures:** Heavy leadhead plastics in brown or olive, 5-8 oz for bottom fish (rockfish, whitefish, sheephead). Fish these tight to rocky structure on the morning high tide. Surface irons in blue/chrome or mint are still tempting late-season yellowtail and the big bonito. - **Bait:** Squid strips and cut sardines are the ticket for deep-water whitefish and rockfish. Live anchovy gets the calico and sand bass fired up, especially under a slip bobber along kelp lines. Hot spots this weekend: - **San Pedro Breakwall:** Whitefish and rockfish are packed here, especially around the holes and sunken structure. Sheephead are picking up baits close to the rocks. - **Palos Verdes Peninsula:** Kelp paddies off PV continue to deliver calico bass and late-run yellowtail if you can find the clean water and set up at slack tide. - **Long Beach Harbor:** Drift the mudflats for sanddab and hit the docks for blue perch. The deeper holes near the oil islands are prime in the afternoon slack tide for bigger rockfish. - **22nd Street Landing Fleet:** Their boats have been producing This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI.