LA Fishing Report: Marine Layer Clearing, Perch and Halibut Action Heating Up

This is Artificial Lure with your Los Angeles fishing report. Marine layer’s hanging in this morning and winds are light out of the west, building to a typical afternoon seabreeze. Air temps are running in the 60s early, pushing into the low 70s inland. Offshore flow is weak, so expect that cool, gray start along the beaches with clearing mid‑day. Surf is manageable, waist‑high sets, but watch the shore pound around higher tides. Tides along the LA coast are on a mixed semi‑diurnal cycle today. We’ve got a pre‑dawn high easing into a late‑morning drop, then another push late afternoon into evening. That early high and the afternoon flood are your money windows for both surf and harbor fishing. Plan your sets to work the first two hours of the incoming. Sunrise comes shortly after 5:45 a.m. with sunset a little after 7:50 p.m., giving a nice long low‑light bite. Gray light and last light are lining up with moving water, so you’ll want to be set up, tied up, and ready before those transitions. Inshore, the barred surfperch and yellowfin croaker have been steady from Dockweiler down to Bolsa on the edges, with better numbers reported around El Porto and the Santa Monica groins. Anglers working the troughs at high tide with Carolina‑rigged sand crabs, lugworms, and Gulp! sandworms in camo or bloody are picking off mixed bags, a dozen‑plus fish on a good tide. Tossing 1/2‑oz Kastmasters or small swimbaits in smelt or anchovy patterns will pull the larger perch and the odd halibut. Speaking of halibut, activity has picked up inside the harbors and along sandy stretches from Redondo to Malibu. There’ve been solid legals reported off the Marina del Rey north jetty and just outside King Harbor, with a few boats sliding out of San Pedro reporting three to five keepers on a half‑day when the drift is right. Best bet is live smelt or sardine on a sliding sinker, or 3‑ to 4‑inch swimbaits in sardine, mint, or “sexy smelt” slow‑rolled across the bottom. Keep that bait just ticking the sand. Breakwall and boiler rock action has continued for calico and sand bass. Private boaters and six‑packs working Palos Verdes and the outer wall at LA/Long Beach have been putting up counts of 20–40 bass per boat, mostly released, with the better fish in the 2‑ to 4‑pound range. Hard‑charging anglers are doing damage on 1/2‑ to 3/4‑oz leadheads with 4‑ to 5‑inch swimbaits in brown‑bait, red flake, and watermelon, plus the classic sardine pattern. Add some scent and grind that structure slow. Further offshore, the local Catalina and offshore scene is just waking up. Sportboats running out of San Pedro and Long Beach have been returning with decent mixed bags of rockfish, whitefish, and a few sheephead—limits of rockfish not uncommon on the deeper stones. Squid strips, cut anchovy, and squid‑tip jigs are doing the heavy lifting. Yellowtail rumors are starting, but nothing wide‑open yet—stick to yo‑yo iron and flyline sardines if you poke over to the island. If you’re fishing from shore, two local hot spots to circle on your map: first, the stretch around Venice Pier down toward Dockweiler. Work that morning high with sand crabs for perch and croaker, and keep a heavier rod ready with a larger bait for a surprise halibut. Second, the outer wall at the breakwater outside Long Beach—accessed by boat—has been one of the more consistent bass zones in the basin, especially late afternoon into sunset when the wind lays down. Best all‑around lures this week: small swimbaits and jerkbaits for halibut; 4‑ to 5‑inch swimbaits and weedless plastics for the bass; and metals or spoons for covering water in the surf. For bait, you can’t beat fresh live sardine or smelt, sand crabs right out of the wash, lugworms, and market shrimp for the croaker crowd. That’s the word on the water around Los Angeles. Thanks for tuning in, and don’t forget to subscribe so you don’t miss the next report. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai. Great deals on fishing gear https://amzn.to/44gt1Pn