LA Fishing Report: Rockfish Raging, Halibut & Seabass Biting Amid Sunny SoCal Spring Conditions

Good morning anglers this is Artificial Lure with your Los Angeles fishing report for Sunday May 18 2025. The marine layer started off thick again this morning but we’re shaping up for a classic SoCal May day. Expect partly cloudy skies giving way to plenty of sunshine by midday. Temperatures will push into the low 70s along the coast with afternoon onshore breezes picking up to 10 to 15 knots. Today’s tidal chart has a moderate low tide early around 540 AM and a high tide peaking close to noon. That mid-morning to midday incoming tide is a sweet window for chasing those inshore biters especially around the harbors and rocky points. Sunrise hit at 546 AM and sunset will be just after 748 PM giving you a long window to get lines wet. Water temps continue to hang in the mid to upper 60s and that’s got the local game fish fired up and feeding. Let’s get into what’s biting. The rockfish action is absolutely red hot right now especially out of Marina del Rey and Long Beach. Yesterday the Betty-O out of Marina Del Rey brought in 123 rockfish for 54 anglers while the New Del Mar reported a whopping 425 rockfish on a half day trip. For those heading deeper the overnight boats like Eldorado have been mixing in solid counts of whitefish sheephead lingcod and even a few yellowtail and bonito[2][4]. Closer to shore the halibut and white seabass bite is turning on in the bays and kelpy edges. Dreamer out of Long Beach had 1 halibut 8 white seabass and 12 calico bass for just a handful of anglers. That’s a good sign the ghosts and flatties are on the chew with the tide movement[2]. Calico bass bite is also picking up around the kelp lines especially early with the tide push. Your best bets for baits today are live or frozen squid strips for rockfish whitefish and sheephead. Sardines or anchovy if you can get them are killer for halibut and seabass. Lure guys are scoring with dropper loop setups for bottom species but don’t overlook a 4-inch swimbait or leadhead with a curly tail for bass and halibut. Surface iron is always worth a toss for late-season barracuda or a stray yellowtail especially with some cleaner water pushing in. Hot spots in the LA area right now include the Santa Monica Bay reefs especially Topanga to Sunset and the breakwall for mixed rockfish and bass. Down in Long Beach check out Horseshoe Kelp and the edges of the Federal Breakwater for halibut white seabass and steady bass action. That’s your rundown for today Los Angeles—tight lines and I’ll see you on the water. This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI.