Offshore Riches and Inshore Bites: October 31 California Fishing Report

Artificial Lure here with your October 31, 2025, Pacific Ocean California fishing report. First light just cracked at 7:31 AM, with atmospheric warmth moving in behind our calm October evenings. Expect a marine layer early but clearing to mostly sunny skies by midday and light winds across the coast—ideal conditions for both inshore and offshore runs. The sunset’s rolling in at 6:07 PM, so you’ve got a solid window for late bites. As for tides, today’s all about timing your sets. According to Tide-Forecast, we’ve got a low tide around 5:45 AM, high at 11:47 AM, and the evening low at 5:49 PM. With the morning outgoing and midday flood tide, expect a push of bait and hungry predators staging up around structure and kelp beds. Fish counts this week have been off the charts: 22nd Street Landing in San Pedro just reported “limits of bluefin for passengers and crew by 10am” from overnight and 1.5 day boats, with individual counts like 64 bluefin tuna, 40 whitefish, 20 calico bass and a handful of bonito and yellowtail on the Freedom and Pride boats. Meanwhile, rockfish are still coming in heavy—Native Sun had 211 rockfish in a single 3/4 day run. Calico bass, sculpin, sheephead, and the occasional barracuda round out the catch. If you’re heading a bit north, Channel Islands Sportfishing up in Oxnard delivered numbers too: just two boats brought back 190 rockfish, 35 calico bass, and 5 lingcod for 26 anglers on the 29th. Don’t overlook the white sea bass, halibut, and sheephead showing up in the mix on recent full-day and private charters. Boats are still “seeing it” for white seabass and there’s been “another great day of fishing in nice weather.” San Diego party boats are flush with bluefin reports—Fisherman’s Landing had 300 bluefin tuna and 35 yellowtail in just one recent day for 115 anglers, and Pacifica’s run brought back another 38 bluefin on a shorter load. Fall bluefin are within party boat range; the offshore bite is absolutely one for the books. Best baits and lures this week: If you’re targeting offshore bluefin, sinker rigs with live sardine or mackerel are money, but savvy anglers are also switching to heavy jigs and knife jigs in the 250-400g range during slow periods—these are especially effective at depth, where fish are hanging under breezers. Anglers targeting calico and sand bass around kelp are cleaning up with weedless swimbaits and 5” paddle tails in smoke and sardine patterns, and Z-Man GrubZ and TRD CrawZ have earned high marks for getting bit by everything from bass to rockfish. For groundfish, dropper loops on 16 oz sinkers and squid or cut bait have been the staple throughout the fall. Lingcod and rockfish are aggressive—get down fast and keep your bait moving. If you’re chasing yellowtail or bonito, try surface irons and trolled Rapalas in fire tiger and sardine during the midday slack water. A couple of hot spots to circle: - **Catalina Backside/K Farnsworth Bank:** With bluefin and yellowtail alike showing up, This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI.