Sunny Skies, Hot Bites Offshore - California Coast Fishing Report for September 14, 2025

Artificial Lure here with your September 14th, 2025, Pacific Ocean California fishing report. Sunrise splashed across the water at 6:46am, and you can cast until sunset at 7:15pm. Weather’s holding steady: clear skies, mild breeze, and flat calm seas—local captains have called it “gorgeous, beautiful weather all day today,” which means prime fishing conditions. Today’s tidal swings are textbook: expect low tide at 4:07am and again at 3:49pm, with high tides around 9:29am and 10:51pm. If you’re working the morning bite, that high tide pushes bait toward structure right around breakfast. Afternoon slack water can make the bottom bite shine, especially for rockfish and lingcod. Recent fish counts up and down the coast have been nuts. Out of Morro Bay, full-day boats landed up to 17 lb lingcod, lots of cabezon, copper and red rockfish, plus buckets of bocaccio. Santa Barbara saw big numbers on lingcod (30 for Coral Sea), rockfish (230!), plus bonus catches like sheephead and whitefish. Ventura boats hammered 2 halibut, 181 rockfish, 78 whitefish, and a handful of bonito and lingcod. Del Rey and Long Beach are hot for sculpin, calico bass, sheephead, barracuda, and chunky yellowtail—Eldorado put 5 barracuda, 8 sculpin, 67 whitefish, and 66 rockfish in the bags just overnight. Dana Point boats absolutely stacked bluefin tuna—Fury landed 23—and plenty of calicos, sand bass, and whitefish. Over at San Diego, the Fortune’s charter yesterday returned with a juicy haul of 34 bluefin and 2 yellowtail for just 13 anglers. The Dolphin boats racked up rockfish, lingcod, sheepshead, and more for steady limits—sand bass and calico showing well, too. Fish activity is in full swing. The calico bass are biting best near kelp lines and shallow reefs, especially in the early morning or late afternoon. Bluefin and yellowtail are chasing deep color changes and temp breaks offshore; boats working private spots and paddies pulled in strong numbers. For bottom fishing, plenty of whitefish, sheephead, and lingcod stacking up along hard structure and drop-offs—soaked squid or shrimp on the dropper loop is king. On the surface, bonito and barracuda are busting through boils, with locals reporting explosive topwater runs. If you want numbers, bottom rigs with strips of squid or shrimp are still money for all your rockfish, sheephead, and whitefish. For bass, Calico and sandies are smashing swimbaits in shad and sardine pattern—anything around 4-5 inches, especially if you burn it fast. Lucky anglers targeting those pelagic bruisers—yellowtail, tuna—are scoring best on live sardines, fly-lined mackerel, and heavy iron jigs. According to TacticalBassin, September bass are also hitting hard on wakebaits like the River2Sea Tactical Wake 210, and custom swimbaits are crushing big bites out of San Diego right now. Hot spots to try today: - **Long Beach’s Horseshoe Kelp:** Limits of sculpin, strong calico bass bite, bonus shots at yellowtail. - **Dana Point’s 100-fathom spot:** This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI.