West Coast Weekend Bite: Tuna, Lings, and More off California Shores

Artificial Lure here with your Pacific Ocean California fishing report for Friday, October 24, 2025. If you’re heading out this morning, first light hit around 7:26 AM, and sunset is clocking in at 6:21 PM. Weather’s sitting mild across most of the coast, early fog rolling off, burning away by midmorning, and we’re looking at a light west swell around 3-6 feet. That means comfortable runs offshore and workable surf for those on the beaches. Tidal swings today are decent, with the morning low around 5:54 AM followed by a strong late morning high at 11:47 AM, and another low just before 7 PM according to Tide-Forecast. Tidal coefficients remain high—lots of current, lots of movement, which is prime for stirring up bait and turning on the bite. Let’s talk fish. Offshore, the bluefin bite is as hot as it gets for late October. Boats out of Long Beach and San Pedro like the Eldorado and Freedom reported limits or near-limits—up to 48 bluefin tuna per trip—plus a handful of yellowtail and bonito in the mix, and solid counts of sculpin, sheephead, whitefish, and loads of rockfish, too, according to So Cal Fish Reports and 976-TUNA. Fisherman’s Landing out of San Diego is echoing the same story—the Old Glory called in bluefin limits in just the first hours of their 1.5 day, with yellowtail riding shotgun. Up north, Emeryville and Sausalito boats are stacking up impressive numbers of lingcod—up to 29 per trip, topping out at 18 pounds plus full limits of chunky rockfish. Half Moon Bay and Monterey are cranking over 20 lingcod per boat, and a rockfish bonanza continues, bites steady and quality-size all around according to NorCal Fish Reports. The Calif. coast’s annual species tallies see big numbers for barred sand bass, kelp bass, rockfish, with a strong showing of yellowtail this year, though not the flood we saw last season. According to 22nd Street Landing’s reports, the yellowtail and bonito bite has been a bit hit-or-miss, but if you hit the right paddy or current break, it’s game on. Surf and pier anglers—I’d lean into soft plastics rigged weedless, especially for calico bass and perch along kelp fringe, or try the humble Gulp! camo sandworm for surfperch in sandy troughs. For bays and inlets, a stealthy swim jig or a 3–4 inch paddle-tail swimbait in baitfish patterns works well. Up west, old-timers are still swearing by Kastmaster metals and bucktail jigs—these continue to stick everything from school bonito to striped bass near river mouths, as highlighted by Acme Tackle. Live anchovy or sardine, if you can get it, is still king for bluefin but lures like flat-fall jigs and colt snipers are landing big fish. Hot spots? For offshore tuna, target the waters southwest of Catalina and San Clemente Island—these have been producing the highest bluefin counts this week, with party boats limiting before lunch. Nearshore, the reefs off Morro Bay and Half Moon Bay are loaded with rockfish and lingcod, while the Monterey Peninsula kelp edges are pri This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI.