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LA Coastal Fishing Report: High Tides, Steady Winter Bite, Lures and Baits to Target
This is Artificial Lure with your Los Angeles coastal fishing report.
We’ve got a winter pattern settling in along the LA coast. The National Weather Service in Los Angeles is flagging unusually **high morning tides** around 7.2 to 7.7 feet between about 8 and 10 a.m., along with a beach hazards statement and some extra erosion and wash-over on low-lying beaches. According to the NWS, it’s not a day to be dancing on wet rocks or jetties—keep it safe and fish from stable ground or from a boat.
Tidewise, tides4fishing’s Redondo and Balboa tables show a **strong swing**: a higher morning tide, a good midday high, then a solid drop toward evening. That kind of movement tends to perk up the rockfish, bass, and halibut, especially when the current starts to roll on the incoming and just before it slacks at the top.
Sunrise is right around **6:40 a.m.** and sunset just before **5 p.m.**, so your prime windows are first light through the top of that morning tide, and then the last couple hours before dark on the afternoon movement.
Recent counts out of Marina del Rey Sportfishing and SoCal Fish Reports show the local boats still leaning on winter standards: the New Del Mar’s half-day runs have been hanging solid numbers of **sand bass and sculpin**, with a few **calico bass** and the odd **halibut** in the mix. The Spitfire’s 3/4-day trips are similar: sand bass, a nice pile of sculpin, and a bonus bonito here and there. Up the coast out of Oxnard, trips are stacking **rockfish, whitefish, sheephead, and lingcod**, so the local structure bite is clearly on.
Given that, **fish activity** around LA harbors and reefs is best described as steady winter pick: plenty of life if you grind it out on the stones, but you’re working for quality bites. Expect numbers on smaller bass and sculpin with chances at legal halibut and a few chunky sheephead and reds if you get deeper.
For **lures**, think classic SoCal winter:
- Inshore bass: 3–4 inch **swimbaits** in sardine or anchovy patterns on 1/2–1 oz leadheads, plus 3-inch **motor oil or brown plastic grubs** on lighter heads along breakwalls and kelp edges.
- Halibut: 4–5 inch **paddle-tail swimbaits** in smelt or baitfish colors, or a white fluke on a 1/2–3/4 oz jig head slow-rolled tight to the bottom.
For **bait**, the boats and regulars are getting it done with:
- **Squid strips** and cut squid on dropper loops for rockfish, whitefish, and sculpin.
- Live **anchovy or sardine** if you can get it for sand bass and halibut.
- Fresh-cut **mackerel** or squid chunks for sheephead and the bigger models of bass.
Couple of **hot spots** to look at today:
- **Marina del Rey breakwall and inshore reefs**: fish the inside edges on the flood for bass and halibut, then push a little deeper once the tide tops out to tap sculpin and rockfish.
- **Cabrillo and the LA Harbor wall**: classic winter structure zone; slow presentations with squid or plastics on the up-current side of the rocks will get bit, especially as the tide builds.
If you’re headed to the surf, those high morning tides mean lots of water up on the sand. Fish the last part of the rising tide and the first of the drop with **sand crabs, mussel, or Gulp! sandworms** for barred surfperch and a shot at a halibut in the troughs, but stay well clear of steep, dumping sections and any flooded low spots.
That’s the scene in and around LA: strong tides, steady winter structure bite, and plastics and squid still king.
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Published on 2 weeks, 6 days ago