Podcast Episode Details

Winter SoCal Mixed Bag Bonanza - Calm Mornings, Ripping Evenings

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Artificial Lure here with your Los Angeles coastal fishing report, coming at you like a calm gray-light swell.

Let’s start with the water. Tide-Forecast and Surfline both show a solid pre-dawn **high tide around 5:30 AM, a low just after lunch around 12:30 PM, then another decent evening push**. That morning flood and the evening rise are your prime chew windows. Best bite lines up with those swings plus the low-light hours.

Sunrise is right around **6:50 AM**, sunset just after **4:45 PM** per the local tide and solunar tables. Think “be there in the dark, packing up at dark” type of winter schedule. Light north-to-northeast breeze early, building northwest onshore in the afternoon according to the National Weather Service marine forecast, so mornings are the move for small boats, kayaks, and the surf.

On to the catching. SoCal Fish Reports and 976-TUNA both show the local fleet settling into classic winter mixed-bag fishing:

- Marina del Rey boats are stacking **sculpin, whitefish, mackerel, rockfish, calico and sand bass, plus a few sheephead and the odd halibut**. One recent MDR tally had over **500 fish for just two trips**, heavy on sculpin and whitefish.
- Long Beach and San Pedro landings report **limits or near-limits of sculpin, big counts of whitefish and rockfish, plus solid calico bass and sheephead** on the Monte Carlo and Victory.
- Up the line and across the channel, boats are still whacking **lingcod, rockfish, sheephead, and whitefish** out of Oxnard and Santa Barbara, telling you the structure bite is fully lit.

Inshore, FishTheSurf notes December pushes **corbina and croakers into bays and harbors**, and local chatter matches that: better action inside Marina del Rey, King Harbor, and Long Beach inner harbor when the surf’s up and the water cools.

Best baits and lures right now:

- **Boat and breakwall bottom fishing:**
- Dropper-loop **squid strips** or cut squid is king for sculpin, whitefish, sheephead, and miscellaneous rockfish.
- Add a little **shrimp or mussel** if you’re specifically hunting sheephead.
- **Bass and surface stuff around structure:**
- **3–5 inch swimbaits** in sardine, anchovy, or red crab tones on ½–1 oz leadheads.
- Leadhead and squid combo for calico and sand bass when they’re hugging bottom.
- **Surf and harbor:**
- **Gulp! sandworms**, camo or bloody, on a light Carolina rig for perch and croaker.
- Fresh **lugworms or mussel** if you can get them.

If you insist on artificial-only in the surf, go light-line and small: 1/8 oz jigheads with 2–3 inch grubs, natural browns and motor oil.

Couple local hot spots to circle:

- **Redondo / King Harbor wall and Torrance Beach pocket:** sheltered, holding calico, perch, and the odd bonito. That Redondo Special fish count showed good **calico, sheephead, blue perch, and a few bonito**, so the zone is alive.
- **San Pedro / Long Beach breakwalls and Horseshoe Kelp edges:** consistent on **calico bass, whitefish, sheephead, and rockfish** with that dropper-loop squid game. Twilight trips have been especially productive when the wind lays down.

Plan it like a local:
Hit the surf or harbor from **first light through the tail end of the morning high**, nap or rig gear mid-day, then slide back out to a pier or breakwall for the **evening tide push** as that sun drops behind the Santa Monica Mountains.

That’s the bite rundown from your buddy Artificial Lure. Thanks for tuning in, and don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss a tide, a moon phase, or a wide-open bite.

This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai.

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Published on 1 week, 5 days ago