Episode Details
Back to Episodes
SoCal Saltwater Report: Early Rise, Afternoon Flood - Winter Fishing Action Around LA
Published 3 months ago
Description
Name’s Artificial Lure, checking in with your SoCal salt update from right here in LA.
We’ve got a classic winter pattern along the bay today. Cool, mostly clear skies, light morning breeze and calm seas. Local water temps are hanging in the low‑ to mid‑60s per recent coastal reports, just enough to keep a mixed bag of rockfish, bass, and winter exotics like bonito on tap. Sunrise is right around 6:56 a.m., sunset 4:52 p.m. for the LA coast, so it’s a short window – make those low‑light hours count.
According to Tide‑Forecast for Los Angeles, the tide is pumping pretty good: a predawn **high** just after 3:30 a.m. around 5 feet, dropping to a **late‑morning low** about 10:30 a.m. near a foot and change, then a softer **afternoon high** a little after 4 p.m. a bit over 3 feet, followed by an evening low around 9:20 p.m. That bigger early push and the afternoon rise are your best current windows for chewed‑up baits.
Fish‑wise, the winter counts up and down SoCal have been steady. SoCalFishReports and 976‑TUNA have been posting solid numbers: rockfish in the hundreds per boat, plus good scores of bonito, whitefish, sheephead and a sprinkling of lingcod and sculpin on recent LA and Long Beach runs. Marina del Rey boats like the New Del Mar and Betty‑O have been stacking rockfish, sculpin and whitefish, classic winter structure fishing.
Genres in play right now:
- **Rockfish / Reds / Whitefish**: Deep structure off Palos Verdes and outside the breakwalls.
- **Sheephead**: On hard bottom and boiler rocks, especially with good current.
- **Calico and Sand Bass**: Inside structure, wrecks, and along the kelp edges when the current pushes.
- **Bonito**: Still popping up on the outside stones and along the horseshoe when the birds show.
Best offerings:
- **Bait**:
- Squid strips and cut anchovy for rockfish and whitefish.
- Whole or chunk squid and shrimp for sheephead.
- Live anchovy or sardine if you can get it for calico, sand bass and any roaming bonito.
- **Lures**:
- 2–6 oz **chrome or glow jigs** (Coltsniper, Krocodile‑style, flat‑falls) for deep rockfish and incidental bonito.
- 1/2–1 oz **leadheads** with 3–5 inch swimbaits in sardine, anchovy or red flake, slow‑rolled along structure for bass.
- Small **metal micro‑jigs** and casting spoons for bonito when they push bait to the surface.
Keep your rockfish rigs simple: double‑dropper loop, 12–16 oz sinker in the deeper stuff, 30–40 lb main line. For bass and bonito, 15–25 lb with a fluorocarbon leader and a lighter rod will get you more bites and more fun.
A couple LA‑area hotspots to hit today:
- **Palos Verdes Peninsula** – Fish the 120–250 foot contours and stones off the west side for reds, rockfish, whitefish and a shot at sheephead. Slide in tighter to the kelp lines with leadheads for calico when the current sets right.
- **Marina del Rey / Santa Monica Bay hard bottom** – Outside the bay there’s a ton of rock and small stones that have been pumping out sculpin, whitefish and rockfish. Inside, fish the artificial reefs and pipe for sand bass and the odd winter halibut on a dropper loop with live bait or a sliding rig.
Solunar‑style apps like FishingReminder and Tides4Fishing rate today as a high‑activity day around those tide swings, so plan your moves around the early‑morning outgoing and the afternoon flood. That’s when you’ll see birds up, bait pushed, and your clicks turning into bent rods.
That’s the wrap from Artificial Lure. Thanks for tuning in, and don’t forget to subscribe so you don’t miss the next report.
This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai.
Great deals on fishing gear https://amzn.to/44gt1Pn
This content was created in partnership and with the help o
We’ve got a classic winter pattern along the bay today. Cool, mostly clear skies, light morning breeze and calm seas. Local water temps are hanging in the low‑ to mid‑60s per recent coastal reports, just enough to keep a mixed bag of rockfish, bass, and winter exotics like bonito on tap. Sunrise is right around 6:56 a.m., sunset 4:52 p.m. for the LA coast, so it’s a short window – make those low‑light hours count.
According to Tide‑Forecast for Los Angeles, the tide is pumping pretty good: a predawn **high** just after 3:30 a.m. around 5 feet, dropping to a **late‑morning low** about 10:30 a.m. near a foot and change, then a softer **afternoon high** a little after 4 p.m. a bit over 3 feet, followed by an evening low around 9:20 p.m. That bigger early push and the afternoon rise are your best current windows for chewed‑up baits.
Fish‑wise, the winter counts up and down SoCal have been steady. SoCalFishReports and 976‑TUNA have been posting solid numbers: rockfish in the hundreds per boat, plus good scores of bonito, whitefish, sheephead and a sprinkling of lingcod and sculpin on recent LA and Long Beach runs. Marina del Rey boats like the New Del Mar and Betty‑O have been stacking rockfish, sculpin and whitefish, classic winter structure fishing.
Genres in play right now:
- **Rockfish / Reds / Whitefish**: Deep structure off Palos Verdes and outside the breakwalls.
- **Sheephead**: On hard bottom and boiler rocks, especially with good current.
- **Calico and Sand Bass**: Inside structure, wrecks, and along the kelp edges when the current pushes.
- **Bonito**: Still popping up on the outside stones and along the horseshoe when the birds show.
Best offerings:
- **Bait**:
- Squid strips and cut anchovy for rockfish and whitefish.
- Whole or chunk squid and shrimp for sheephead.
- Live anchovy or sardine if you can get it for calico, sand bass and any roaming bonito.
- **Lures**:
- 2–6 oz **chrome or glow jigs** (Coltsniper, Krocodile‑style, flat‑falls) for deep rockfish and incidental bonito.
- 1/2–1 oz **leadheads** with 3–5 inch swimbaits in sardine, anchovy or red flake, slow‑rolled along structure for bass.
- Small **metal micro‑jigs** and casting spoons for bonito when they push bait to the surface.
Keep your rockfish rigs simple: double‑dropper loop, 12–16 oz sinker in the deeper stuff, 30–40 lb main line. For bass and bonito, 15–25 lb with a fluorocarbon leader and a lighter rod will get you more bites and more fun.
A couple LA‑area hotspots to hit today:
- **Palos Verdes Peninsula** – Fish the 120–250 foot contours and stones off the west side for reds, rockfish, whitefish and a shot at sheephead. Slide in tighter to the kelp lines with leadheads for calico when the current sets right.
- **Marina del Rey / Santa Monica Bay hard bottom** – Outside the bay there’s a ton of rock and small stones that have been pumping out sculpin, whitefish and rockfish. Inside, fish the artificial reefs and pipe for sand bass and the odd winter halibut on a dropper loop with live bait or a sliding rig.
Solunar‑style apps like FishingReminder and Tides4Fishing rate today as a high‑activity day around those tide swings, so plan your moves around the early‑morning outgoing and the afternoon flood. That’s when you’ll see birds up, bait pushed, and your clicks turning into bent rods.
That’s the wrap from Artificial Lure. Thanks for tuning in, and don’t forget to subscribe so you don’t miss the next report.
This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai.
Great deals on fishing gear https://amzn.to/44gt1Pn
This content was created in partnership and with the help o