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Southern California Surf Fishing Report
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This Week’s Surf Fishing Report
10/10/25CLICK PICTURE FOR REPORT
October 2025
October is one of my favorite months at the beach. Warm weather, calm wind conditions, empty beaches and biting fish…some of the biggest of the year…are here in October. But October also brings change, both in fishing bait and in currents generated by storms both to our South and to our North.
Over the next two to three weeks expect a series of swells to come from the south and reshape our beaches. This year we’ve had an interesting hurricane season. Storms generated over southern Mexico spin into hurricanes and move up the Baja coast toward California. Often, they are hundreds of miles offshore and their swells come almost straight into our beaches. This year the hurricanes have been very close to land, just offshore of the Baja coast, so their swells have hit our beaches at a radical angle that has cut away the summer sand and creates new troughs, holes and cuts all along the California coast. Don’t be a bit surprised if your beach is completely different the next time your go. This also provides new opportunities for finding new areas, especially those where the sand has been ripped away and now food is exposed for surf fish to eat.
Also, this month look for a change in fishing eating patterns and change in your baiting patterns too. Sand crabs, in large part are out and baits like lug/blood worms, ghost shrimp, mussel and especially clams are in. Try to carry several baits (and lures) with you to the beach so you can test different bait to find what fish are looking for. One last thing, don’t be surprised if the bait that worked yesterday doesn’t work today…cause times and seasons are a changin’.
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Good luck, tight lines and light winds,
Bill
Have a great month at the beach and please send me your fish reports to: fishthesurf@mail.com
Santa Barbara/Ventura: Debris filled water along much of Santa Barbara gave way to some decent fishing this week. Perch fishing remains good for 8-12” fish along most beaches from La Conchita to Gaviota. Leopard shark fishing remains good near the Carpinteria estuary, with one angler reporting a 90+lb bat ray taken on squid that lead to a one-hour fight before he could beach the fish and let it go. Quite a few juvenile White Seabass in the 16”-25” range still biting in Goleta on just about anything white. Halibut fishing has slowed and anglers getting legals are finding them in specific areas…pods. Pockets of fish have been found near More Mesa and El Capitan State Beach, always adjacent to rocks. Lastly still continue to get reports of stripers at Jalama Beach.
In Ventura, perch and still a few corbina around for anglers able to fool them. Flys, bloodworms, ghost shrimp may be your best bet. Look for these fish to be close to shore trying to pick off the last food of the summer.
Malibu: Still, lots of kelp and eel grass being reported in the waters along the Malibu coast but also quite a few yellowfin croaker and perch being caught at Leo Carrillo and along the beaches from there to Pt. Mugu. Look for the water to cool here over the next two months, as South swells subside, and the calico, barred, walleye and calico surfperch fishing to go wide-open. Great baits for here are worms, ghost shrimp and sidewinder crabs.
South Bay: Yellowfin croaker and perch continue to be taken in the Venice to El Segundo region. From Redondo to R.A.T. beach there has continued to be good fishing for perch, yellowfin croaker short halibut white seabass, barracuda, calico bass and a 19” corbina, caught with lures like Krocodiles and Lucky Craft Flash Minnows and also live baits like lug worms and sand crabs. This time of year, the area South of Redondo Pier to Palos Verdes tends to hold warm water later in the season, than almost any other place along the coast. With two more hurricanes pushing warm water up the coast this corner will continue to provide good fishing on a variety of surf fish until the first big Northwest swell pushed out warm and replaces it with cool winter water.
Orange County: This last week, the stretch from the Belmont Pier to the Seal Beach jetty was kicking out tons of small bonito, yellowfin croaker and stripers, running in the same schools. Huntington and Newport Beach continue to have decent perch and yellowfin croaker but no reports of spotfin…which should be in the mix. Further South near Trestles one angler landed his third halibut in three weeks over 30”, using a Lucky Craft Flash Minnow and fishing the edges where rock meets sand.
Tackle/bait: Big Fish Bait and Tackle, Seal Beach
San Diego: As with much of the coast kelp filled water is all along San Diego and the coming south swells look to bring more up the coast. From Oceanside to Carlsbad fishing has slowed with anglers reporting a good barred and walleye surfperch bite, with no sign or corbina. Anglers are still finding sand crabs under the Crystal Pier and using those and bloodworms to catch perch and a few nice spotfin on Pacific Beach. Good word out of Mission Bay where the 3” Kietech baits have been killing the spotted bay bass and small stripers.
Tackle/bait: Pacific Coast Bait and Tackle/ Seaforth Landing
Hurricane Octave and Priscilla, churn North, sending a series of swells into Southern California.
Conditions To Watch This Month
Synopsis: October is often one of the best surf fishing months of the year. Water temps are warm, beaches are uncrowded and the weather is calm. The only real factor that effects surf fishing this time of year is the swells size, direction and duration. Big swells, originating in Southern Mexico bring surf and current from the south…while a growing trend toward winter introduces our first large Alaska generated swells to Sothern California. It’s a battle of the wills…and a battle of water temperature.
Water Temp: 67-69 From SB to SD. Water temps are a tiny bit lower overall but warmer North. This is typical for this time of year as we have both current from the South and current from the North coming together…often in Central California. Look for this pattern to continue until, at least, the end of October. Beginning November we will see the current switch, predominantly coming from the North, a sure sign of winter.
Tides: As we move away from the full moon we experienced this week, tides will begin to relax. Although we do not expect a neap tide period this week, often good for halibut fishing, we do see productive tidal swings as we make our way toward the new moon on October 21. Watching and planning around the tides will be essential this month as swells from both the North and South will be best (and safest) fished around the high tide periods (because the high tide will reduce their size).
Wind: Wind conditions for the next week will be light side or offshore in the morning with afternoon winds from 10-15 knots from the NW. Over the weekend afternoon winds will increase north of Los Angeles with gusts to 25 knots in the afternoon. October is traditionally a tricky month for wind. Often, we have periods of strong NW winds and days of Santa Ana Conditions. Once we start seeing low pressure areas coming from the Northwest, we can expect onshore winds to be followed by Santa Ana Conditions…something we often see in November and December. Some of the best surf fishing conditions are yet to come!
Swell: Swells, swells, swells everywhere. Two hurricanes Octave and Priscilla will both be sending large South swells our way. Through the weekend Priscilla, with 75knot winds, will send head high to 3+ overhead surf to Southern California. Octave will follow, with large surf into the middle of next week. Both of these swell groups are at a sharp angle to California so they will create a very strong long-shore current which will hinder fishing and completely change the sand structure of South facing beaches. Be wary of rouge waves and try to find places that are protected from the swell and fish near high tide when swell size will be mitigated. For West facing beaches, like the South Bay, Ventura and parts of San Diego you can expect a waist to chest high swell through next week. For areas like Hermosa, Redondo and Torrance beach, south swells at this angle often push warm water into these beaches and traps it there. Often, fish will congregate here so don’t be surprised with catches of corbina, spotfin, striper and halibut, that tend to stack up there.
Good luck and good Fishing!
Surf fishing reports compiled by
Bill Varney
Send your pictures and reports to: fishthesurf@mail.com
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