Early Tuna and Yellowtail Push Into SoCal on Warm Water Anomaly

What's Biting

What's Next

With nearshore temps holding at 63–64°F and winds nearly absent at the LA Bight buoys, conditions over the coming days look favorable across the board — both for offshore runs and inshore surf sessions. Western Outdoor News — Saltwater notes that the spread of warm water is extensive, suggesting the tuna grounds won't collapse quickly. Bluefin and yellowfin should remain accessible to day-trip boats operating southwest of San Diego; the 2- and 3-day fleet is already reaching yellowtail and early dorado well ahead of the typical schedule.

The waxing crescent moon this week tends to compress feeding windows — expect activity to sharpen in the hour before and after sunrise, with a secondary push near sunset. For surf anglers, Surf Fishing in So Cal notes that corbina and leopard shark are both on and conditions are trending in the right direction as May deepens. Corbina key on tide movement to hunt sand crabs in the wash; plan to be on the beach around the start of the incoming flood and work the first two hours of the push.

If the El Niño-scale warmth noted by Western Outdoor News — Saltwater persists — and current buoy readings give no sign of a quick reversal — dorado could push to within Channel Islands range within the next two to three weeks, which would be exceptionally early by any historical benchmark. Watch the water-color break: the green-to-blue transition line is where the offshore bite tends to concentrate. Kelp-edge structure is also worth a look on any morning with light swell, as the near-calm conditions allow for precise presentations around the canopy.

Anglers planning a weekend run should keep an eye on marine-layer timing — mornings around the LA Bight can be heavily fogged in, though conditions typically clear by mid-morning. Verify the updated marine forecast before departure; the currently light winds may not hold through the weekend.

Context

Mid-May in the LA Bight and Channel Islands typically signals the early transition into Southern California's prime season — water temps in the low 60s°F begin drawing yellowtail closer to the islands, and white seabass fishing tends to build near kelp structure. But full offshore tuna action — bluefin and yellowfin within day-trip range, albacore on the surface — is historically a late-June through July story, not a mid-May one.

This year is a notable departure. Western Outdoor News — Saltwater has explicitly flagged that California's coastal waters have been running as much as 10°F above seasonal averages, with April — historically the coldest water month of the year in Southern California — already recording temperatures into the upper 60s. That's the kind of anomaly more associated with a full El Niño event, and WON reports that speculation about El Niño and even "super El Niño" conditions is already circulating among captains and anglers up and down the coast.

The practical historical benchmark: the first San Diego fleet albacore in years was boated on April 30, per Western Outdoor News — Saltwater. Fleet albacore typically doesn't materialize until midsummer or later. Yellowtail have been mixed into offshore loads on a schedule more consistent with late June. Surf Fishing in So Cal frames the spring itself as unusual — a "strange start" to the season per their April report — but notes that May is now catching up fast and the season's best fishing may still lie ahead.

If the warm anomaly holds, the current pace of species arrivals could shape 2026 into one of the most active early-season SoCal saltwater years in recent memory. No state or federal agency data is present in the current intel to quantify that comparison precisely, but the angler-intel signal from multiple regional sources is unusually consistent in pointing the same direction.