Yellowtail bite turns on across the SoCal Bight

What's biting

What's next

Low tide arrives near 2:40 AM Pacific this morning at both the Los Angeles and La Jolla stations, with the next high around 8:55 AM — a solid window for early starts chasing yellowtail before afternoon wind lines build. The moon sits in a waning crescent, so mornings stay darker later in the cycle, which should keep bait schools tighter and give the yellowtail bite a reason to hold through the week.

If the warmer reading off Los Angeles holds into the weekend, expect the Point Loma pattern described in that report to keep producing on the morning high tide, with boats working the warmer pocket likely to outfish those working the cooler La Jolla side. The gap between the two stations is worth tracking day to day: if La Jolla stays several degrees cooler, the warm push looks patchy rather than bight-wide, and results may stay inconsistent depending on exactly where boats set up. A continued southward spread of that warm pocket toward La Jolla would be the clearest sign the yellowtail bite is about to widen rather than stay confined close to Los Angeles.

Context

Mid-October sits late in the warm-water stretch for the LA Bight and Channel Islands, when yellowtail typically hang around before the bite tapers off as water temperatures drop into November. A reading in the mid-70s off Los Angeles fits that pattern rather than reading as unusually warm or late for the date, and the La Jolla reading in the low 70s is a normal seasonal step toward the cooler water that typically settles in through late fall. Check current state regulations on size and bag limits before keeping any yellowtail, since rules can shift seasonally.