California fishing reports
590 reports for California — what's biting, water temps, and where to focus.
Yellowtail Shots Continue as Bonito Bite Blankets the SoCal Bight
Water in the LA Bight is holding at 77°F at NOAA CO-OPS station 9410170, with Santa Monica Bay slightly cooler at 73.8°F on station 9410230, both readings logged this afternoon. Western Outdoor News — Saltwater reports the bonito bite is on from Point Conception to Point Loma, with anglers picking up shots at yellowtail along the same stretch as the season shifts from summer crowds toward fall. The warmer LA Bight reading versus the cooler Santa Monica side hints at the kind of temperature break bait and yellowtail tend to stack along.
Shoreline stripers keep firing along the Santa Cruz coast
Water temperatures are running cool across our two NorCal tide stations, 55.2°F and 52.3°F, consistent with the seasonal upwelling pattern along this stretch of coast. Western Outdoor News — Saltwater reports shoreline striped bass action holding near Santa Cruz this week, with anglers working the surf behind moving bait schools and diving birds to connect with fish close to the beach. Allen Bushnell's report called nearshore fishing very good overall, with the striper bite standing out as the week's most notable Northern California coastal action.
Early fall chill settles into SF Bay and Bodega waters
Water temperatures across the two regional NOAA tide stations read 55.2°F and 52.5°F as of late morning, a gap consistent with the upwelling pattern that typically keeps the outer coast a few degrees cooler than sheltered bay water this time of year. Both stations show the next low tide landing early afternoon, 1:12 to 1:43 PM local, with the First Quarter moon keeping the swing moderate rather than a big spring-tide push.
Sacramento-Delta bass shift gears as fall cooling begins
USGS gauge 11446980 and 11446700 both read 65°F on the Delta this morning, while gauge 11447650 downstream logged 67°F with flow holding steady at 19,300 cfs. Those readings put the water squarely in the mid-60s range that marks the seasonal turn from summer into fall across the Sacramento-Delta system. Cooling water typically nudges largemouth bass off deep summer haunts and into more active feeding windows along shoreline structure and weed edges, a pattern anglers in Delta sloughs watch closely this time of year. With the moon in its first quarter, low overnight light should keep feeding activity concentrated around dawn and dusk.
Bay tides push through a midday high as Bodega stays chilly
San Francisco Bay water registered 59.9°F this morning at NOAA CO-OPS station 9418767, while the more exposed water off Bodega ran a cooler 53.8°F at station 9416841, roughly a 6-degree spread consistent with the upwelling pattern that typically holds the outer coast this time of year. Both stations show tide building toward a midday high before ebbing into early afternoon, a rhythm worth timing a trip around this week.
Eastern Sierra fishing shifts into September cool-down
Reno Fly Shop's late-summer Truckee River reports pointed anglers to the California side of the river, where cooler flows kept fish more active through the day's heat, with fish keying on crayfish patterns and mayfly imitations in the early hours per the shop's write-up. Mid-September marks the Eastern Sierra's turn toward its fall cool-down, the seasonal shift anglers watch for across the basin.
Water cools toward fall pattern in SF Bay and Bodega
NOAA CO-OPS readings put water temperature at 56.5°F off station 9418767 and 54.1°F off station 9416841 as of midday, a spread that tracks the patchy upwelling common along the Bay and Bodega coastline this time of year. Both stations show low tide arriving within the same half-hour window, at 12:15 PM and 11:48 AM Pacific respectively, putting the bottom of the ebb right around midday today. With the First Quarter moon in play, tidal swings are moderate rather than extreme, which keeps current speeds manageable for anyone working structure or channel edges on the drop.
Yellowtail push reaches Point Conception as Central Coast tides turn
NOAA CO-OPS readings this morning put water temps at 61.7°F off Monterey (station 9413450) and 62.8°F off Port San Luis (station 9412110), both typical late-summer numbers for the Central Coast. Western Outdoor News — Saltwater reports the yellowtail bite has spread up toward Point Conception this week, with scattered shots on fish working the stretch down to Point Loma — not a full-on bite yet, but present enough to work structure and current lines along the way. Tide is swinging hard through midday: both stations show a morning high near 8:15 a.m. sliding to a low by roughly 11:15 a.m., a solid outgoing push for anyone working the surf or nearshore structure early.
Fall Tide Swing Sets the Clock for SF Bay and Bodega Anglers
SF Bay and the open Bodega coast are running about six degrees apart this week, with our SF Bay station reading 60.8°F against a cooler 54.1°F on the exposed Bodega side, a spread consistent with early-fall coastal upwelling holding onto the open coast while the sheltered bay keeps its late-summer warmth. Both stations are tracking the same tide rhythm: a high near 8 a.m. Pacific sliding down to a midday low by noon, which sets the clearest structure to plan a session around this week.
Delta anglers eye fall striper run as salmon season rebounds
Western Outdoor News — Saltwater reports the fall ocean salmon opener out of San Francisco produced limits to near-limits of hard-fighting Chinook for private and party boats on September 1, marking a return to open salmon fishing after three years of closure. For Delta anglers, that's the signal worth watching: as fall-run kings push out of the bay and up the Sacramento and San Joaquin systems toward spawning grounds, the same fish move through Delta channels on their way upstream. No buoy or gauge readings came back for this cycle, so exact water temp and flow aren't available, but September in the Delta typically means striped bass keying on shad schools as water starts to cool, largemouth settling into fall patterns around tule edges and points, and sturgeon fishing still a few weeks out from its better cold-season bite. Treat species notes below as seasonal expectation rather than a fresh bite report.
Bonito Bite Fires Up Bight-Wide as Giant Bluefin Keep Landing
The bonito bite is 'on Bight wide' this week — Western Outdoor News reports fish running from Point Conception to Point Loma, with anglers finding shots at yellowtail mixed into the same stretch of coastline as summer eases into fall. Offshore, the giant bluefin push keeps producing: San Diego boats have logged at least three fish over 400 pounds in the past two weeks per Western Outdoor News, including a 449-pound bluefin gaffed aboard the Shearwater on kite-fished dead flying fish and a 441-pound fish reported by the Game Changer. Closer to the Channel Islands, a Western Outdoor News charter report out of Dana Point described cracking roughly 70 tuna by mid-morning on a recent two-day run to Tanner Bank, with yellowtail mixed in. Shore anglers should temper plans — Surf Fishing in So Cal notes this year's surf has run unusually rough under El Niño influence, making beach conditions tougher than a typical fall.
Salmon opener roars back as bonito runs push up the coast
California's fall ocean salmon opener delivered limits to near-limits of big, hard-fighting Chinook for private and party boats when the San Francisco Management Zone reopened September 1 after a three-year closure, per Western Outdoor News — Saltwater — wild-caught salmon is back on the menu after years of restrictions. Further south the bonito bite has gone "Bight wide," with WON reporting anglers finding it hard to avoid a solid whack of bonito mixed with shots at yellowtail as the summer season faded into fall along the SoCal-to-Central-Coast stretch from Point Conception down. WON also logged multiple 400-pound-plus bluefin tuna landed out of San Diego over the past two weeks, a reminder that big warm-water game fish are still working the coast this month. No fresh buoy or gauge readings came in for this cycle, so plan around changeable early-fall weather and check local tides before running offshore.