San Diego & SoCal Fishing Forums

Hit San Diego Bay this past weekend and Tides4Fishing showed it to be the worst day of the month (based on solar activity and yada yada) I'm a pretty firm believer in, fish when you can, but theres always that little voice that say "yesterday was better" or "the tide chart told you it would be bad". Anyways got out to the bay ~7am super low tide, had to get the board across some mud before i could start paddling. Started with the 3" brown man zmanswimbait and spot 1,2 and 3 produced a total of 1 spotty, 2 missed bites and an accidental hookup on one of the skate rays swimming on the surface. Last stop, spot 4 and 2 casts in and the bite comes right at the board, fish goes bonkers, jumps like its a mini tarpon before i wrangle it onto the board. To my surprise its a ~17" bonefish! As the current starts pushing in stronger, i switch to dragging the bottom and 3 casts in i get the lightest, tick tick, and boom, bonefish #2 hits the board in the ~12" range. Pretty psyched at this point as these fish have eluded me for ~5-6 years so i stick around for a few more casts before the wind gets too bad. Again, dragging the bottom and the light, "tick tick" and off to the races with this one. Fish did 3 decent runs, pulled some drag and measured in my 3rd bonefish for the day at ~17-18". That was enough for me to spite the tide report for calling it a bad day and i got off the water as the wind was getting too much to handle on the paddleboard.

Nicely done! Love the BF runs and drag sounds. I've landed 2 bones from Cays shore on kastmasters. Fun fish to catch.

So many times I can’t remember when the maps/tables said fishing should be off the charts and it wasn’t. Your Fish When You Can strategy is always best. Good going

Some good ones, glad you finally got on a few.

The further south in San Diego Bay you are, the less the tidal current is and the less important the tide swing is. It also seems that the channel and channel edges are more sensitive to tide swings than the flats and the bonefish I have gotten have mostly been in the shallow flats in the south end. This winter has been very good for bonefish.

Of course, you could go all in and consult an astrologist if you think that the moon phases are not enough to predict fishing success. Why stop at the moon when there's Mars, Venus, Jupiter, etc.?

Bonefish are less effected by the tides then Spotted Bay Bass. Spotties are ambush predators and often rely on the tides to bring them food, while Bonefish are constantly moving around looking for their next meal. What the tides do help with is schooling the bonefish up in certain areas of the back bay, particularly on the second half of an outgoing tide

Gotfish? wrote: Wed Feb 25, 2026 7:00 am The further south in San Diego Bay you are, the less the tidal current is and the less important the tide swing is. It also seems that the channel and channel edges are more sensitive to tide swings than the flats and the bonefish I have gotten have mostly been in the shallow flats in the south end. This winter has been very good for bonefish.

Of course, you could go all in and consult an astrologist if you think that the moon phases are not enough to predict fishing success. Why stop at the moon when there's Mars, Venus, Jupiter, etc.?

Maybe i can find someone with those particular Mars, Venus and Jupiter readings to really step up my game.

I like tides4fishing for water movement, but the solunar part is hokum. Friday I fished with 2 guys...We never found a spot holding a lot of fish until a couple hours after the tide was flowing back out.
The active spot involved spotties and bonefish, so there was probably schooled bait in the area. The best part was seeing one of the guys rope two bonefish on a homemade chatterbait. Just a blade, leadhead, and 3" clear carrot trailer. The third guy was getting them on really small baits.
Is "subtle chatterbait" an oxymoron?

Chatters-less-than-others bait

Great video. Were you fishing that Craw bait weedless or with hook exposed?

Love bone fish… I only wish they got as big as some of their cousins elsewhere.. nice fishing on good size bones…
Butch

mbmatty wrote: Thu Feb 26, 2026 9:17 am Great video. Were you fishing that Craw bait weedless or with hook exposed?

the beaver style bait was fished weedless with the zman finesse ned lock (believe thats the name)

Midnightpass wrote: Thu Feb 26, 2026 12:41 pm Love bone fish… I only wish they got as big as some of their cousins elsewhere.. nice fishing on good size bones…
Butch

I wish they would either get a little bigger or tail in the shallow flats, but doesnt seem like they want to do either.