The Bite Index | May 14, 2026 | Full Report

The yellowtail came back. The first marlin of the season showed Tuesday. White seabass opened with 7 fish on the San Diego. Calico bass are running 130 per half-day trip in the kelp. And bluefin are still stacked offshore at zones that have produced big numbers three weeks running.

Five separate bite stories are running simultaneously this weekend. Conditions are clean all weekend -- variable under 10 knots, long-period swell, a barometer that hasn't moved. The New Moon window opens Saturday and starts building the sharpest tidal differentials of the spring cycle.

The only question is how far you want to run.

Weekend Score: 8/10 🟢

The post-Full Moon yellowtail collapse was expected. Water at the Coronados dropped from 66-67°F to 59-62°F after May 1, and the yellows went with it. San Diego came back May 4 with zero yellowtail and 145 whitefish -- the most telling single data point of last week.

It didn't stay that way. Water settled. By Saturday May 9, San Diego posted 24 yellowtail. By Monday May 11, that number climbed to 35 on 23 anglers -- 1.5 fish per angler in a zone that had produced nothing 7 days earlier.

The recovery matches the pattern exactly. Post-Full Moon corrections at the Coronados run 5-7 days before water stabilizes and the bite resets. Surface temps at the islands are back in the 65-66°F range. The bite is back on.

This is the kind of move a prediction framework can call in advance. Issue #07 flagged the Full Moon spike. Issue #08 flagged the post-moon cooling. The New Moon recovery window starts this weekend.

Offshore Mexico -- HOT (5/5)
Bluefin volume continues at Hidden Bank and the 390/213/1010 Trench zones, with fish running 50-300 lbs and a significant number of 100+ lb class. One notable shift this week: the zone moved north. Hotbite reports that sat in the 31°26-31°48N corridor two weeks ago are now coming in consistently from 31°44N to 32°12N. The fish are still there, and they're closer.

Coronado Islands -- GOOD (4/5)
Yellowtail are back and building. Best current action is at North Island, specifically the stretch from Pukey to the Keyhole. Water holding 65-66°F with multiple 1.5+ fish-per-angler days this week confirms the reset is complete.

San Clemente Island -- GOOD (4/5)
Quality yellowtail in the 8-12 lb class with 20+ lb fish mixed in. Calico bass solid island-wide. Good mid-range option for boaters looking for a serious target without crossing the border.

La Jolla / 9-Mile Bank -- FAIR to GOOD (3/5)
Yellowtail active at the NW Corner. Barracuda building nearshore. Calico bass in the kelp beds are running 130+ fish per half-day trip -- the easiest big-numbers day available right now.

Salsipuedes / Ensenada -- FAIR (3/5)
Yellowtail and bonito scattered south of the border. Decent near-border option for private boaters running south without committing to the main BFT zone.

Dana Point / Oceanside -- SLOW (2/5)
Bottom fishing only at the north end of the range. No pelagic action of note this week.

The bluefin zone shifted measurably north this week. Reports from May 12 onward came back on water running 65.9-66.2°F -- a half-degree tick up from last week's 65.4-65.8°F thermal window. The fish moved with the water, and the run just got shorter.

Last week's productive zone sat well south of the border, requiring 60+ miles from San Diego. This week's consistent action has been tracking in a corridor that starts much closer -- some reports are within 50 miles of the border, well inside a 2-3 hour overnight run. Private boaters who passed on the trip last week because of the distance have a shorter window this weekend.

The fish are still concentrated in that same 65.9-66.2°F thermal band. Finding the temperature break and looking for bait marks on the meter remains the primary locating strategy. Spreader bars and MadMac on the surface are the daytime call; knife jigs and live bait at night. The overnight bite has been consistent all week.

A marlin was reported Tuesday morning in the same zone -- the first confirmed sighting of the 2026 season this close to San Diego. Marlin follow the same warm water and bait concentrations that hold bluefin. The fact that it showed this far north this early lines up with the warm water story that's been running 2-3 weeks ahead of a typical year.

Forecast: Excellent all weekend.

Source: NOAA PZZ750, San Mateo Pt to Mexican Border, out 30nm.

Eight consecutive clean weekends for San Diego. No advisories, no significant swell events forecast through Monday.

Barometric Pressure: ⚪ Stable at 30.04 inHg, slight settling trend. No strong signal.

SST:

Three things are converging.

1. The New Moon timing is right for the Coronados. The yellowtail recovery started last weekend and has been building through the week. New Moon opens the sharpest tidal differentials of the spring cycle, and in the standard lunar fishing pattern, the New Moon window runs 3-5 days on either side of the actual new moon -- which means it's fully open this weekend. May 9 (24 YT) and May 11 (35 YT) set up this weekend as the continuation of that upswing. The directional call: the Coronados yellowtail bite should be at or near its post-correction peak Saturday and Sunday.

2. Bluefin moved closer. The BFT zone shifted north this week. Reports that were sitting at 31°26-31°48N two weeks ago are now coming from 31°44-32°12N. That's a 25-mile reduction in run time from San Diego. Private boaters who passed on the offshore run last week because of the distance have a shorter trip this weekend.

3. The spread is the widest it's been all season. Five separate fisheries are running simultaneously -- offshore bluefin, Coronados yellowtail, white seabass at the islands, barracuda nearshore, and calico bass in the kelp. Every boater on the water this weekend, regardless of boat size, budget, or commitment level, has a legitimate target within reach. A forecast this clean over a bite this diverse doesn't come around often.

Weekend of May 16-17, 2026 -- San Diego

New Moon weekend (Saturday 0.4% / Sunday 0.9%).

The picks: Saturday dawn and Saturday midday ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

New Moon creates a double-reinforcement situation. At dawn Saturday, the moon rises at 5:19 AM and the sun follows at 5:48 AM -- 29 minutes apart. Both gravitational bodies ascending together within a single hour is a combined pull not available at any other phase of the lunar month. For offshore boats already in the zone, Saturday's first light window (4:49-5:49 AM) carries an extra solunar push on top of the normal dawn feeding window.

The bigger pick is Saturday midday (11:39 AM-1:39 PM). On a New Moon, the moon transits overhead at essentially the same time the sun crosses noon -- the moon and sun are aligned in the sky together. In solunar theory, the combined gravitational pull from both bodies overhead at once is the highest-intensity window of the entire lunar month. Sport boats on the Coronados or in the offshore zone should be fishing hard through the noon-to-2 PM window Saturday.

The morning moonrise windows (4:49 AM Saturday, 5:40 AM Sunday) suit private boaters departing overnight -- they arrive on the fish as the first solunar trigger of the day opens.

The offshore BFT call again. 96 bluefin on 16 anglers (6.0 F/A) on the last 3-day. The zone shifted north this week, which means the 3-day format now covers less distance to reach it. If the 100+ lb class fish are the target, this is the boat. seaforthlanding.com

The Coronados full-day call. 35 yellowtail on 23 anglers Monday. The San Diego has been the Coronados bellwether all season -- first to go zero when the bite turned off, first to confirm the recovery. Yesterday’s 63 fish signals the window is fully open. White seabass have also been showing, and barracuda are building. The San Diego is fishing a full spring menu right now. seaforthlanding.com

Three consecutive days of 120+ calico bass: 130 on May 9, 121 on May 10, 132 on May 11. This is the easiest big-numbers day available for anglers who can't commit to a full day. Barracuda mixed in. Affordable. No crossing the border. The New Moon tidal push should keep the kelp bite active through the weekend. seaforthlanding.com

The Bite Index publishes every Thursday. Built on marine weather data, offshore buoy readings, fleet fish counts, and our own in-depth fishing data analysis.

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