The Fish Are There - Bait Is Now the Variable |The Bite Index | August 6, 2026

This was a week that needed honest reading. It opened with two of the best back-to-back days of 2026: San Diego brought in 170 yellowtail on a Full Day CI run July 29, the new season record for a day-trip format, and Horizon returned July 30 with 180 yellowtail + 85 yellowfin + 7 dorado + 1 wahoo + 1 striped marlin released on 28 anglers. Two hundred seventy-three fish across five species. In terms of raw diversity and volume, it's the most extraordinary single trip of the 2026 season.

Then the week cracked.

By July 31, the San Diego's CI count dropped from 170 to 30 yellowtail. Pacifica's overnight returned with 4 dorado on 28 anglers. "Local" designations started appearing on boats that normally run offshore. By August 3, Voyager came back with 3 yellowfin on 17 anglers. The same day, San Diego ran a Full Day Offshore and got 117 YFT on 34 anglers. Same ocean, same calendar day, completely different outcomes.

August 4 recovered hard: Grande 151 YFT, Pegasus 145, San Diego 126, Pacifica 120, Legend 105. Four boats over 100 yellowfin in a single day. The fish are stacked. The problem is getting to them.

Weekend Score: 7/10 ⚪

July 29 started it: the San Diego boated 170 yellowtail on a Full Day Coronado Islands run on 34 anglers - 5.0 fish per angler on a format that rarely sees numbers like that. Pacific Voyager added 120 yellowfin the same day. Old Glory got 80 YFT. Mission Belle 71 yellowtail. The Full Moon was peaking and so was the bite.

Then came July 30. Horizon returned with 180 yellowtail + 85 yellowfin + 7 dorado + 1 wahoo + 1 striped marlin released on 28 anglers. That is the most species-diverse haul logged in 2026. Then Excalibur posted 127 YFT, Grande 116, Apollo 108. That was also the day the first "Local" trip designations appeared - quiet signals that not every boat was making it offshore.

By July 31 the story had fractured. The San Diego went from 170 to 30 yellowtail at the Coronados in 48 hours. That kind of drop isn't wind or weather; it's thermal instability at the islands and boats fishing where they can get to, not where they need to be. Pacifica's overnight returned with 4 dorado on 28 anglers - a near-blank on a multi-day offshore format. The bait situation was becoming visible in the numbers.

August 3 made it undeniable: San Diego 117 YFT, Point Loma 51 YFT, Old Glory 29 YFT, Horizon 25 YFT, Tomahawk 15 YFT, Voyager 3 YFT. All fishing the same general zone, all on the same day. The difference between 117 fish and 3 fish isn't luck - it's bait. Sardines have been scarce for weeks. Anchovies are available in limited quantities and harder to keep lively in warm water. When a boat runs out mid-trip, the options narrow fast. When the bait receiver is sold out before you leave the dock, the trip is over before it starts.

Malihini returned August 2 from a "Full Day" with 5 yellowtail and 100 whitefish on 20 anglers. Whitefish are a perfectly fine table fish. They're also what you catch when you're fishing local because the offshore plan fell apart.

August 4 showed what happens when the bait problem gets solved. Grande 151 YFT, Pegasus 145, San Diego 126, Pacifica 120, Legend 105. Four boats over 100 yellowfin on a single day. The fish haven't moved. The access question has.

Offshore YFT - STRONG FOR EQUIPPED BOATS (4/5)
The ceiling is as high as it's been all season - Fortune 200 YFT (2-day, Aug 2), Grande 151, Pegasus 145, San Diego 126, Pacifica 120. But the floor is genuinely low - Voyager 3 YFT on 17 anglers (Aug 3), Horizon 25 YFT on 27 anglers (Aug 3), Tomahawk 15 YFT on 29 anglers (Aug 3). The same zone is producing radically different results depending on bait. Rating is 4/5 if you have access; closer to 2/5 if you don't.

Offshore BFT - QUIET BUT PRESENT (3/5)
Pacific Voyager returned August 4 with 96 BFT - the best single-trip BFT count since the pre-Full Moon rush. Islander added 64 BFT + 30 YFT on a 3.5-day, Pacific Queen 35 BFT + 84 yellowtail on a 3-day. No single trip cracked 100 BFT this week and the fleet is clearly prioritizing YFT grounds. Bluefin are available; they're just not the primary story right now.

Coronado Islands / Yellowtail - VOLATILE, ONE HISTORIC HIGH (3/5)
San Diego's 170 on July 29 is the number everyone will remember, but it obscures the week's reality - the same boat went 102, 30, and then didn't approach that range consistently again. Mission Belle posted 102 on August 3 and 66 on August 4 and is the most consistent CI performer. CI yellowtail are real, thermal instability is making them day-to-day unpredictable.

Nearshore / Barracuda - THE SURPRISE FISHERY (4/5)
Premier PM ran 229 barracuda August 2. New Seaforth Twilight hit 218 August 3. Malihini posted 280 August 1. Dolphin has been consistent all week. If you're not targeting tuna and want a full box, the barracuda bite is legitimately strong, doesn't require bait to access, and is showing no signs of letting up. This isn't a consolation fishery right now - those are real numbers.

If you're running a private boat this weekend, check baitbarge.com/bait-report before you commit to anything. It's the fastest way to know what's available and where before you leave the driveway.

Sardines have been scarce or unavailable at most San Diego receivers. The fleet has been working with anchovies where they can get them. Anchovies work for yellowfin but they're smaller, harder to keep lively at speed, and harder to keep on the hook in warm surface water. They're workable - just less optimal. Fortune's 200 YFT and San Diego's 126 YFT prove the fish are catchable on anchovy. The gap isn't species preference; it's how many live fish you can deliver to the water.

If the receiver is sold out or the anchovy supply looks thin, some private boaters have been making their own bait before heading offshore. La Jolla has had the better of it this week - plenty of mackerel available, mostly Spanish but some greenbacks mixed in. Outside Mission Bay has been tougher and less reliable. If you're going to make bait, plan for La Jolla and give yourself an extra hour before your offshore run. Mackerel isn't the preferred bait for yellowfin but it's live and it'll get bit.

If bait of any kind is unavailable, the nearshore barracuda bite is legitimately better than most offshore alternatives this week - no bait required, productive on iron, and you'll fill a box.

Solunar windows this weekend:
Moon is waning crescent - 29% illuminated Saturday, 19% Sunday. New Moon arrives August 12. The lunar influence is building, not from a peak but toward a new-moon transition. The Underfoot Major falls mid-afternoon both days - best window for day-trip anglers.

For overnight boats, the Overhead Major falls early morning (12:56-2:56 AM Saturday, 2:01-4:01 AM Sunday) - the pre-dawn deep-water feeding window. For CI yellowtail and day-trip YFT, target the afternoon major block. The 12:24-2:24 PM window Saturday is the prime slot.

Forecast: Excellent.

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

Barometric Pressure: 29.980 inHg, stable (⚪). 12h change: +0.050 inHg. No pressure drop signal - conditions are consistent and calm but there's no barometric feed trigger incoming this weekend.

SST: Offshore water has held warm through the post-Full Moon period. The warm-water mass that activated the YFT and dorado zone last week is still in place. No significant temperature drop from last week's 73°F offshore readings.

1. The YFT zone is documented and stacked. Four boats over 100 yellowfin on August 4 isn't coincidence - that's a concentrated school that's been holding in the same area across multiple consecutive days. Grande, Pegasus, San Diego, and Pacifica all found it the same day. That doesn't just evaporate by Saturday.

2. Conditions are as good as they get. Under 10 knots and 3-4 foot seas all weekend. The 60-mile offshore run is comfortable. No weather constraints this weekend - if boats aren't catching, it's something else.

3. The afternoon solunar Major is prime for day trips. Saturday (12:24-2:24 PM) and Sunday (1:28-3:28 PM) both have the Underfoot Major falling in the middle of the fishing day. For CI yellowtail and nearshore barracuda, this is the best window of the weekend.

4. The barracuda bite doesn't require anything special. If bait is unavailable or the offshore run seems uncertain, the Premier and New Seaforth have been running 150-229 barracuda per trip consistently. That's a strong backup option that doesn't feel like a backup.

Weekend of August 8-9, 2026 - San Diego

Moon: Waning Crescent - 29% illuminated Saturday, 19% Sunday. New Moon August 12.

The picks: 12:24-2:24 PM Saturday and 1:28-3:28 PM Sunday for day-trip anglers. For overnight boats, the pre-dawn Overhead Major (12:56-2:56 AM Saturday) is the night bite window.

The New Moon window is building all week. As the moon goes dark by August 12, daytime feeding activity tends to concentrate into these afternoon underfoot windows and the early-morning hours. This pattern typically amplifies YFT bites as the lunar influence transitions - fish that were surface-feeding around the Full Moon will increasingly stage around current edges and structure through the new-moon period.

Grande returned August 4 with 151 yellowfin on a Full Day Offshore with 41 anglers. They went 116 YFT on July 30, 105 YFT on July 31, 54 yellowtail on a CI run August 2 (conditions were tighter that day), then back to 151 YFT offshore on August 4. The pattern is consistent: when H&M has bait and conditions cooperate, Grande is one of the most productive Full Day formats in the fleet. The YFT school that produced 151 on Tuesday doesn't disappear by Saturday.

CI yellowtail are volatile right now, but Mission Belle has been more consistent than any other boat on that format: 71 YT (Jul 29), 43 YT (Aug 2), 102 YT (Aug 3), 66 YT (Aug 4). The August 3 number - 102 yellowtail on 26 anglers - is the best single-day CI performance of the week. The afternoon Major window Saturday (12:24-2:24 PM) lands exactly when CI yellowtail are most active in August heat.

If offshore bait logistics are uncertain, Premier PM has been delivering strong numbers in a half-day format all week: 212 barracuda (Aug 1), 229 barracuda (Aug 2). That's not a consolation fishery - that's a real bite on a short trip with no bait required. For anglers who can't commit to an offshore overnight, this is the most reliable option on the board.

YELLOWFIN TUNA

BLUEFIN TUNA

CORONADO ISLANDS / YELLOWTAIL

NEARSHORE / BARRACUDA + CALICO

BAIT-CONSTRAINED / LOCAL-FLAGGED TRIPS

Grande tops 150 yellowfin tuna this weekend.

Just did it Tuesday - 151 YFT on 41 anglers on a Full Day Offshore. The YFT school hasn't moved, conditions are perfect, and H&M has had functional bait access all week. Afternoon Major window Saturday (12:24-2:24 PM) is prime. They go again.

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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