The Dogtown Dispatch: Issue #07

Los Angeles County: August 25 – August 31, 2025

The week split its mood — starts full of promise and ends quiet and cold.

Early Week (Mon–Tue): Tactically, it was perfect — clean structure tipping the troughs, light sharp enough to read fish shadows, tides swinging just right, and fewer footprints on the sand. Yet the beans showed up with a whole lot of ghosting and little intention. Casts ranged perfect, but hookups were sketchy. The water hung around the high 60s — ideal, but the fish didn’t trade temperature for appetite.

Midweek (Wed–Fri): Then out of nowhere, the gears clicked. Pods rolled through in morning slides, but they came without an invitation on their part — chasing eats meant dialed fly work and grind-out patience. Ended up 2-for-4. Those two? Absolute scorers — best bites of the season, fully deserved. Silence dropped back in by midday, but if you got locked ahead of sun, you had a shot where visibility finally lined up.

Holiday Weekend (Sat–Sun): The surf — and the fish — went dark.

Key Takeaways – Los Angeles Beaches

• Solid structure and clean light kicked things off, but fish showed little interest.

• Still not seeing last year’s numbers, though pods are around.

• Midweek gave the best action of the season — 2-for-5 on eats that had to be earned.

• Afternoons with better light gave stronger sight opportunities than mornings.

• Holiday weekend collapsed — cloudy water, scarce fish, and no commitment.

Bottom Line

August closed on a strange note — flashes of brilliance buried in long stretches of nothing. Corbina proved again they’ll ghost you nine times just to make that one eat feel like lightning. September’s here. Let’s hope it brings a reset.

Ventura County: August 25 – August 31, 2025

August wrapped up with more fade than fire. Early in the week through midweek, the AM and PM lows offered some solid chances. Fish were present, conditions lined up, and for a moment it felt like Ventura might finish the month strong.

But as the days ticked by, numbers thinned out and windows shrank. The water quality held steady — clean enough to work with — and surf conditions were manageable at most beaches. The problem was timing. If you weren’t on the sand when the window cracked, you missed it. Currents ran heavy and the turbulence made it tough to keep a fly in position, let alone track a fish through the chop.

By the weekend, it was clear: August was ending with a fizzle. Fish were still around, but fewer, and far less cooperative. It came down to patience and luck — finding yourself in the right pocket at the right moment.

Key Takeaways – Ventura County Beaches

• AM and PM lows early in the week gave up decent shots.

• Numbers dropped steadily as the week went on.

• Water quality and surf stayed solid overall.

• Windows were short — if you missed them, current and turbulence shut it down.

• Timing was everything; fish weren’t handing out second chances.

Bottom Line

Ventura closed August in a whisper instead of a roar. The conditions were good, but the fish never matched the setup. It was a week built on short, narrow windows and long stretches of waiting. September’s return of sub-1 ft PM lows could reset the game — those tides are tailor-made for fall sight fishing.