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Sea Santa Barbara Channel (California) — a popular fishing spot. About 4711.2 km² in area. Nearby towns: Ventura, Santa Barbara and Oxnard. This is a sea water — its bite forecast is a marine one, computed apart from rivers and lakes. This page shows an hourly bite forecast for today and the week ahead; the algorithm factors in the weather, atmospheric pressure, and the moon phase.
Nearest towns and cities
The shoreline is moderately indented: bays and points alternate with even stretches.
The wind builds its wave along the west — east axis — 83 mi of open water; along north — south there is only 32 mi. When it runs down the main axis, the calm water sits against the bank it blows from, while the wave and the silt go to the far one — and the fish follow them there to feed.
California: the months when each species peaks and when it goes quiet. The current month is outlined. The bottom row counts the catches logged on this water in each month.
| Fish | January | February | March | April | May | June | July | August | September | October | November | December |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Steelhead | peak | peak | active | fair | active | peak | peak | peak | active | peak | peak | peak |
| Flounder | fair | active | peak | active | active | active | peak | active | active | fair | slow | slow |
| Striped bass | fair | active | peak | peak | active | active | active | peak | active | fair | slow | slow |
| Chinook salmon | slow | slow | slow | active | peak | peak | peak | active | fair | slow | slow | slow |
| Coho salmon | slow | slow | slow | slow | fair | active | peak | peak | peak | fair | slow | slow |
| Lingcod | fair | active | peak | peak | fair | fair | fair | fair | slow | slow | slow | slow |
| Pacific halibut | fair | active | peak | active | fair | fair | fair | fair | slow | slow | slow | slow |
| Rockfish | fair | active | peak | peak | fair | fair | fair | fair | slow | slow | slow | slow |
| Catches here | 0 | 0 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 11 | 11 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 6 | 1 |
BiteGuideFrom anglers’ reports
This is a summary of anglers' reports, not a proven cause of the bite: conditions lining up does not mean they drove it.
vertical axis — number of catches
| Value | Catches | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Rockfish | 30 | 63% |
| Lingcod | 17 | 35% |
| Sheepshead | 4 | 8% |
Look for structure — reefs, flats, channel edges; work them slowly near the bottom.
Santa Barbara Channel — Tuesday, October 20
The bite is moderate — fish feed in short bursts. Pressure is dropping — this usually boosts the bite. Peak 06:00–09:00 and 18:00–20:00.
The computed water temperature is around 68 °F — warmer than the 43–59 °F comfort range for Coho salmon: in the heat it drops deeper and feeds less often.
Coho salmon works the twilight: the peaks are pinned to sunrise and sunset — their times are in the sun-and-moon card above.
Pressure is dropping 0.06 inHg over the day — fish are usually more active ahead of a weather change.
One more input — the moon's feeding windows: within their hours the score sits higher than across the rest of the day. The window times are in the “Solunar feeding periods” card below.
October is an average month for Coho salmon here.
These are the same values the bite curve above was computed from. How the forecast works
| 00:00 | 01:00 | 02:00 | 03:00 | 04:00 | 05:00 | 06:00 | 07:00 | 08:00 | 09:00 | 10:00 | 11:00 | 12:00 | 13:00 | 14:00 | 15:00 | 16:00 | 17:00 | 18:00 | 19:00 | 20:00 | 21:00 | 22:00 | 23:00 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| -1.0 ft | -0.9 ft | -0.3 ft | 0.4 ft | 1.2 ft | 1.9 ft | 2.4 ft | 2.5 ft | 2.3 ft | 2.0 ft | 1.5 ft | 1.2 ft | 1.0 ft | 1.1 ft | 1.4 ft | 1.9 ft | 2.3 ft | 2.7 ft | 2.7 ft | 2.4 ft | 1.8 ft | 1.0 ft | 0.1 ft | -0.6 ft |
Open-Meteo tide model, grid point 2.7 mi away
Open-Meteo Marine model, grid cell 2.7 mi from the waterbody. Values are daily means.
Clear · feels like +66°
The day is 2 min shorter than yesterday.
Sunshine hours count direct sun only — cloud cover cuts it, so it is shorter than daylight.
Geomagnetic fieldG1 geomagnetic storm, Kp 4.7
Kp index — NOAA data. Not part of the bite score: catches show no link between geomagnetic storms and the bite.
The windows are set by the moon's transit and rise, and the forecast above already accounts for them: within these hours the bite score sits higher than across the rest of the day, while the day's overall level still comes from the catch-calibrated model.
What are solunar periods?Blue check: this species appears as a catch in reports for this waterbody.
Look for structure — reefs, flats, channel edges; work them slowly near the bottom.
Santa Barbara Channel — Tuesday, October 20
The bite is moderate — fish feed in short bursts. Pressure is dropping — this usually boosts the bite. Peak 06:00–09:00 and 18:00–20:00.
Biting
Fish in 48 of 48 reports · Mostly Rockfish
Anglers have logged 48 fishing reports here. Most commonly caught: Rockfish, Lingcod, Sheepshead. Peak season: March–November.