There can be good fishing for spotted bay bass & halibut in Alamitos bay. As far as lures go, small swimbaits & grubs work well as do crankbaits & sometimes spinnerbaits when the bass are aggressive. As for making bait around there, you can probably find some smelt & catch them w/ a small sabiki.
www.baytubers.com is a good site for your neck of the woods, lots of good halibut info for the OC, LB, LA areas on there.