GORDO BANKS PANGAS
October 5th, 2025

We are expecting the side of Hurricane Priscilla this upcoming Tuesday. As of now, we are not expecting a direct hit, though we should be seeing strong winds, big waves, and some rain. Hurricane Priscilla is expected to increase its strength to a Category 2 Hurricane by Tuesday afternoon/evening. Tracking this storm has been challenging as it has been changing direction consistently and we have many trips lined up for Tuesday and Wednesday. We believe that the port will close down sometime Monday evening and possibly reopen Wednesday night. If the forecast remains the same, we should be back to our normal activities on Thursday.

This week, we started to see bigger tuna in the area of San Luis. Most of the tuna caught in that area were 100+ pounds. Not a wide-open bite, though there is a good chance of hooking into one. Some boats reported hooking up to 3 in one day (6-7 charter). Most of the tuna were hooked on strips of squid, a few on dead sardines. We are still seeing a few football tuna in the areas of San Luis and Iman, though the numbers are significantly down compared to the last few months. A few nice dorado were also caught while drifting dead sardines and squid for tuna. 

Live sardines have been an issue for the last 4-5 days. The bait guys have to transport dead sardines from the East Cape. We are expecting our live bait supply to be an issue for the next 5-6 weeks, at least. It is usually challenging to find live bait after storms as water becomes murky throughout the shorelines and rock piles. Then we have the tournaments coming up. There is a Marlini tournament starting on the 11th, the first Bisbee’s starting on the 15th, second Bisbee’s starts on the 22nd, and the Tuna Jackpot on November 6th. These big tournaments have negatively affected our live bait supply, especially in the last 2-3 years.

As the highlight of the week, we have seen a good wahoo bite in San Luis and Iman. On Saturday, one of our boats landed 4 of them, good size, averaging 25-30 pounds. On Sunday, this same boat landed another 4, while losing a few more after long runs. Most of the strikes came on rigged ballyhoo, a few others on XRaps and Nomad DTXs. Some boats tried trolling live chiwili for the bigger wahoo, though not many reported success. We only heard of 2 wahoo caught on live chiwili. Most bites came early in the morning.

On Saturday, Captain Chame landed a massive 308 pound yellowfin tuna. This fish was hooked on the outer Gordo on a live skipjack. This same day, they also landed a 180-200 pound blue marlin.

Good Fishing, Brian

GORDO BANKS PANGAS
September 28th, 2025

We are now seeing a noticeable increase in angler activity as more fishing enthusiasts arrive in the Los Cabos area. Despite experiencing periods of rain on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, conditions remained favorable for fishing. The wind was not a significant factor, allowing our fleet to head out and fish every day of the week.

Bottom fishing took the spotlight this week. We saw solid numbers of snapper, primarily dogtooth and mullet snapper caught using large strips or chunks of skipjack. We mostly focused in the areas of Iman, 25, and Inner Gordo. The largest snapper of the week came in at an impressive 58 pounds, with many others ranging between 30 and 40 pounds.

Amberjack also made a strong showing, with a few impressive catches landed while drifting with live chiwilis. The two biggest amberjacks of the week came in at 54 and 58 pounds. While drifting chiwilis, one of the boats landed an unexpected 30-pound Rooster.

While bottom fishing stole the show, we’re still seeing some pelagic activity, particularly at Iman. Yellowfin tuna and dorado are being caught on live sardines and strips of squid. Most of these tuna continue to be on the smaller side averaging 5-10 pounds. However, we did see more tuna in the 20–30-pound class this week. A few quality dorado were also caught on live sardines within the same area.

A few wahoo were also seen in the mix. Most of the wahoo were hooked while trolling Rapalas, rigged Ballyhoo, and small marlin lures. The best areas for wahoo strikes remained Iman and the 25 Spot. This Sunday, one of our boats landed 2 nice 30-pound wahoo early in the morning at 25.

Good Fishing, Brian.

GORDO BANKS PANGAS
September 21^st, 2025

As we head into the end of September, we are starting to see small crowds of anglers arrive into San Jose. Many of these anglers will stay in the area for 2-3 months, hoping for the fishing to remain hot. We consider this last week of September the start to our busy season.

We had a good productive week, focusing mostly on yellowfin tuna and dorado. We focused on the grounds of San Luis and Iman. San Luis produced more action throughout the week; however, sharks were a nuisance. Many captains reported losing over 10 tuna/skipjacks to these sharks on most days. Within the mix of sharks, a few captains reported seeing some massive tiger sharks. Most of these tuna are on the smaller side, averaging around 4-6 pounds. We saw a few tuna in the 30-50 pound range within the same area. Some boats also reported losing a few bigger ones after long fights as we are mostly using 30 and 40 pound test. Most of the bigger tuna came on strips of squid or dead sardines. While drifting or slow trolling live sardines, we have consistently seen a good mix of dorado as well. Most of these dorado continue to be on the smaller side, averaging 6-10 pounds.

To fight the heat, many boats focused on trolling Rapalas and ballyhoo as they looked for wahoo in the areas of La Fortuna and 25. Throughout the week, we saw 11 wahoo at our fillet station. Most of these wahoo averaged 20-25 pounds, though we did have a couple closer to 40 pounds. While fast trolling rigged ballyhoo, a few boats also reported hooking into striped marlin and sailfish.

Not much bottom action to report this week as current conditions were not ideal. Some boats tried jigging on the high spots of Iman and San Luis only to hook into skipjack and a few tuna.

We continue to catch small yellowfin and dorado at the Inner Gordo on sardines. If you are looking for bigger fish, then Gordo is the place to be at (Inner and Outer). As we look for big tuna or marlin, we are slow trolling live skipjack, bulito, and chiwilis, for a chance at that one good hook up. We are seeing plenty of bait in these areas. On Monday, a 250-pound tuna was caught at the Inner Gordo on a live bulito. This fish was hooked within 5 minutes of trolling the bulito on the high spot. On Wednesday, a private boat caught a 425-pound black marlin on a live skipjack at the Outer Gordo; this fish died after a 30-minute fight. On Friday, one of the local pangeros caught a 250-pound black marlin on a live chiwili.

Good Fishing, Brian