GORDO BANKS PANGAS
July 13th, 2025

The week started off with great signs of improvement. On Tuesday, we had an unexpected yellowfin tuna bite at Vinorama and San Luis (best action came from Vinorama early in the morning). On Tuesday, we had some rain to start off the morning and then the tuna bite came along on jigs while looking for red snapper and amberjack. One of our pangas caught 13 yellowfin and 2 red snapper that morning; most of them came on jigs and a few on strips of squid. The average size was around 20-30 pounds, though we did see a handful of 35-40 pounders in the mix. A few pangas reported some tuna in the 80–100-pound range early in the week on strips of squid. This tuna bite slowed down significantly throughout the week, with most boats now landing 1 or 2 per day.

Most of the week, we had good action throughout the shorelines of Cerro Colorado and Palmilla. We focused on trolling small Rapalas for Sierra (Spanish mackerel). Many of the boats were able to catch their limit early in the morning and then head out a few miles to look for a dorado or striped marlin. Not many dorado or marlin were reported this week, only a handful of small female dorado. We did see some of these Sierra pushing the 10-pound mark.

We continue to see big Roosterfish in the area on live caballito and mullet. The best action was close to us throughout the shorelines of El Zacaton, La Laguna, Secrets/Marriot, and the Hotel Zone (trailer park to Cabo Azul). The bigger Roosters were seen at San Luis, though not many were caught this week.

Good Fishing, Brian

GORDO BANKS PANGAS
June 29th, 2025

Wind conditions were favorable for us this week. Our boats were able to fish different rock structures in the area of San Luis. Many of the boats reported an early morning bite. The best action came within the first hour or two on jigs. Most of our boats caught plenty of red snapper, amberjack, and a handful of grouper. Some of the big amberjack came on live caballito.

After catching enough for dinner, most boats went closer inshore to try for a big rooster. 3 of the boats reported landing roosters in the 50–60-pound range. The others were also nice size (20-30 pounds). On Wednesday, one of our pangas caught 1 amberjack, 6 red snapper, 1 grouper, and release 7 roosters (1 pushing 60 pounds).

Not much to report offshore as most of our boats focused on the bottom and inshore. The cruisers that trolled offshore did not report much as we only saw a couple of dorado and marlin. One blue marlin, averaging 200 pounds was caught as well. No wahoo or tuna were brought to the fillet table this week.

This week, we saw big schools of caballito and mullet enter our marina. We also had big schools of baby sardines in the mix. We are hoping that our bait situation continues to improve as sardines are a must to efficiently target tuna later this year.

We are closing monitoring a storm on the Pacific that could strengthen to a Category 1 Hurricane by Wednesday. As of now, it seems that it will not be a direct hit, though we are expecting some rain on Wednesday and Thursday. We are expecting the port to close down these 2 days.

Good Fishing, Brian

GORDO BANKS PANGAS
June 22nd, 2025

Wind conditions this week were brutal as it affected the number of charters going out. For most of the week, we had S/SW winds averaging 12-20 mph. Earlier in the week, we got away by fishing closer to shore and a few miles from our marina (5-7 miles) before the wind kicked in around 11/noon. Friday through Sunday were the worst days. We only had one charter go out on Friday and we were forced to cancel our weekend trips. Live bait was a struggle as well; most boats were only able to get 3-5 baits (mix of caballitos and mullet) most mornings.

If you were lucky enough to get ahold of live bait, you were able to efficiently look for Roosters and dorado/marlin a few miles out. Roosterfish action seemed slower this week, though it was hard to tell if that was really the case as not many boats tried for Roosters due to the lack of bait. On Thursday, one of our pangas got ahold of 8 mullet and they were able to land 7 Roosters early in the morning, including one 30 pounder.

Some boats stuck it out battling the wind anywhere from 5-7 miles from our marina looking for marlin and dorado. Not many dorado were reported this week, only a handful of small to medium ones. We did not see any big bulls as we did last week. Many marlin were spotted though most captains reported minimal interest. Our fleet did catch and release 4 striped marlin and 1 sailfish this week.

One of the local pangas tried bottom jigging in San Luis on Friday and they were able to land 1 amberjack, 1 grouper, and 5 red snapper. The wind did not allow them to fish long as they had to head in around 9 am. This next week, we do see some better days in the forecast; we are hoping to target more bottom structures throughout the areas of Vinorama and San Luis.

This Sunday, we had a local dorado tournament in memory of Eric Brictson. Eric was one of the sportfishing pioneers in our community of La Playa as he established his operation in 1985 launching small pangas off the beach. Unfortunately, due to wind conditions not many boats participated in the tournament. Only 10 brave boats got out there. As expected, live bait was an issue and fishing was very slow. Only one 15 pound dorado came to the scales, winning the tournament across the board.

Good Fishing, Brian