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Dorado and Bottom action remains consistent; Tuna bite slowing down!

GORDO BANKS PANGAS
March 24th, 2023

We can tell Spring Break is here. We are seeing more numbers of tourists arriving, many of them younger, college aged, as well as lots of family groups. We are having ideal weather patterns now, lows of about 60 degrees, with highs of 80 degrees and mostly clear sunny skies.

We had a good variety of species this week. The tuna bite slowed down significantly as the only good days for tuna were Monday and Tuesday. On Monday, we had a 70 and 50 pounder; long battles on light tackle. We did see a couple of tuna this weekend as well, though there were only a few caught between 18-20 boats. Captains still report seeing some nice ones boil up on the live sardines, however they will not bite, even with light 30# fluoro. Most of these yellowfins have been spotted at San Luis and Iman.

The fleet managed to catch a good variety throughout the week. We started to see more dorado this week, especially this weekend. The average size seems to be between 10-15 pounds; most of them females. A few wahoo were also landed while drifting live sardines for tuna, though nothing big, most of them 15-20 pounds. A few boats reported losing up to 3-4 in one day as they break off right away.

The focus has been the bottom as we continue to see good numbers of groupers, snappers, and amberjacks. Most of the bottom action is coming from jigs and live sardines. We are mostly catching yellow snapper, but we are starting to see more red snappers in the mix. Throughout the same areas of Iman and San Luis, we continue to catch our bonita limit on most days. Please keep in mind that our white bonita (Pacific Bonito) is very good to eat as it is very similar to tuna and it can be cooked in a good variety of ways, especially raw.

In terms of inshore activity, Sierra and Roosterfish action has remained consistent and very similar to previous weeks. We are mostly targeting the areas of La Laguna, Buzzards, Secrets/ Marriot, and Palmilla. We saw some big Sierra this week at Palmilla, some close to 12 pounds. Most of the Roosterfish are averaging 10-15 pounds.

Good Fishing, Brian

Good variety, tuna bite slowing down!

GORDO BANKS PANGAS
March 17th, 2024

Spring Break is right around the corner, and we are seeing a large influx of tourists arriving to the Los Cabos area. We are experiencing perfect weather for beach activities.

This week was very similar to the previous one. The week started full of action and slowed down significantly throughout the end of the week. Yellowfin tuna continues to be the target species, though the numbers are not great. Tuna action is slowing down, yet we are still seeing them boil and chase the live sardines. Many of our captains reported seeing some big tuna at Iman and San Luis, a few over 150 pounds. One of the local pangeros caught one closer to 170 pounds one afternoon. This Sunday, we had a local tuna tournament where 27 boats participated. Congratulations to Chame and Team Castro for stealing the show with a 106 pounder.

The dorado bite also slowed down. We mostly saw smaller dorado this week, many of them were released as they were small females. We are finding most of these dorado closer to shore, where we are also catching good amounts of sierra. Throughout the shoreline, we continue to see Roosterfish, though nothing big yet. Most of these roosters are averaging 8-10 pounds. Bonita and bottom fishing remains consistent throughout different rock structures at Iman, La fortuna, and Cardon. We are catching a few red snappers, groupers, yellowtail, amberjack, and triggerfish. Most of this bottom action is coming from jigs and live sardines.

The main highlight this week was a 64-pound wahoo caught on live sardine, with no wire at all. This was quite the story as the captain reported the wahoo jumping a couple times when hooked, having to chase it down in reverse. We also saw a few other smaller wahoo (10-15 pounds) caught on sardines while fishing for tuna.

Good Fishing, Brian

Inshore and Bottom action! Tuna bite slowing down?

GORDO BANKS PANGAS
March 10th, 2024

We continue to see big crowds of spring breakers arriving in the Los Cabos area. The weather is slowly starting to take a turn as we are experiencing warmer mornings and earlier sunrises. This week, we experienced some high winds primarily from the North/North-west. These winds started earlier in the mornings, making it difficult for the fleet to make a run towards Iman and San Luis Banks.

The yellowfin tuna bite took a drastic turn of events throughout mid-week. We still had a good run throughout Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday through Friday were slow days as we did not see good numbers as compared to last week. To not get so beat up by the wind, most boats tried to get to Iman and La Fortuna earlier in the morning and then focused closer to shore and Punta Gorda for a chance at a few dorado, Sierra, and bottom species. Most boats were able to save the day with a couple nice dorado, grouper, and snapper for dinner.

We did have some tuna earlier in the week with live sardines. While cleaning up some of these tuna, the fillet crew noticed that their stomachs were full of red crabs. Many captains mentioned that the tuna would come up on the sardines but just wouldn’t bite. This weekend, a few boats stuck it out and ran all the way to San Luis where they found some good schools of tuna again. The wind forecast for next week looks good, so we are excited to explore more of San Luis Bank and see if the tuna bite will remain consistent once again.

Bottom action is showing good signs as we continue to see good numbers of grouper, snapper, triggerfish, and amberjack. This week, we also heard of the first few yellowtail caught in the area; some nice 20-30 pounders.  Most bottom activity is coming from sardines and jigs, though some big fish have been lost with live bonita/skipjacks and green jacks (cocineros). The fleet caught a nice 78-pound amberjack with a live bonita at Iman. The fleet continues to catch great numbers of white bonita while fishing for tuna. We also saw a few wahoo caught this week at Iman; most of them caught on live sardines by accident. The highlight was a nice 40 pounder caught on a jig! We heard of a couple nicer wahoo lost while trolling rigged ballyhoo and Rapalas earlier in the morning.

Since many boats focused closer to shore this week, we saw lots of Sierra at the fillet station and released many roosterfish. The roosterfish bite with live sardines at La Laguna has been full of action. Some boats reported catching and releasing double digit numbers. Most of these Roosters are averaging 10-15 pounds. While fishing the shoreline, we have also been able to catch Sierra and Jacks.

Good Fishing, Brian