GORDO BANKS PANGAS

October 29^th, 2023

The weather took a drastic change right after the passing of Hurricane Norma. Hurricane Norma was not as bad as we were all expecting in our area. Surprisingly, we did not get a lot of rain, but we did get high winds of up to 80-100 mph, leading to power outages for a couple of days. Most importantly, our families, the marina and pangas were not harmed, and we are back to business.

The first couple of days after the hurricane, the weather completely changed. The mornings are now considered chilly for us locals with temperatures in the high 60s; the days are very nice with temperatures in the mid-80s. Late October and November are one of the most enjoyable times in Cabo as the weather is perfect for families coming to visit us for Thanksgiving.

Luckily for us and our busy season ahead, Hurricane Norma did not affect the fishing. The first couple days after the hurricane, the water was dirty and green as usual. After a couple of days, everything seemed to be back to normal, if not better than previous weeks. The main target is still yellowfin tuna at Iman and Vinorama Banks. There has been a lot of skipjacks in the same area, so it is a matter of what species gets the bait first. We are still using strips of squid due to sardinas supplies being very limited. Most of these tuna are averaging 20-40 pounds, with some occasional 70-100 pounder in the mix. Most of the boats this week were able to land 5+ tuna per day. Within the same area, we are starting to see more bottom fish action as expected. This week, we saw quite a few amberjack, yellowtail snapper, and grouper, most of them caught on the jig while drifting for tuna.

The big Bisbee’s tournament is now over and that does help alleviate some of the stress on the Gordo Banks. We still have the Western Outdoor News Cabo Tuna Jackpot coming up on November 2^nd and 3^rd. This will be an interesting one as there were quite a few tuna caught during the Bisbee’s. One of our local guys (Congratulations to Captain Romelio and team North Star) won the Top tuna overall on the Bisbee’s Offshore Tournament with two yellowfins, a 236 and 93.8 pounders. The best chance at finding one of these bigger tuna is trolling live skipjacks or bulito on the Inner and Outer Gordos.

With the change in water temperature, we are starting to see some wahoo show up at the Gordo and Iman Banks. There have been a few hooked fast trolling rapalas and lures, and some others are hitting the jigs on the surface. Most of these fish have been lost near the gaff. For some reason, this tends to be the case with the first showing wahoo of the season; you have to be extra careful and smooth while reeling these fish in.

Overall, we have seen a lot of action and a nice variety over the last week. With similar weather and water conditions ahead, we expect for fishing to remain consistent and more species to show.

Good Fishing, Brian

GORDO BANKS PANGAS

October 15^th, 2023

Now in mid-October and we continue to monitor another possible storm off the southern Pacific Coast; this is quite unusual for this late in the year. We are having slightly cooler mornings, with some in the low 70s and days in the low 90s and high 80s. The current conditions are still perfect for the formation of new cyclones. We are expecting some rain and winds of up to 20-40 kts next Monday and Sunday. This late in the year, we hate to have to worry about these storms as we have busy weeks ahead of us. We will have to keep our generators close by in case of power outages, which we are quite confident will happen according to the current weather forecast.

Yellowfin tuna at Vinorama and Iman banks has been the main focus this week. Sardines made a huge difference, though they continue to be in low supply and high demand. Sardina schools continue to be scattered and hard to find some days, something that seems to happen every year around this time due to heavier pressure by numbers of charters all competing for bait resources. The boats that were able to get sardines were coming back early with their limit of 5 per license. There were some days that these tuna stayed low and we had to strategize accordingly with small weights or drifting dead sardines. While drifting bait, there is a good chance of picking a nice variety off the jig, such as white bonita, red and yellowtail snapper, and grouper.

We continue to see big yellowfin tuna at the Gordo, but it has been more difficult due to the heavy pressure of the bigger boats scouting the areas and getting ready for the big tournaments. We have seen a good bite later in the day when most of the boats leave, with a few fish over 200 pounds. This is definitely a great sign and will make these tournaments very interesting and competitive.

With the showing of sardines, we also saw a significant increase in the number of dorado showing up. Most boats were able to find small schools of dorado while trolling or drifting with live sardines. There were a few days where most boats were able to catch their dorado limit and still release a half-dozen. Most of these dorado are under 10 pounds, with an occasional nice bull in the mix.

On these same grounds, we saw a few sailfish and striped marlin being hooked into. Bottom action is showing better signs week by week. Although the numbers are not big, we are seeing a nicer variety that consists of white bonita, red and yellowtail snapper, grouper, and an occasional amberjack in the mix.

The big three tournaments will be starting up this coming week, Offshore Bisbee, Black and Blue Bisbee and then the WON Tuna Jackpot. Most of these events typically have 200 or more teams. This adds greater pressure on local bait supplies and the fishing grounds.

Good Fishing, Brian

GORDO BANKS PANGAS

October 8^th, 2023

We are now in the midst of the fall season and we are seeing more numbers of anglers arriving. We have been closely monitoring the development of a few storms off the south pacific coast. The storm closest to us, Lidia, has been acting funny for the last few days as it continues to change directions drastically day by day. We had some light rain for the last few days and expect to have a bit more for the next couple of days, which should make it interesting as we saw a great tuna bite throughout our heavy rain early this morning. At this time, it seems that this storm will not be a threat and we will continue with our operation unless the Mexican authorities suggest otherwise.

The bite at the Gordo has been consistent, very similar to the previous 3 weeks. We are mostly using strips of squid and small skipjacks that you can catch on the fishing grounds. Bait supplies, such as sardinas and caballito have been limited at the marina. Drifting with strips of squid has been the most effective way, especially if you are taking plenty of it to chum with; we are recommending 4-5 kilos of squid per boat to have a good chance at multiple big fish. Some of the boats have arrived from the Gordo with 2-3 tuna per day, most of them pushing the 100-pound mark.

We continue to see many of the boats go all the way to Vinorama  and Iman as there is a chance of catching quite a few of the smaller sized tuna, 20-30 pounds. Dorado can also be found fishing the grounds from Gordo to Vinorama. These dorado are found scattered about in small numbers, the majority being under 10 pounds. We have not seen the number of dorado caught increase within the last month, but we do anticipate a new wave of fish to show by the end of October/early November as we see the water get a bit cooler.

On these same grounds we also saw a few sailfish being hooked into. Not much bottom action being reported now, although we did see a few grouper and yellowtail snapper being caught on the jig while drifting bait for tuna.

Good Fishing, Brian