GORDO BANKS PANGAS
November 5th, 2023
The annual largest tournaments are now over, though the busy fall season continues. We are seeing large crowds of anglers arriving to take advantage of great opportunities now available. We have been experiencing great conditions with mornings in the low 70s/high 60s and sunny days in the mid-80s.
We are consistently starting to see schools of sardinas every morning now. A combination of sardinas and slabs of squid has been the go-to and most recommended. There are some days where the tuna prefer one over the other and you will be thankful you have both. There are limited supplies of caballito certain mornings.
Overall, this week produced great fishing action. The main action was yellowfin tuna in the 20–40-pound range. Most boats targeting tuna can experience great action, double/triple hookups and reach their limit on most days. Of course, there are some days that are slower than others, but the fish are definitely there. These were caught while drifting strips of squid and sardinas. Using a small weight to target mid-water activity was also very successful. Our boats concentrated mostly at the Vinorama bank. Others that tried out Iman experienced a slower tuna bite.
Covering the grounds of Vinorama, Iman, and La Fortuna, there is a good chance of coming across a small school of dorado and wahoo. A few more wahoo are starting to show day by day. You can target these by covering as much ground as possible trolling rapalas, ballyhoo, and lures. One of our boats reported catching a smaller wahoo while slow trolling a caballito. A few wahoo were also hooked and lost while drifting live sardinas on the tuna grounds.
Not a lot of marlin action spotted on our side of Cabo. One of our boats did catch a nice 300 pound Black Marlin a couple days after the Bisbee’s while targeting yellowfin tuna at the inner Gordo. This fish was caught and released on 50lb test and 60lb leader. A tough fight, but quite the experience.
Nice sized tuna still hanging at the Inner and Outer Gordo. Many of our local fishermen reported seeing many fish over the 200-pound mark while fishing the Tuna Jackpot tournament, though they did not want to bite. Many tuna averaging 70-100 pounds were landed throughout this tournament. Congratulations to captain Chame and Team Castros for landing 3rd place with a 95-pound yellowfin.
Not much bottom action this week, though we did have a nice dogtooth snapper at the Gordo while drifting for tuna. Not a lot of action along the shoreline either; a few boats did catch a few sierra while slow trolling live sardines. If sardines continue to show up, we should see better inshore action throughout the next few weeks.
First pods of whales are now arriving back into local waters after having migrated north to their summer feeding grounds.
Good Fishing, Brian
