GORDO BANKS PANGAS

December 31st, 2023

Last day of the year and most of the boats at the panga dock are out fishing; great way to say goodbye to 2023. This week, we experienced some colder temperatures with mornings in the high 50s and beautiful sunny days in the mid 70s. These mornings are considered very chilly for us locals.

This has been one of our most productive weeks of the year so far. The main target species this week was yellowfin tuna. The Cabo and San José fleets found nice sized yellowfin tuna, most of them averaging around 30 pounds. These fish were found heading towards Cabo, at Cabeza de Ballena; most of these fish are 13-15 miles from our marina and around 1/2 a mile from the shore. Most reports claimed the best action was found at around 140-160 feet. These fish are mostly caught with live sardinas. We had plenty of nice sized sardina supply this week. The local bait guys have been focusing on netting sardines within the Cabo Real area.

Most of the boats fishing for these tuna have been able to catch their limit within a few hours. Due to the hot bite, this area has been hit hard by both Cabo and San José fleets. On most days, we are estimating around 80-100 boats. The main concern with the high volume and boat proximity are the tangles. Many boats within the fleet reported losing many fish due to other hooked tuna tangling their line or boats cutting their lines. 

Within this same area, we heard of some boats hooking some tuna with small lures and feathers, though not too many as with sardines. Some nice sized dorado are also being caught while drifting for these tuna. Using the same technique and bait, we have also seen a few wahoo accidentally caught, though nothing over 15 pounds. 

For the boats going towards Gordo it has also been good. The local pangeros are finding bigger tuna at the inner Gordo with live and dead sardinas. The best time for these fish is definitely the afternoon. At certain times they can be all over the boat but are a bit finicky and hard to hook. Most of the fish landed are anywhere from 50-100 pounds. A few of the panngeros caught on average 3 per day. Within that same area, we are still seeing some big bulls caught. 

We expect to have a great day of fishing for the last one of the year. The Gordo Banks Pangas crew wishes you a Happy New Year. 

Good Fishing, Brian

GORDO BANKS PANGAS

December 24th, 2023

Many vacationing families are starting to arrive in Los Cabos for Christmas and New Years, though only moderate number of anglers are showing.  Ideal wintertime climate with not much wind and some cloudy days. With ocean water temperatures now ranging 76 to 79 degrees, we are still seeing some excellent action for some of the most popular pelagic gamefish species.

The main target species continues to be dorado, while there is a good chance of catching yellowfin tuna and wahoo. Some fortunate anglers are catching a gram slam of all three during one outing. 

Most of our charters this week focused on the inner Gordo and Punta Gorda. Many of the boats started out their day at Punta Gorda trolling Rapalas and Ballyhoo in an effort to catch a wahoo. While many boats came in empty handed, a few wahoo were caught with this technique. The wahoo bite did slow down this week as we only saw a couple on some days. Usually after a few hours of trying for wahoo, the boats were moving towards the inner Gordo for dorado and tuna.

This week, we saw a good number of nice yellowfin tuna caught at the Gordo, with most fish ranging from 70 to 110 pounds. Most of these fish were caught on strips of squid or dead sardinas if available. On the same grounds, big dorado continue to be seen, with many of them in the 30–40-pound club. The biggest dorado this week was closer to 50 pounds, caught on a strip of squid while looking for tuna. On some days, these large schools of dorado are not allowing us to efficiently fish for tuna as they are feeding off the squid chum line. The tuna bite seemed to be better for the local pangeros later in the day.

Later this week, some boats encountered a tuna bite at Punta Gorda. These fish are mostly 30-40 pounds. The last 3 days, these tuna have been biting for a short period, usually around 30-40 minutes. The best action came closer to midday. These Punta Gorda tuna have also been hooked on squid and sardinas.

The dorado bite continues to be very productive on most grounds, with most of our boats catching their limit for each day. Our boats stayed mostly at Punta Gorda and inner Gordo this week, though we did hear of many boats also finding big schools of dorado at Iman, La Fortuna, and Cardon. Many of these boats also saw some feeding tunas at Iman while chumming for dorado with live sardinas.

We are starting to see a greater number of striped marlin caught. There is not much inshore or bottom action going on at this time. However, we did see a few Mexican bonitos and snappers caught while jigging on different structures. More and more whales are now arriving, providing extra entertainment for anglers and their families.

Next week should be a slower week in terms of anglers. Our captains will definitely enjoy a few days of spending quality time with their families. We hope that you have a great Christmas with your loved ones.

Good Fishing, Brian

GORDO BANKS PANGAS

December 17th, 2023

With Christmas approaching, we are continuing to see light crowds of anglers, which is normal for this time of year. The weather has been ideal as we are still experiencing sunny days in the mid-80s. This week, we had a few windy days, predominately from the north; though we were still able to fish our productive fishing grounds no problem.

The most productive action was found between Gordo and La Fortuna. La Fortuna, Cardon, and Punta Gorda have shown great numbers of nice sized dorado and wahoo. Again, the fleet is usually starting out their day by trolling Rapalas and rigged ballyhoo. This week, most boats were able to catch their dorado limit early in the morning, allowing them to release many others throughout the day. Using the same technique, there is a good chance of hooking a nice sized wahoo. On Wednesday, one of the boats was able to hook and land 4 wahoo back-to-back, closer to Punta Gorda while trolling Rapalas. These were nice sized wahoo with 3 of them being over 40 pounds and one closer to 60. We did notice a more consistent bite on the Rapalas this week. Wahoo are also being hooked while slow trolling live caballito and dead ballyhoo, and at times on cast jigs.

The dorado bite was phenomenal this week to say the least. They seem to be all over the place, and it has been common to hook more than one at a time as they are travelling in big groups. Most of these dorado are over 15 pounds. We saw many dorado in the 30–40-pound class, which contributes to a great fight with light tackle. For some reason, this group of fish have shown to be large but thinner than usual.

The yellowfin tuna bite at the Gordo was more consistent this week. Most hookups are coming later in the day. Many of the local pangeros and commercial fishermen have been doing the afternoon trips, which has shown to be more productive. Most of the tuna that were landed were over 80 pounds. The preferred bait was dead sardinas and strips of squid. The sardina supply this week was very spotty as we saw some days with limited numbers. Many of the bait guys have been forced to look over at Palmilla and Club Regina.

The marlin bite on the Pacific side has been great, but we are only seeing a few scattered striped marlin on local grounds off of San Jose del Cabo. Inshore, there have been a few Sierra and smaller roosterfish found, but other than that not much going on. As for bottom fishing, it continues to be slow with some occasional snappers and groupers.

Good Fishing, Brian