GORDO BANKS PANGAS
February 25^th, 2024

Busier week than usual for this time of year as our fleet saw a few days with up to 10 charters. We had many families arriving in Los Cabos for President’s week. The weather was ideal as we were experiencing warmer temperatures with mornings in the low to mid 60s and sunny days in the mid-80s. The conditions were ideal for families wanting to experience great fishing and sunny warm days. Surprising to say, the fishing was as good, if not better than last week.

The main target species this week was yellowfin tuna. We continue to see nice schools of tuna at Iman and La Fortuna, the best action coming from Iman. The bait guys continue to net nice sized sardines in the mornings. The tuna bite has been consistent throughout most of the day. We have seen some days with better action earlier in the mornings and other days with more action in the afternoon/evening; hard to predict how the bite will be each day, though they are definitely around as we have seen great numbers throughout most of the week. The average tuna is around 20-30 pounds, though we were surprised to see bigger fish show by the end of this week. The fleet caught many tuna in the 50–90-pound range; definitely a tough fight on light tackle. Many of these bigger fish broke off after long fights due to light tackle. The biggest tuna brought in this week was close to 110 pounds; a 3-hour fight on 40# test.

Within the same Iman/La Fortuna area, we landed some big dorado. Even though we did see lower numbers of dorado this week, we saw better quality fish as most of the dorado were averaging 15-25 pounds. The biggest dorado caught this week was a 49 pounder while drifting live sardines for tuna.

Bottom fishing was a bit slower this week, but we did see some nice sized grouper, amberjack, and yellow snapper. Most of these bottom fish are being caught on live green jacks also known as “cocineros” or live sardines. We are also landing a few on jigs, though live bait seems to be more productive. While jigging, we are catching a significant amount of white bonita; a few boats that focused on jigging were able to catch upwards of 10 in a few hours. Though these bonita were not the targeted species, they are great to eat.

We also had great marlin action while fishing for tuna this week. Most of the marlin bites came on live sardines and cocineros. The fishing grounds of Iman and La Fortuna have been consistently productive, and we continue to be surprised every day as we see no signs of it stopping.

The most surprising bite this week was a wahoo bite at Punta Gorda on Thursday. It seems that this bite only lasted the morning of as many boats tried that same afternoon and Friday and came in empty handed. One of the boats that fished the area on Thursday morning was able to land 12 wahoo. Most of these fish were averaging 15-20 pounds, with a couple 30 pounders in the mix. Live sardines and Rapalas were the go-to. We are excited to see what the last week of February can produce.

Good Fishing, Brian

GORDO BANKS PANGAS
February 18th, 2024

We had some unpredictable weather this week with a few cloudy days and wind picking up mainly from the north. We also had some light showers throughout mid-week that kept the area a bit chilly for us locals. Nonetheless, most of the week was favorable for tuna and marlin fishing. This week was as good as last week and very similar in terms of fish count and size. Many of the local fishermen claim that they haven’t seen such a good tuna run and overall fishing in February in over a decade.

The main highlight this week was the hot yellowfin tuna and marlin bite. We continue to get a decent amount of live sardines every morning, which has been a huge factor in this tuna run. The local bait guys have been netting them throughout the shoreline close to Palmilla and also closer to our marina.  This week, most of the fleet concentrated in the Iman area as it produced the best action. A few boats also found some tuna at Vinorama and La Fortuna. The best action was seen on live sardines, though many boats hooked the nicer sized tuna with dead sardines. The average tuna was around 20 pounds, though we did see many in the 40-pound class. Within the same area of Vinorama, Iman, and La Fortuna, we have seen some good bottom action with live sardines and jigs. We are continuously seeing good numbers of nice sized amberjack, grouper, and yellow snapper.

A few wahoo were caught on the same grounds while fishing for tuna. Since they are mostly chasing the live sardines, most of them are cutting us off right away. We did see quite a few lucky boats that landed some wahoo with just a circle hook and no wire. Most of the wahoo feeding on sardines are on the smaller side, with not many surpassing the 20-pound mark. A couple boats landed a few nicer ones while trolling Rapalas and rigged ballyhoo earlier in the morning.

The dorado and marlin bite remains consistent and scattered throughout most of our fishing grounds. The fleet caught many marlin with sardines while fishing for tuna. Within the same grounds, we also saw some nice bull dorado, the biggest one weighing 34 pounds. The best fishing grounds for dorado this week seem to be at Iman and La Fortuna. For Marlin, the best action was found throughout Iman and 5-10 miles straight out from our marina while looking for birds and surface activity.

This week, we had an unexpected tuna bite at Palmilla Point that only lasted 2 days. Many of the boats that focused on this area were able to catch their limit within a few hours. Though the numbers were good, the tuna seemed to be on the smaller side, with most of them averaging 10-15 pounds. The skipjacks took over this area right away, forcing most of the boats to head towards Iman.

Good Fishing, Brian  

GORDO BANKS PANGAS
February 11th, 2024

This week has been busier than usual, with many late notice trips booked due to the unexpected hot fishing we are experiencing this February. Weather conditions remain ideal with mornings in the high 50s and days in the low to mid 70s. We did experience a few cloudy days with some light showers and north winds that picked up around noon throughout most of the week, though the fishing was great and with lots of action.

We noticed more bottom action this week in terms of bigger fish. We did see many groupers and amberjacks in the 30-60 pound class. Most of these fish were caught throughout bottom structures and pinnacles in Iman and La Fortuna. The choice of bait for these larger bottom fish were the live cocineros (green jacks). Most boats are making their own cocineros with sabiki rigs right off the harbor in the mornings while waiting for the bait guys to show with the sardines. We have also seen some smaller groupers, amberjack, and snappers caught in the same area while jigging or fishing the bottom with live sardines.

Our tuna and dorado bite has remained consistent as we saw good numbers throughout most of the week. The average tuna seems to be in the 20-30-pound club, though we did see one pushing 100 lbs. this week. Tuna and dorado are caught with live/dead sardines at Iman and La Fortuna. Most boats are focusing at Iman earlier in the morning as the area seems to be producing more variety with better bottom action in the mornings. We continue to see big schools of dorado, though we did notice smaller size this week. Nonetheless, big bulls continue to show in the mix. While fishing in this area, we are also catching good numbers of white bonitas and sierras, adding good eating variety to the fish box. Throughout the outskirts of Iman, the fleet did land a few marlin and sailfish as well while trolling live sardines and cocineros.

While fishing for tuna, many of the boats have been cut off by wahoo and sierra. The fleet has seen wahoo schools come close to the boat while chasing sardines. Most of these wahoo were on the smaller size, 10-20 pounds. A few boats were lucky to catch a few with circle hooks. Some other boats were lucky to catch one or two by trolling some Rapalas and rigged ballyhoo. The best action for this technique was definitely earlier in the morning before most of the boats arrived to the fishing grounds.

The marlin bite continues to be full of action, though we did see signs of it slowing down towards the end of the week. The best bite seems to concentrate 4-5 miles straight from our marina. Earlier in the week, we were seeing around 50-60 boats fishing in this area almost daily as many of the Cabo boats are starting to focus on our side of town. We saw around 20 boats this weekend as the bite started to scatter towards Cabo again.

Throughout the shoreline, we are starting to see a few more Roosterfish, though nothing big in size. These roosters are still too small to take on the bigger live cocineros. Though the numbers are not great, a few boats were able to catch a few smaller roosters with live sardines.

Good Fishing, Brian