GORDO BANKS PANGAS
March 31st, 2024

Happy Easter! We are now seeing most of our beaches crowded with local families. Throughout Easter’s weekend, it is tradition that you go beach camping with family and friends. It is nice to see many of our captains take some well-deserved time off with their loved ones. Temperatures were ideal for beach activities with highs in the low 80s. It was a windy week with currents predominantly from the North.

Our yellowfin tuna bite is now very slow, lucky if you get one bite all day. We are continuing to see some big ones, upwards of 100 lbs. chasing sardines, though we have not been able to get them to bite. Most of these tuna were spotted at Iman and San Luis. Some captains reported seeing more activity after midday and late afternoons.

We had a few big tuna at the beginning of the week. The biggest tuna brought in was close to 230 pounds. A tough fight on 50# test and high winds on a 22 ft boat. Our fleet also brought in a nice 80 pounder after a long battle with a Sea Lion that was able to take most of the stomach part, leaving the loins untouched. This same boat landed a nice 35–40-pound wahoo on a jig. A few smaller wahoo were caught this week while drifting sardines for tuna. The tuna bite died down throughout the week as we didn’t see any caught for 3 days. We only saw one small tuna caught on Friday. Most of the captains reported difficulty drifting and trolling with sardines as the needle fish were a nuisance.

The main focus this week was the bottom and inshore. We are catching grouper, snapper, and amberjack while fishing rock structures at Iman, La Fortuna, and Cardon. Surprisingly, most of this action came from sardines on the bottom, not a lot of action on jigs.

On most days, we are catching our Sierra (Spanish mackerel) limits on sardines. The best action seems to be coming from Cardon. There were some nice 10-pound Sierras in the mix. While trolling sardines closer to shore, we were able to catch some dorado. This weekend, a few boats were lucky to find big schools of dorado as they were able to catch their limits. Closer to the shore, we continue to see smaller Roosters and Jacks. The most productive area for Roosters seems to be La Laguna.

Good Fishing, Brian

GORDO BANKS PANGAS
March 24th, 2024

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

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