GORDO BANKS PANGAS
December 29th, 2024

As we head into the new year, fishing seems to have slow down significantly.

The main highlight this week was the dorado bite. This bite has spread out more as we have seen decent action at Iman, La Fortuna, 25, Cerro, and both Gordos. Most boats are starting their day at the Gordo as they look for small skipjacks and bulito to put in their tuna tubes. We continue to see big dorado at the Gordo, though only a few per day. Most of these dorado are on the bigger side, averaging 25-40 pounds. As we head closer to shore, we see better numbers, though they are not as big, still decent size though. No big tuna were reported at the Gordo this week.

This weekend, most boas concentrated at Iman as they hooked some nicer yellowfin on strips of squid. This tuna bite has been spotty, with most of them being small footballs. We did see 4 or 5 fish this weekend in the range of 60-100 pounds in the same area. While drifting strips of squid, a few nice dorado were also landed. Live sardines could have a big impact on this high spot. The sardine supply remains an issue as we don’t see them on most days. The few sardines that are netted are on the smaller side and are mostly used to fish inshore.

Not many wahoo this week either. We did see a couple nice ones (40-45 pounders) towards the end of the week at Iman on live skipjacks. Some captains reported these wahoo being very finicky as they spotted them following the bait for long periods of time. The bites were not as aggressive as they usually are; some of these wahoo lost interest after following the bait for a long time. One captains tried a bait with no wire leader and it still wouldn’t get hit.

The marlin bite at the Gordo also slowed down significantly. Only a few marlin were reported this weekend. Reports indicate more marlin action towards Cabo.

Happy New Years!

Good Fishing, Brian

GORDO BANKS PANGAS
December 22nd, 2024

Slower week in terms of charters as we are approaching the Christmas Holiday. Conditions and weather were ideal as we had light winds, clear blue water, and perfect temperatures with lows in the mid-60s and highs of 80 degrees. As crowds of anglers continue to decrease, many of the local captains are fishing themselves in the hunt for big tuna at the famous Gordo Banks.

The tuna bite at the Gordo has been slow and spotty. We still hear reports of big fish coming up to the bait, though many of them are not taking it. A handful of big tuna were caught this week, most of them biting later in the day on live bulito and skipjacks.  These fish are finicky; safe to assume this is due to the crowded small area a lot of bait, and divers on the high spot. Most of these fish surpass the 100-pound mark, with most of them being over 150. While trolling live skipjacks and bulito for tuna, we have hooked into some striped marlin, big dorado, and wahoo. Most of the dorado seen this week were over 20 pounds, with many of them being over 30 pounds. Most of these wahoo were immediately lost as we are using fluorocarbon; a few nice wahoo were landed on circle hooks and no wire leader! We are seeing marlin every day at the Gordo, though reports claim that the marlin bite is better towards Palmilla/Cerro Colorado/Cabeza de Ballena area.

Many of the boats fishing the Gordo, tend to pick up after a few hours and move towards Iman, La Fortuna, and Cerro (Punta Gorda) to troll their live/dead skipjacks and bulitos. We have seen more action in these areas closer to shore for dorado. The wahoo bite has not been great, though we do see a couple at the fillet station every day. Most of the wahoo on bait have been showing good size; the biggest one landed this week was 56 pounds on a live skipjack. A handful of smaller wahoo were also caught on X-Raps, Nomad DTXs, and lures.

We continue to catch small yellowfin tuna at Iman. These tuna are small, on average 5-10 pounds. We are mostly using small strips of squid as we have not seen a good supply of sardines throughout the week. The bait guys have recently struggled netting the sardines as they are running smaller than usual.

We hope that you have a wonderful Christmas with your loved ones. Merry Christmas!!!

Good Fishing, Brian

GORDO BANKS PANGAS
December 15th, 2024

We are finally starting to see bigger yellowfin tuna at our high spots. Earlier in the week, we had a decent tuna bite at Iman with live skipjacks and bulito, a few strikes on strips of squid as well. The live skipjacks and bulito were caught at the Inner Gordo and kept alive in tuna tubes to slow troll at Iman. Most of the tuna at Iman averaged 60-90 pounds, a handful of them surpassed the 100-pound mark. The fleet also caught some nice wahoo this way. Because of the wahoo in the area, we were forced to troll the skippies with wire leader, though we prefer to use fluorocarbon for tuna. Not many wahoo strikes were reported on Rapalas and ballyhoo this week. One wahoo was caught on a surface jig while slow trolling live bait. With the same bait and in the same area, decent sized dorado and striped marlin were also landed, though not as many dorado as we would like to see this time of year.

As the week progressed, the bite slowed down at Iman. Many boats decided to stay at the Inner Gordo after catching Skipjacks and bulito to slow troll throughout the day. On Friday, the boats that fished the area of Inner and Outer Gordo reported nicer blue water as compared to earlier in the week being a bit greenish. On Friday, only one 120-pound tuna was landed between 10-12 boats. That same day, another local boat lost a bigger fish, pushing 200 pounds right at the leader after 2 hours. Both of these tuna hit on a live bulito on the surface. A lot more boats tried the Inner Gordo on Saturday. Most of the boats that tried for tuna on Saturday were able to hook one on live skipjacks and bulito. 8 big yellowfin were landed at the Inner Gordo on Saturday morning and afternoon. Most of these fish were over the 150-pound mark, a couple of them surpassed 200 pounds. 3 other boats lost bigger fish after long hours; one of the local pangeros lost one after a 4-hour fight on 80# test and 130# fluoro that ended up breaking the leader. Due to the hot Saturday bite, a lot more boats tried it out on Sunday, though no tuna were reported. Too many boats in the area, including a couple diving boats that were anchored right on the high spot.

A handful of boats that felt the pressure at the Gordo decided to troll their skippies at Punta Gorda (Cerro) to try to salvage the day with a wahoo or dorado. The few boats that tried this were able to land nice sized wahoo and dorado. Our 2 boats that fished Cerro this Sunday were each able to land 2 wahoo and 2 dorado, while loosing a few other strikes. The biggest wahoo reported this week came in at 55 pounds on a live skipjack.

There is now a decent striped marlin bite 5-6 miles straight out from our marina. Most of these strikes are coming on rigged ballyhoo and lures. A few bigger dorado were landed this way; most of the dorado seen were over 20 pounds.

Closer to shore, we continue to catch sierra (Spanish mackerel) on small rapalas and sardines. Not a lot of sardines at this time; most of the sardines the bait guys are netting are to small for us to us.

Good Fishing, Brian