GORDO BANKS PANGAS
February 23rd, 2025

The most productive week of the year so far. We had a busy schedule, almost fully booked every day of this week. As many families were down in Cabo for president’s week to vacation, many anglers were also trying to get their hands on the tuna action.

We had a good tuna bite at Iman throughout the week. Most of these tuna continue to be on the smaller side, averaging 6-10 pounds. However, there is a great chance of hooking into a 100 lb. + fish in the same area. For that reason, we try to go no lighter than 40# test. Most boats are catching at least a couple of these small tunas every day. Some boats were been able to catch their tuna limits as well. We continue to catch white bonita limits on the jigs and sardines almost every day. A few bait guys were able to come up with live sardines this week, however it was not enough to supply all boats; only a handful of boats got their hands on the live dines. We did have plenty of dead sardines. The bait guys are having to net sardines towards the east cape in the afternoons. The bigger tuna this week were caught on live and dead sardines (mostly dead), strips of squid, and strips of skipjack. The best day this week was Thursday as we had 5 big tuna at our fillet table. The biggest tuna came in at 187 pounds, the rest were in the range of 95 to 125 pounds. A couple more big tuna were lost that day after long hour battles.

Later in the week, boats from Cabo got word of this bite and it made Iman crowded. On Friday, there were close to 50 boats in the small area of Iman. This did not help much as the bite slowed down significantly throughout the weekend. Many boats were forced to head closer to shore to look for bottom fish, sierra, and roosterfish. Close to shore, throughout different rock structures of La Fortuna and Cardon, we were able to catch good numbers and variety of bottom fish. We had grouper, snapper, pompano, triggerfish, amberjack, sierra, and a few yellowtail. Most of this mix was caught drifting dead sardines. A few bigger sierra were caught casting jigs on the surface.

Throughout the shoreline of La Laguna and Zacaton, a few boats reported catching nice roosterfish, some of them around 20-25 pounds. Big Jacks were also caught in the same area. These Roosters and Jacks were caught on live caballitos, some on live sardines if available.

Not much activity was reported at the Inner or Outer Gordos this week, a few sharks and striped marlin.

Good Fishing, Brian

GORDO BANKS PANGAS
February 16th, 2025

We had a busy week at the marina due to President’s week as most schools are taking a full week off. Next week will be the busiest one of this early year so far. A much more productive week as we started seeing more yellowfin at the fillet tables. Right on time for a busy week ahead!

The main highlight was the yellowfin tuna bite at Iman. The bite was a lot more consistent towards the end of the week. Most of the boats were able to land at least a couple tuna, most of them small (averaging around 5-10 pounds). This Saturday, we had 6 big yellowfin at our table. The smallest tuna out of these 6 was 84 pounds, the biggest came in at 135 pounds. Most of these tuna came on dead sardines. Quite a fight as most of these fish were hooked on 40# test. We did have a few good strikes on strips of squid; however, we continue to struggle finding slabs of squid at our grocery markets. Some of our captains and clients were able to find some slabs in the Cabo San Lucas area (Fresko grocery stores).  Our bait guys continue to provide bags of dead sardines every morning. They continue to struggle finding live sardines in the mornings. Some of the bait guys are even bringing sardines all the way from the La Paz area.

Some morning, we will also see live mackerel available. On Wednesday, a 100-pound tuna was caught on a live mackerel, though that was the only one we heard of on mackerel all week.

While drifting for tuna, we continue to catch limits of white bonita on jigs. On most days, each boat will have 10-20 bonita. There is also a good chance of landing an amberjack, snapper, or grouper while jigging in the same area. Earlier this week, Captain Chame landed a big amberjack, pushing 100 pounds on a small jig. We also had 3 nice yellowtail on jigs in the same area,

Closer to shore, we are also finding good rock structures that hold nice yellow snapper, grouper, and Sierra. Most of this mix is caught on dead sardines, though there is a good chance of hooking a nice sierra casting a jig on the surface. A good area to focus on this mix is La Fortuna, Cardon, and Zacaton. If live caballitos are available, we have also hooked some nice Jacks and Roosterfish.

Not many reports coming from Palmilla/ Cerro Colorado area as most of our fleet was in the hunt for tuna and bonita.

Good fishing, Brian

GORDO BANKS PANGAS
February 9th, 2025

Slow week in terms of charters at our marina. The weather was ideal as we had a very calm week with not much wind. We are seeing record numbers of whales throughout our shorelines. These whales are putting up a great show even for tourists walking the beach.

Slow tuna bite this week. We did see a few at the fillet tables, though the numbers were not what we expected. Live sardines continue to be a struggle. The fleet was able to get ahold of dead sardines and a few live caballito. Most of the tuna caught came on dead sardines. A few small tuna were also caught on jigs. We have not been able to find frozen squid in any of the supermarkets for the last 2 weeks or so. Some sort of squid shortage going on. Some captains that had frozen squid saved up from previous weeks, were able to land a handful of tuna per day. Most of these tuna are averaging 15-30 pounds, though we did see a couple of them around 80-100 pounds. Most of these tuna bites came closer to noon. Most of these tuna came from 25 and La Fortuna. One boat reported catching 3 medium sized tuna at Iman this weekend and losing a nicer one after 2 hours on lighter tackle. We also saw some dorado within the mix while drifting for tuna.

The main highlight this week was the white bonita bite at Vinorama and Iman. Many of the boats started their day at Vinorama to quickly fill the fish box with bonita. Most boats were able to catch their limits within the first couple of hours. These bonita were caught jigging. Some snapper and grouper were also caught in the same area, though we did see more variety with the jigs towards Iman and La Fortuna.

More boats started fishing for striped marlin and dorado in front of our marina, approximately 5-10 miles. They mostly trolled lures and ballyhoo while looking for birds and surface activity. A few other boats had more luck trolling live skipjacks if they came across a school. We did not see great numbers this week, though we did see some quality marlin and dorado. The boats that tried for marlin made a quick stop at Palmilla Point and Cerro Colorado to try and pick a few sierra and snapper before heading offshore. We did see some bigger sierra, most of them on jigs and dead sardines. Some of the bottom structures in this area had good numbers of snapper, some yellowtail, grouper, and pompano. Some small Roosterfish and Jacks were also caught throughout the shoreline on live caballitos.

Good Fishing, Brian