GORDO BANKS PANGAS
December 8th, 2024

Even though more quality fish were caught towards Vinorama and Iman, most boats throughout the week were forced to fish towards Cabeza de Ballena due to the wind. There were only a couple days out of the week where our fleet was able to focus at Vinorama.

We continue to see nicer yellowfin tuna and wahoo at Vinorama and Iman. At the beginning of the week, one of the boats focused specifically on trolling live small skipjacks at Vinorama. Surprisingly, they landed 3 nice tuna, 135 lbs., 115 lbs., and 70 lbs. These tunas were caught on lighter gear with a wire leader set up as they were focusing on wahoo. Throughout the week, the boats that were able to troll live skipjacks at Vinorama and Iman reported hooking into nicer tuna, all over 50 pounds, and bigger wahoo as well. The biggest wahoo at Vinorama this week came in at 65 pounds, caught on a live skipjack also. A handful of wahoo were also caught one X-Raps and rigged ballyhoo, though it seems these wahoo prefer live bait. A few nice dorado were also seen this week on ballyhoo, biggest one weighing 38 pounds.

It was thought to fish the bottom this week as the current and wind conditions were not ideal. We only had a couple of snappers and 1 grouper within the fleet this week. This Sunday, 4 of our boats focused on the inner Gordo as it was windy to head towards Iman and Vinorama. Two of the boats caught striped marlin, one was hooked while trying to fish the bottom for snapper. The third boat landed a 200-pound yellowfin. Another boat reported a big tuna boil up on their skipjack, but not taking the bait. The 4th boat landed a big 50-pound wahoo on a live skipjack. We will continue to fish the Gordo next week as there is plenty of bait in that area. It should produce big quality fish.

The boats that fished towards Cabeza de Ballena did well throughout the week as long as they had live sardines. There was a shortage of sardines on some days. They were still able to get a handful of tuna on strips of squid, though the best action came on live sardines. These tuna were small, most of them averaging 5-8 pounds. A handful of wahoo were also landed this way while trolling X-Raps and rigged ballyhoo earlier in the morning before drifting bait for tuna.

Good Fishing, Brian