GORDO BANKS PANGAS
January 12th, 2025
It was a cold week for us locals at the marina. We had mornings in the high 40s/low 50s and days averaging low 70s.
We had more bottom action this week. Most boats were forced to look for bottom structure as the dorado and tuna bite was very slow and spotty throughout most of the week. Most bottom action came from San Luis Bank on jigs. Earlier in the week, boats were catching double digits in white bonita (good eating). While jigging, they also caught an occasional yellowfin tuna in the mix (small size, average of 5-10 pounds). A nice 70-pound tuna was caught on Friday on a jig and light tackle (30# test). On the jigs, we were able to land some amberjack, grouper, red and yellow snapper as well. There was one 18-pound yellowtail in the mix. A few boats also caught some of these species at Iman and La Fortuna, though San Luis had the better action. While jigging and if the current allowed it, we also drifted strips of squid; a few lucky boats hooked some of the smaller tuna and a handful of nice dorado.
No wahoo were seen at the fillet tables this week, though 3 boats reported losing them on X-Raps earlier in the morning. These wahoo were hooked at Iman. Many boats specifically tried for wahoo earlier in the week, though they came in empty handed. Reports indicate greener water throughout most of our high spots with a combination of cooler currents in the high 60s. Today Sunday, water at San Luis was 68 and green, resulting in a very slow day.
Not many boats are fishing the Gordo now due to the green and cold water. The schools of skipjack and bulito have not been as present as previous weeks and most of the skipjacks caught are on the bigger side.
During most of the week, we had a good Sierra (Spanish mackerel) bite throughout the shoreline of Palmilla and Cerro Colorado on live sardines and surface jigs. A few boats reported catching over 15+ quality size Sierras. As the week came to an end, we continued to see issues with the sardine supply. The bait guys were only able to net the tiny sardines, which were not as useful to us (hard to get a small hook in them). The guys that tried for Sierra this weekend had to use small Rapalas and surface jigs to only get a couple in the box.
Good Fishing, Brian
