GORDO BANKS PANGAS
May 18th, 2025
Morning temperatures have taken a turn as we start to feel more heat and humidity. Mornings are averaging low 70s with hot sunny days in the mid 80s.
The highlight this week was a good wahoo bite offshore. Best action came throughout the surrounding areas of the 1150 Bank. Some boats also had success covering the grounds in between both Gordos and a few miles out from the outer Gordo. Most of these wahoo are big, averaging 50-60 pounds. The biggest one caught this week was an 83 pounder by Spencer Foster and Captain Marcelo. This big fish came on a Nomad DTX in between the outer and inner Gordo. This weekend, over 20 big wahoo were reported in between the panga area. These strikes came on rigged ballyhoo, marlin lures, X Raps, Nomad DTXs, and marlin lures. Many reports confirmed that these wahoo have been more active in the 78–80-degree clear blue water.
While looking for these wahoo, some boats also landed a handful of big dorado and some striped marlin. Most boats reported seeing many marlin, though they weren’t too interested in checking out our baits.
A few lucky boats also found porpoise schools a few miles out from the outer Gordo this week, with great yellowfin action. Most of the tuna that are hanging with these porpoise schools are football size, with some 30-40 pounders in the mix. One 100-pound tuna was caught earlier this week at Vinorama on a live caballito. This was the only big tuna reported this week.
Bottom action was slower this week. There were a few boats that landed some grouper, amberjack, and red snapper earlier in the week, though they had to work the jig hard throughout many rock structures. These boats found best action at Vinorama and San Luis early in the morning. Some boats that focused on the bottom ended up striking out as some days were better than others.
Roosterfish action was great this week. Most of these Roosters were on the smaller side (5-10 pounds), though we did see some bigger ones in the 20-25 pound range on the bigger caballitos. Best Rooster action came throughout the shorelines of Secret’s Hotel, The Marriott, La Bocana, and Trailer Park. This Saturday, one boat reported landing and releasing 15-20 Roosters in the first couple of hours of the morning. Some boats also caught some snapper on small mullet, caballito, and rápalas at La Bocana.
The bait guys continue to net caballito and mullet in the mornings; however, supply can be limited most days. Still no luck on live sardines.
Good Fishing, Brian
