GORDO BANKS PANGAS
June 22nd, 2025

Wind conditions this week were brutal as it affected the number of charters going out. For most of the week, we had S/SW winds averaging 12-20 mph. Earlier in the week, we got away by fishing closer to shore and a few miles from our marina (5-7 miles) before the wind kicked in around 11/noon. Friday through Sunday were the worst days. We only had one charter go out on Friday and we were forced to cancel our weekend trips. Live bait was a struggle as well; most boats were only able to get 3-5 baits (mix of caballitos and mullet) most mornings.

If you were lucky enough to get ahold of live bait, you were able to efficiently look for Roosters and dorado/marlin a few miles out. Roosterfish action seemed slower this week, though it was hard to tell if that was really the case as not many boats tried for Roosters due to the lack of bait. On Thursday, one of our pangas got ahold of 8 mullet and they were able to land 7 Roosters early in the morning, including one 30 pounder.

Some boats stuck it out battling the wind anywhere from 5-7 miles from our marina looking for marlin and dorado. Not many dorado were reported this week, only a handful of small to medium ones. We did not see any big bulls as we did last week. Many marlin were spotted though most captains reported minimal interest. Our fleet did catch and release 4 striped marlin and 1 sailfish this week.

One of the local pangas tried bottom jigging in San Luis on Friday and they were able to land 1 amberjack, 1 grouper, and 5 red snapper. The wind did not allow them to fish long as they had to head in around 9 am. This next week, we do see some better days in the forecast; we are hoping to target more bottom structures throughout the areas of Vinorama and San Luis.

This Sunday, we had a local dorado tournament in memory of Eric Brictson. Eric was one of the sportfishing pioneers in our community of La Playa as he established his operation in 1985 launching small pangas off the beach. Unfortunately, due to wind conditions not many boats participated in the tournament. Only 10 brave boats got out there. As expected, live bait was an issue and fishing was very slow. Only one 15 pound dorado came to the scales, winning the tournament across the board.

Good Fishing, Brian