GORDO BANKS PANGAS
December 22nd, 2024

Slower week in terms of charters as we are approaching the Christmas Holiday. Conditions and weather were ideal as we had light winds, clear blue water, and perfect temperatures with lows in the mid-60s and highs of 80 degrees. As crowds of anglers continue to decrease, many of the local captains are fishing themselves in the hunt for big tuna at the famous Gordo Banks.

The tuna bite at the Gordo has been slow and spotty. We still hear reports of big fish coming up to the bait, though many of them are not taking it. A handful of big tuna were caught this week, most of them biting later in the day on live bulito and skipjacks.  These fish are finicky; safe to assume this is due to the crowded small area a lot of bait, and divers on the high spot. Most of these fish surpass the 100-pound mark, with most of them being over 150. While trolling live skipjacks and bulito for tuna, we have hooked into some striped marlin, big dorado, and wahoo. Most of the dorado seen this week were over 20 pounds, with many of them being over 30 pounds. Most of these wahoo were immediately lost as we are using fluorocarbon; a few nice wahoo were landed on circle hooks and no wire leader! We are seeing marlin every day at the Gordo, though reports claim that the marlin bite is better towards Palmilla/Cerro Colorado/Cabeza de Ballena area.

Many of the boats fishing the Gordo, tend to pick up after a few hours and move towards Iman, La Fortuna, and Cerro (Punta Gorda) to troll their live/dead skipjacks and bulitos. We have seen more action in these areas closer to shore for dorado. The wahoo bite has not been great, though we do see a couple at the fillet station every day. Most of the wahoo on bait have been showing good size; the biggest one landed this week was 56 pounds on a live skipjack. A handful of smaller wahoo were also caught on X-Raps, Nomad DTXs, and lures.

We continue to catch small yellowfin tuna at Iman. These tuna are small, on average 5-10 pounds. We are mostly using small strips of squid as we have not seen a good supply of sardines throughout the week. The bait guys have recently struggled netting the sardines as they are running smaller than usual.

We hope that you have a wonderful Christmas with your loved ones. Merry Christmas!!!

Good Fishing, Brian

GORDO BANKS PANGAS
December 15th, 2024

We are finally starting to see bigger yellowfin tuna at our high spots. Earlier in the week, we had a decent tuna bite at Iman with live skipjacks and bulito, a few strikes on strips of squid as well. The live skipjacks and bulito were caught at the Inner Gordo and kept alive in tuna tubes to slow troll at Iman. Most of the tuna at Iman averaged 60-90 pounds, a handful of them surpassed the 100-pound mark. The fleet also caught some nice wahoo this way. Because of the wahoo in the area, we were forced to troll the skippies with wire leader, though we prefer to use fluorocarbon for tuna. Not many wahoo strikes were reported on Rapalas and ballyhoo this week. One wahoo was caught on a surface jig while slow trolling live bait. With the same bait and in the same area, decent sized dorado and striped marlin were also landed, though not as many dorado as we would like to see this time of year.

As the week progressed, the bite slowed down at Iman. Many boats decided to stay at the Inner Gordo after catching Skipjacks and bulito to slow troll throughout the day. On Friday, the boats that fished the area of Inner and Outer Gordo reported nicer blue water as compared to earlier in the week being a bit greenish. On Friday, only one 120-pound tuna was landed between 10-12 boats. That same day, another local boat lost a bigger fish, pushing 200 pounds right at the leader after 2 hours. Both of these tuna hit on a live bulito on the surface. A lot more boats tried the Inner Gordo on Saturday. Most of the boats that tried for tuna on Saturday were able to hook one on live skipjacks and bulito. 8 big yellowfin were landed at the Inner Gordo on Saturday morning and afternoon. Most of these fish were over the 150-pound mark, a couple of them surpassed 200 pounds. 3 other boats lost bigger fish after long hours; one of the local pangeros lost one after a 4-hour fight on 80# test and 130# fluoro that ended up breaking the leader. Due to the hot Saturday bite, a lot more boats tried it out on Sunday, though no tuna were reported. Too many boats in the area, including a couple diving boats that were anchored right on the high spot.

A handful of boats that felt the pressure at the Gordo decided to troll their skippies at Punta Gorda (Cerro) to try to salvage the day with a wahoo or dorado. The few boats that tried this were able to land nice sized wahoo and dorado. Our 2 boats that fished Cerro this Sunday were each able to land 2 wahoo and 2 dorado, while loosing a few other strikes. The biggest wahoo reported this week came in at 55 pounds on a live skipjack.

There is now a decent striped marlin bite 5-6 miles straight out from our marina. Most of these strikes are coming on rigged ballyhoo and lures. A few bigger dorado were landed this way; most of the dorado seen were over 20 pounds.

Closer to shore, we continue to catch sierra (Spanish mackerel) on small rapalas and sardines. Not a lot of sardines at this time; most of the sardines the bait guys are netting are to small for us to us.

Good Fishing, Brian

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