GORDO BANKS PANGAS
October 12th, 2025

Unfortunately, we did not get many lines in the water this week as we were only able to fish on Friday due to bad weather.

The port closed down Sunday evening and reopened on Thursday due to Hurricane Priscilla making a presence. This hurricane was not a direct hit, though we did get big waves; not much wind or rain in our area as we were expecting. 85% of the boats in our panga area were taken out.

The port was closed again on Friday night as we experienced Tropical Depression Raymond throughout the weekend. Again, we were expecting much worse as we only got some light rain and winds averaging 20-30 mph. The port should reopen later today as we are seeing decent weather all next week.

This was one of our busiest weeks of the year. Our fleet missed out on 48 charters in the span of 6 days. We had 12 charters go out on Friday and it was quite an eventful day as most of the panga dock area was also out fishing this day. There was a long line at the fillet station.

Our fleet mostly focused on yellowfin tuna. Even though it was not a wide-open bite, we did see some big tuna brought in. We had 8 big tuna. 4 of these tuna were over 140 pounds. 1 of these was close to 250 pounds. The rest were in the range of 60 to 80 pounds. These tuna came mostly from San Luis and the Inner/Outer Gordo on squid and slow trolling live chiwili or bulito. We also saw a handful of smaller tuna in the 10–20-pound range.

A few boats were able to land some nice wahoo, 30-35 pounds while trolling ballyhoo and Rapalas in the areas of San Luis and Iman. We had 4 wahoo at the tables on Friday. Within the same areas, we also had a handful of small dorado, most of them caught on live sardines. A few lucky boats also landed some dogtooth snapper, amberjack, and grouper while drifting chunks of chiwili and skipjack.

Good Fishing, Brian

GORDO BANKS PANGAS
October 5th, 2025

We are expecting the side of Hurricane Priscilla this upcoming Tuesday. As of now, we are not expecting a direct hit, though we should be seeing strong winds, big waves, and some rain. Hurricane Priscilla is expected to increase its strength to a Category 2 Hurricane by Tuesday afternoon/evening. Tracking this storm has been challenging as it has been changing direction consistently and we have many trips lined up for Tuesday and Wednesday. We believe that the port will close down sometime Monday evening and possibly reopen Wednesday night. If the forecast remains the same, we should be back to our normal activities on Thursday.

This week, we started to see bigger tuna in the area of San Luis. Most of the tuna caught in that area were 100+ pounds. Not a wide-open bite, though there is a good chance of hooking into one. Some boats reported hooking up to 3 in one day (6-7 charter). Most of the tuna were hooked on strips of squid, a few on dead sardines. We are still seeing a few football tuna in the areas of San Luis and Iman, though the numbers are significantly down compared to the last few months. A few nice dorado were also caught while drifting dead sardines and squid for tuna. 

Live sardines have been an issue for the last 4-5 days. The bait guys have to transport dead sardines from the East Cape. We are expecting our live bait supply to be an issue for the next 5-6 weeks, at least. It is usually challenging to find live bait after storms as water becomes murky throughout the shorelines and rock piles. Then we have the tournaments coming up. There is a Marlini tournament starting on the 11th, the first Bisbee’s starting on the 15th, second Bisbee’s starts on the 22nd, and the Tuna Jackpot on November 6th. These big tournaments have negatively affected our live bait supply, especially in the last 2-3 years.

As the highlight of the week, we have seen a good wahoo bite in San Luis and Iman. On Saturday, one of our boats landed 4 of them, good size, averaging 25-30 pounds. On Sunday, this same boat landed another 4, while losing a few more after long runs. Most of the strikes came on rigged ballyhoo, a few others on XRaps and Nomad DTXs. Some boats tried trolling live chiwili for the bigger wahoo, though not many reported success. We only heard of 2 wahoo caught on live chiwili. Most bites came early in the morning.

On Saturday, Captain Chame landed a massive 308 pound yellowfin tuna. This fish was hooked on the outer Gordo on a live skipjack. This same day, they also landed a 180-200 pound blue marlin.

Good Fishing, Brian

GORDO BANKS PANGAS
September 28th, 2025

We are now seeing a noticeable increase in angler activity as more fishing enthusiasts arrive in the Los Cabos area. Despite experiencing periods of rain on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, conditions remained favorable for fishing. The wind was not a significant factor, allowing our fleet to head out and fish every day of the week.

Bottom fishing took the spotlight this week. We saw solid numbers of snapper, primarily dogtooth and mullet snapper caught using large strips or chunks of skipjack. We mostly focused in the areas of Iman, 25, and Inner Gordo. The largest snapper of the week came in at an impressive 58 pounds, with many others ranging between 30 and 40 pounds.

Amberjack also made a strong showing, with a few impressive catches landed while drifting with live chiwilis. The two biggest amberjacks of the week came in at 54 and 58 pounds. While drifting chiwilis, one of the boats landed an unexpected 30-pound Rooster.

While bottom fishing stole the show, we’re still seeing some pelagic activity, particularly at Iman. Yellowfin tuna and dorado are being caught on live sardines and strips of squid. Most of these tuna continue to be on the smaller side averaging 5-10 pounds. However, we did see more tuna in the 20–30-pound class this week. A few quality dorado were also caught on live sardines within the same area.

A few wahoo were also seen in the mix. Most of the wahoo were hooked while trolling Rapalas, rigged Ballyhoo, and small marlin lures. The best areas for wahoo strikes remained Iman and the 25 Spot. This Sunday, one of our boats landed 2 nice 30-pound wahoo early in the morning at 25.

Good Fishing, Brian.