GORDO BANKS PANGAS
October 18^th, 2026

The Bisbee’s Los Cabos Offshore 3-day tournament concluded this Friday. There were 4 qualifying marlin throughout the tournament, the biggest one weighing 350 pounds (blue). Where it got interesting was in the tuna category. Out of the 5 heaviest tuna, 3 of them came from local fishermen in our San Jose marina. Team Guluarte Fleet (174.6 lbs.), Team North Star (234 lbs.) and Team North Star Pro (251 lbs.) brought these fish to the scale on the last day. The heaviest tuna came in at 259 lbs. Word is that all these fish came from Inner and Outer Gordo. Team Guluarte Fleet and North Star Pro caught these tuna on 26ft super pangas, the 2 smallest boats in the tournament! Very cool to see how competitive these teams were against the big sport fishers, especially with harsh weather conditions. We had strong winds that Thursday and Friday, and lots of rain on Friday. The Bisbee’s Black and Blue Tournament starts this upcoming Wednesday, October 21^st.

Due to the tournament, we did not have many charters at our marina as most of our captains participated. It is normal to see slow foot traffic at our marina throughout these big tournaments as most crowds hang out in the Cabo area.

Early in the week, we saw decent tuna action at Vinorama on live/dead sardines. Most of these tuna were nice size, averaging 30-50 pounds. Most of these charters mixed it up with some bottom fishing throughout different rock structures at San Luis, Iman, 25, and La Fortuna. We did see a good snapper variety (dogtooth, mullet, barred, and yellow) and a handful of leopard grouper.

However, conditions were not ideal as we had windy days and strong currents. This weekend, one boat reported good action on jigs at San Luis earlier in the morning; they landed 4 nice grouper and 2 snapper, while losing a couple more fish in the rocks.

We did see the tuna action slow down significantly throughout this weekend. Live sardines became scarce. This is usually what happens after the big tournaments; there is not enough supply to meet the demand. This weekend, we had to resort back to dead sardines and squid. We are also catching skipjacks out on the grounds that we use to fish the bottom.

Some boats focused more of their time trolling rigged ballyhoo and Rapalas for dorado and wahoo, though we haven’t seen much action. A handful of striped marlin and sailfish were caught trolling ballyhoo; no wahoo or dorado to report yet. One boat reported a wahoo strike at San Luis this Sunday, though they lost the X-Rap as they were not using wire leader. The water temp was averaging around 89-90 degrees early in the week. After some windy days, the water temp towards the end of the week turned to 87-88 in some areas.

Good Fishing, Brian

GORDO BANKS PANGAS
October 11th, 2026

Our port was closed from September 25th to October 4th due to bad weather and back to back storms. Even though we did not experience any direct hits, we still got big swells, waves, moderate winds, and plenty of rain. We do not remember a time where we weren’t able to fish for this long, other than Hurricane Odile in 2014.

We resumed fishing activities on October 5th. The first few days after the port reopened were challenging as the water was murky. As the water started to clear up a bit, we started to see more action.

Water is still very warm, pushing 90 degrees across most fishing grounds. Most boats continue to focus their efforts at Vinorama as we continue to see decent tuna action on live/dead sardines. We continue to see a good sardine supply, good size sardines too! These last 2-3 days, most boats have been able to land 2-3 nice tuna in a morning outing. Most of these tuna have been in the range of 25 to 55 pounds. On Friday, Captain Pollo landed a 187 pound tuna at Vinorama on a sardine and light tackle. The fought this fish for almost 2 hours; it broke the rod in half mid fight and they had to retie to a different reel. Talk about luck and skill! This fish was landed on 40# fluorocarbon leader. That same day, a few other boats reported losing big tuna after long fights.

We are also seeing some tuna action at the Inner and Outer Gordo, though that area has been more spotty. The Los Cabos Billfish 3-day tournament started this Thursday, so we had a lot of pressure at both Gordos. Our fleet was able to land medium size tuna early in the morning before the tournament boats came in. These tuna were a bit bigger than Vinorama, many of them in the 60-80 pound range. Captain Chuy was able to land a 189 pound tuna at the Inner Gordo this Saturday on a dead sardine. 

We have also seen decent bottom action throughout different rock structures at Iman and La Fortuna; a good mixed bag of snapper, grouper, amberjack, and triggerfish.

Captain Pollo had another impressive catch earlier in the week on Wednesday, a 614-pound Black Marlin! The fight with this Black was 4 long hours on a 26ft super panga. 

Please keep in mind that releasing big marlin after such long battles significantly increases post-release mortality. Unfortunately, this fish was barely alive when it came up to the boat. While we always encourage catch and release, it doesn’t always go as planned. This fish fed a large part of the community. The Bisbee’s Tournaments are right around the corner, and this was great practice for Pollo.

Good Fishing, Brian

GORDO BANKS PANGAS
September 27th, 2026
Next report will be posted on October 11th

Our port officially closed Thursday night due to Hurricane Polo. We got lucky with this one! As of now, we have not experienced much rain, only light showers and scattered clouds across the region. We are seeing big swells and waves, which is the main reason for the closed port decision. We do not know when the port will be reopened as we are expecting bad weather throughout next week. Looking at the forecast, even if the port reopens some time on the 28^th or 29^th, we are expecting strong winds throughout our fishing grounds.

Unfortunately, we are seeing another storm development in the Pacific, expecting it to be in close proximity to us on October 1^st and 2^nd.  This storm can change its path and strength continuously, so we must keep a close eye on it and prepare for a possible direct hit. As of now, it seems to be shifting to the West, taking a similar path as Polo. We are most likely going to see a closed port on September 30^th, and it could reopen on the 4^th or 5^th, all depending on its path and how waves affect our coastlines.

This week, we were able to salvage a few charters Monday through Thursday. Due to Hurricane Polo making headlines on news outlets, most of our clients decided not to make the trip down, which was probably the smartest thing to do. The few charters that we had throughout the week were not as successful. We saw the most consistency focusing on bottom structures throughout the areas of Iman. We experienced moderate winds and strong currents most days we fished, so it made it challenging. A few boats were able to land nice dogtooth snapper and grouper on big chunks of skipjack. Some of these snapper and grouper were in the 40-to-60-pound range.

The tuna bite at Vinorama remains spotty as boats were lucky to hook one or two in a morning outing, while still dealing with sharks. A handful of boats reported big tuna at the Outer and Inner Gordo. The biggest tuna came in at 188 pounds, while we saw a handful in the 90 to 145 pound range. Most of these tuna came on small skipjack, bulito, and chiwili.

Due to bad weather and limited fishing time, we will not be posting a Sunday fish report next week. We will prioritize taking care of our boats and following the port captain and authority guidelines. If you have any questions regarding storms/bad weather, feel free to contact us via email at gordobanks@gmail.com.

Good Fishing, Brian