Tuna and Sharks!

GORDO BANKS PANGAS
Report from August 3rd through the 11th

No storm activity to report last week. Looking at the forecast, it seems that we are in the clear for the next 12 days or so. As we approach September, we will continue to keep a close eye on weather patterns in the Pacific.

Most boats focused their efforts at Vinorama Bank to target yellowfin tuna on live sardines. Earlier in the week, the bite was sporadic as boats were lucky to land one or two in a morning outing. As the week progressed, the bite became more active and consistent; however, a lot more sharks were reported in the area, which made it challenging to land a handful of tuna. Most boats were lucky to land a couple. We saw tuna in the range of 20 to 80 pounds, with some footballs in the mix. The smaller tuna had a better chance of making it to the boat.

Within this same area, a handful of dorado were also caught on live sardines. A few captains also reported hooking into some smaller dorado while trolling small lures, feathers, and ballyhoo throughout the grounds from Vinorama all the way to Cardon. One medium size wahoo (around 25 pounds) was also caught on a live sardine while fishing for tuna. Talk about luck; this is why we like to fish circle hooks!

This Monday, one boat made a few bottom drops with jigs and were able to land 2 leopard grouper, one white bonita, and one small red snapper. This boat reported a few other nice hookups on the jigs, though they were immediately taken by the sharks. The current also made it challenging.

Not much to report from Inner and Outer Gordo. Many boats tried for the big yellowfin and were not successful. Only a few boats were able to hook into tuna, though they were not the big cows, it was mostly 80 to 120 pounders, which are still quality size fish.

This weekend, one boat hooked a nice black marlin (in the range of 300-400 pounds) at the Outer Gordo, though it broke off within the first 20 minutes as it was hooked on 60# test and 80# fluoro (tuna setup).

Good Fishing, Brian

HOT Tuna Bite!

GORDO BANKS PANGAS
August 2nd, 2026

The port reopened Tuesday morning after the passing of Hurricane Genevieve. We got light showers (mostly offshore), minimal wind, though we did see some swell and waves. Not many boats fished on Tuesday as waters were still choppy throughout the day.

The Bisbee’s East Cape Offshore (3-day tournament) started on Wednesday, where many local teams participated. There were 5 qualifying Black Marlin. Local pangero Picura and his son got 4th heaviest marlin with a 433 lb black. There were also 2 qualifying Blue Marlin, on of them being the heaviest fish of the tournament at 675 pounds. The heaviest tuna came in at 192 pounds. The heaviest dorado came in at 41.6 pounds.

Instead of looking for porpoise schools offshore, most of our boats focused their efforts at Vinorama and both Inner/Outer Gordos. We were honestly not expecting such a good week, especially after the hurricane’s passing. We had a great tuna bite at Vinorama on live sardines; however, still many sharks in the area. As the week progressed, captains reported less issues with sharks. Most of these tuna were nice size, in the range of 25 to 80 pounds. A handful of dorado were also caught while fishing tuna on live sardines. No wahoo were reported this week.

This weekend, we weighed 7 tuna that came from Outer Gordo. All of these were caught on live bulito and skipjack. The biggest tuna was caught by Captain Chuy on a live skipjack. He landed this fish in one hour, weighing 282 pound. The other 6 tuna were in the range of 178 to 240 pounds. Two black marlin were also caught in this area on Saturday, one of them weighing 380 lbs, the other one closer to 450 lbs. 

More bait schools were spotted at the Inner. A couple of boats drifted chunks of skipjack for a chance at some bottom action. One of them caught 4 nice dogtooth snapper on Friday, while losing a few other.

Good Fishing, Brian

Hurricane approaching, limited options!

GORDO BANKS PANGAS
July 23rd to the 26th, 2026

The port captain/authority announced this morning that the port will close down tonight (Sunday) at 10:00 pm. We are hoping that the port reopens sometime on Tuesday; we are still not sure if we will be able to fish on Tuesday. As of now, Hurricane Genevieve is sitting at approximately 520 miles southwest of Los Cabos at a category 3 status. It is expected to increase its strength to a category 4 by tomorrow Monday morning. This hurricane is expected to continue its path towards the west, not affecting our area much. We are expecting some swell, wind, and minimal rain (if any). 

From mid to end of week, options were limited. As expected, most boats focused their efforts offshore looking for birds, bait, and porpoise schools. On Saturday, a few boats found porpoise schools only 2 miles to the South of the Outer Gordo. Only 3 boats out of 5 that were fishing this school were able to land tuna as they were finicky. Captains reported these tuna just killing the bait (caballitos) and not coming back for it. Most of the tuna in this school were in the 50-70 pound range. One lucky boat was able to land 3 within this school.

This Sunday, porpoise schools were found farther out towards the 1150. Again, the tuna were not as active; one of the pangas only landed 1 tuna at the 30 mile mark; the other panga also landed 1 at the 38 mile mark. Both tuna were around 60 pounds. This is a long run on the pangas for this “hit or miss” type of fishing.

While looking for porpoise schools, we did see decent blue marlin numbers on lures and rigged ballyhoo, most of these fish under 300 lbs. Some lucky boats came across some dorado and wahoo, though only a handful made it to the fillet tables.

Options towards Vinorama, San Luis, and Iman remain limited. Not many boats focused their efforts throughout these grounds as we still continue to have issues with sharks. One boat reported seeing good tuna boils at San Luis on Friday and hooking 1 off the bat; unfortunately, the sharks got to it right away and remained in the area all morning.

There is a chance of hooking into a nice dorado or wahoo while trolling ballyhoo and Rápalas from Vinorama all the way to Cardon, though numbers haven’t been great either.

We continue to see decent Roosterfish action throughout the hotel corridors shorelines and Punta Gorda/Zacatitos/ La Laguna.

Good Fishing, Brian