GORDO BANKS PANGAS
March 16th,2025

This was a slow week in terms of charters. There is not a lot of activity around the marina. Last March, this was one of the busiest months of the year as we had a great tuna and dorado run up until the end of April. We are now starting to feel the beginning of spring with warmer temperatures, mornings in the high 50s/low 60s and days heating up quickly to an average of high 70s and low 80s. Ideal weather conditions for fishing and beach activities with the family.

Most boats focused closer to shore targeting sierra (Spanish mackerel), pompano, and snapper. Most of these sierra were on the smaller side (2-3 lbs.), though we did see a handful of nice ones (7-8 pounds). While fishing for sierra, we saw good numbers of snapper and pompano in the mix. This bite came drifting dead and live sardines. A few boats landed some sierra on small Rapalas as well. On most days, we were able to catch sierra limits within the first couple of hours. The best action came throughout the shorelines of The Hilton and The Westin. Many of the boats fishing this direction also focused on jigging rock structures of Palmilla Point, Cerro Colorado, and The Westin. Not many quality bottom fish reported, but we did see some amberjack, yellowtail, and grouper while jigging; most bites coming in 120-160 ft of water.

Not many boats fished the Vinorama/San Luis/Iman area this week. The few boats that fished in these areas caught some white bonita, amberjack and grouper on the jigs, though the numbers were not great. One nice tuna (80lbs.) was reported at Iman this weekend on a dead sardine. A handful of tuna were also reported at the Inner Gordo on strips of squid and trolling live chiwili. On average, we are seeing 1 or 2 tuna per day between the whole panga area.

Good Fishing, Brian

GORDO BANKS PANGAS
March 9th, 2025

A few local pangeros reported big yellowfin tuna at the Inner Gordo on Thursday and Friday. Overall, 5 tuna were landed throughout both days, all of them averaging 110-140 pounds; a couple more fish were lost after long battles. All of these fish were hooked on strips of squid. A couple of boats tried using the kite technique and slow trolling live skipjacks or chiwili, but did not get any hits. A few more boats tried the Gordo this weekend but came in empty handed. Wind conditions were not ideal this weekend, as we had some North winds pick up early in the morning.

We are not seeing much action on the jigs, but there is a good chance of landing a few nice quality fish if you put in the work and focus on multiple rock structures/areas. We had a nice handful of amberjack, yellowtail, grouper, and snapper this week. We had one amberjack close to 80 pounds. Most of this jigging action came from San Luis, Vinorama, La Fortuna, and Palmilla.

Most boats fished closer to shore this week with live and dead sardines. On most days, we were able to land Siera (Spanish Mackerel) limits. Within the same area, a few pompanos, snapper, and grouper were also caught. The best action came throughout the shorelines of Hilton, The Westin, and Palmilla. Some jacks and small roosters were also spotted in the mix while trolling live sardines and caballito.

We have seen live sardines almost every morning. The bait guys continue to net them around the jetty rock structures adjacent to the marina.

No marlin or dorado were reported in our area this week.

Good Fishing, Brian

GORDO BANKS PANGAS
March 2nd, 2025

The tuna bite took a significant turn this week as we only saw a handful of them at our fillet table. Looking at the previous week, our expectation was for the tuna bite to get hotter, though water conditions did not help our cause. Water is cold, averaging around 66-67 degrees on most of our high spots. The few tuna that were caught were mostly bigger ones, averaging 80-110 pounds, a few footballs in the mix. These fish were hooked drifting live/dead sardines, strips of squid, live caballito, and live mackerel. The few tuna that were caught were reported at San Luis and Iman. Between our whole panga area, there were only 1 or 2 tuna caught per day. The bait guys were able to find nice sized live sardines throughout most of the week. They were netting them along the jetties of our marina.

We continue to catch white bonita limits on the jigs every day. We are catching bonita at Vinorama, San Luis, and Iman, though we saw a lot more action at Iman. While jigging, we also saw a handful of amberjack, grouper, and yellowtail. Drifting sardines and strips of skipjack towards the bottom, we also saw yellow snapper.

Closer to shore throughout rock structures at La Fortuna and Cardon, we saw a good variety of snappers, grouper, sierra, and triggerfish on dead/live sardines. We saw similar action towards The Hilton Hotel, The Westin, and Palmilla Point. Some Roosters and Jacks were reported trolling live sardines and caballitos throughout our shorelines, most activity coming from La Laguna and Zacaton.

Later in the week, a few local boats reported the small red crabs coming to the surface at the Inner and Outer Gordo. The boats that came across these crabs were able to net hundreds of them. These boats kept them in the live well and made their way towards 25 and La Fortuna. They were able to catch red snapper limits quickly.

More yellowtail and amberjack action was reported this week at Palmilla Point on jigs. Most of these bites were earlier in the morning from 6:30 to 8:00 am. These yellowtail are averaging 20-30 pounds.

Good Fishing, Brian