GORDO BANKS PANGAS
July 7th, 2024

We are now in the heat of the summer and starting to feel the high humidity. Distance tropical storms and hurricanes are increasing the humidity and overall heat index in the area. Light crowds of anglers now, though there are quite a few families at local resorts as they celebrated the 4th of July in Los Cabos. We experienced slight ocean swells and a few windy days this week. Most of the week, the North wind started picking up around midday and transitioned into South wind later in the afternoon, which gave us a nice breeze throughout the hot days.

Overall, fishing action was decent on most days. Live bait supplies consisted mainly of caballito, mullet, live sardines, and some moonfish. Most of the boats took frozen ballyhoo as they came in handy to target striped marlin, dorado, and wahoo. 

We saw some nice bottom action, though it was difficult on some days due to the high currents. The best bottom action came from San Luis and Vinorama Banks where some boats were able to land quality amberjack, grouper, and a variety of snapper (red, yellow, bared, dogtooth). The bigger ones were landed on live bait, mostly caballito and mullet; most of the red snapper and amberjack were hooked on jigs earlier in the morning. A few other boats started fishing inner Gordo’s rock structure. Though there are still many sharks in the area, a few quality fish were landed while drifting live baits on the bottom, such as yellowtail, amberjack, and grouper.

A few wahoo were landed at Vinorama while fast trolling rigged ballyhoo. On Thursday, one of the private boats landed 2 wahoo, one weighing 89.6 pounds and the other one around 40 pounds. Other boats reported losing a few others strikes that same day. Other than that, we did not hear of anymore wahoo throughout the week.

Heading further offshore, anywhere from 5 to 20 miles out, anglers were finding fair chances at hooking into striped marlin and dorado. Some of the bigger boats reported hooking into a few small blue marlin as well, most of them under 200 pounds. Some scattered dorado on these same grounds, most of these were small juveniles under 8 pounds, though we did see some nicer ones closer to 15-18 pounds.

On most days, some of the local pangeros are targeting yellowfin tuna while looking for porpoise, anywhere from 30-45 miles out. This has been hit or miss, a matter of being in the right place at the right time. Some of these pangas, if lucky, were able to land double digits with most of these fish averaging 20-40 pounds. We did hear of a 200 pounder landed on Friday within the same porpoise schools.

Closer to shore, we are still catching quality size roosterfish and big jack crevalle.

Good Fishing, Brian 

GORDO BANKS PANGAS
June 23rd, 2024

Summer season has officially begun, and we are starting to see more vacationing families arrive in Los Cabos. This week, we experienced cooler temperatures with mornings in the low 70s and low 80s throughout the day. We also had some rain on Friday and scattered clouds throughout the weekend. A few windy days, predominantly from the South.

The main highlight this week was the Roosterfish bite along our shorelines. Some nicer fish were caught this week, a few in the 50–60-pound range. The bigger Roosters seem to be coming from in between La Laguna and Zacaton grounds. We are using live mullet, caballito, and sardines. A few boats reported picking up a couple on poppers earlier in the mornings after throwing handfuls of live sardines. While trolling live baits, a few boats hooked into some nice groupers and snappers. A handful of Sierra were landed on the live sardines as well.

Bottom actions was good for the first half of the week. Most of the boats focused on the grounds from San Luis to Cardon, with San Luis being the most productive for bigger amberjack and grouper. The biggest amberjack caught this week was 92 pounds, landed on a live caballito on the bottom. We also had a handful of grouper over 40 pounds, hooked on live caballito and mullet. Some smaller amberjack and a few bonita were landed on the jigs. Cardon is still producing good numbers of yellow snapper and pompano with live and dead sardines. Palmilla is also producing good numbers of smaller snapper, grouper, and pompano.

We only saw a couple dorado this week. These were caught while looking for marlin offshore on rigged ballyhoo. The striped marlin bite continues to be spotty, though there is a good chance of landing a couple if you put in the time. Many boats targeting marlin, are concentrating on the surrounding areas of both Gordos as there is good bait concentration there. Most of the marlin bites were reported 12-16 miles out while looking for warmer, blue water. The preferred bait was ballyhoo and live caballitos. A handful were landed on lures.

Good Fishing, Brian.

GORDO BANKS PANGAS
June 2nd, 2024

It was a quiet week at our local marina area. The village fiestas of La Playa usually start the last couple days of May and extend towards the first days of June. This year, the fiestas were delayed a week, which means work activities will remain slow throughout this upcoming week. Only moderate numbers of anglers are now in town taking advantage of calmer weather patterns, sunny skies and temperatures in the high 80s. Bait supplies consisted of caballito, jurelito, ballyhoo, mullet, moonface, and sardines.

The main focus this week was the bottom and inshore. The tuna and wahoo bite is almost nonexistent. We only accounted for 1 yellowfin and 1 wahoo all week, both under 30 pounds. Most boats are focusing on different rock structures throughout La Fortuna and Cardon. Fishing bigger live baits has produced big amberjack, grouper, and dogtooth snapper. The biggest amberjack caught was a 76 pounder, while we saw many quality fish over 40 pounds. The favorite bait seems to be caballito and moonface if we are able to get some from the bait guys as it is not a guarantee. Live sardines continue to attract good numbers of yellow snapper and grouper.

We had a decent marlin bite throughout most of the week. Most boats are focusing in areas closer to the inner and outer Gordos as there seems to be plenty of bait out there. Not a lot of dorado. though some boats were lucky to find small schools while fishing offshore for marlin or inshore for roosterfish. Most of these dorado are small, averaging 10-12 pounds. These dorado have been hitting mostly ballyhoo and marlin lures.

Closer to shore, we are starting to see big Roosters. The biggest one caught this week was well over 60 pounds, caught on a live mullet. The best area to target these Roosters continues to be La Laguna and Zacaton. While trolling live sardines and mullet throughout these shorelines, we have been able to pick a few dorado.

Good Fishing, Brian.