GORDO BANKS PANGAS
June 22nd, 2025

Wind conditions this week were brutal as it affected the number of charters going out. For most of the week, we had S/SW winds averaging 12-20 mph. Earlier in the week, we got away by fishing closer to shore and a few miles from our marina (5-7 miles) before the wind kicked in around 11/noon. Friday through Sunday were the worst days. We only had one charter go out on Friday and we were forced to cancel our weekend trips. Live bait was a struggle as well; most boats were only able to get 3-5 baits (mix of caballitos and mullet) most mornings.

If you were lucky enough to get ahold of live bait, you were able to efficiently look for Roosters and dorado/marlin a few miles out. Roosterfish action seemed slower this week, though it was hard to tell if that was really the case as not many boats tried for Roosters due to the lack of bait. On Thursday, one of our pangas got ahold of 8 mullet and they were able to land 7 Roosters early in the morning, including one 30 pounder.

Some boats stuck it out battling the wind anywhere from 5-7 miles from our marina looking for marlin and dorado. Not many dorado were reported this week, only a handful of small to medium ones. We did not see any big bulls as we did last week. Many marlin were spotted though most captains reported minimal interest. Our fleet did catch and release 4 striped marlin and 1 sailfish this week.

One of the local pangas tried bottom jigging in San Luis on Friday and they were able to land 1 amberjack, 1 grouper, and 5 red snapper. The wind did not allow them to fish long as they had to head in around 9 am. This next week, we do see some better days in the forecast; we are hoping to target more bottom structures throughout the areas of Vinorama and San Luis.

This Sunday, we had a local dorado tournament in memory of Eric Brictson. Eric was one of the sportfishing pioneers in our community of La Playa as he established his operation in 1985 launching small pangas off the beach. Unfortunately, due to wind conditions not many boats participated in the tournament. Only 10 brave boats got out there. As expected, live bait was an issue and fishing was very slow. Only one 15 pound dorado came to the scales, winning the tournament across the board.

Good Fishing, Brian

GORDO BANKS PANGAS
June 15th, 2025

This was a slow week at our marina in terms of charters and fish brough to the fillet tables.

Caballito supply was down significantly as compared to the previous weeks. Bait guys were able to net more mullet than caballito this week, which works just as good for Roosterfish. Rooster action continues to be good, though it is hard to specifically focus on this type of fishing due to the low bait supply some days. Hot areas for Rooster action has been throughout the Hotel Zone shoreline (Trailer Park), La Bocana, and La Laguna. We did see bigger Roosters throughout the shoreline of San Luis, some of them in the 40–50-pound range.

Most boats focused inshore this week for the first few hours of the morning and then headed offshore to look for a marlin, dorado, or wahoo. Not much action was reported throughout the week. This weekend was much better as most boats hooked into multiple marlin. We also saw a handful of big dorado (30-45 pounds) and a couple of big wahoo. Most of these strikes came on rigged ballyhoo and marlin lures. We covered areas from both Gordos, Calderon, and 1150 Bank. Many boats reported spotting some big dorados in schools, though they wouldn’t bite on lures or ballyhoo; these boats did not have live caballitos to pitch to them.

Not much bottom action to report this week. One of our boats specifically tried 10-12 different rock piles and reefs on Friday (with 4 anglers) and reported zero strikes (fishing both jigs and live bait).

Good Fishing, Brian

GORDO BANKS PANGAS
June 8^th, 2025

This was a busy week for us as most schools are out for summer break. Usually, the first week of June is crowded and then it slows down significantly throughout the month of June all the way through September. This time of year, we must keep a close eye on storm development in the Pacific.

Most of our charters focused inshore this week as we have had a hot Roosterfish bite throughout our shorelines.  Bait guys have been able to net plenty of caballito and mullet daily. The hot areas for Roosterfish continue to be throughout the Hotel Zone (Trailer Park), La Bocana, Secrets and Marriot Hotels. You will find plenty of Roosters throughout this area averaging 10-20 pounds. If you head towards La Laguna, Zacaton, and San Luis (inshore), there is a better chance at landing a bigger Rooster. This week, 8 Roosters were reported over 45-50 pounds and many of them averaging 20-30 pounds in this area. While trolling live bait for these Roosters, a few boats were also able to hook into some big Jacks.

Most of the boats fishing inshore, also tried offshore after a few hours of catching and releasing Roosterfish in the early morning. These boats headed straight offshore, pretty much a direct shot from our marina. They concentrated in the surrounding areas of the 95 and 1150 Banks. Reports indicated that the best action came in 74 to 77 degree water. These boats were specifically targeting small yellowfin tuna on small Rapalas and lures. On most days, the run out to these areas was around 18-22 miles from our marina. Even though the numbers were not great, we did see a handful of small yellowfin every day at the fillet table. These tuna were averaging 15-30 pounds. While trolling for tuna, we also saw a handful of nice size dorado and wahoo. Many of these dorado were hitting the X-Raps and Nomads. Most of the wahoo came on X-Raps, Nomad DTXs, and rigged ballyhoo. Not many marlin were reported this week. Most boats reported seeing many of them, though they wouldn’t seem to be interested in the lures, ballyhoo, or live bait.

Many tuna in the 50-100 pound range came to the fillet tables this week, all from chasing porpoise schools anywhere from 35 to 50 miles out. Since these tuna are bigger, as compared to previous weeks, a lot more private boats are doing the long run.

Not much bottom action was reported this week. We did have a few boat try many of our go-to bottom reefs in San Luis, Vinorama, La Fortuna, and Cardon, though many of them came in empty handed. We only had 2 amberjack and 1 grouper this week.

Good Fishing, Brian