GORDO BANKS PANGAS
February 11th, 2024

This week has been busier than usual, with many late notice trips booked due to the unexpected hot fishing we are experiencing this February. Weather conditions remain ideal with mornings in the high 50s and days in the low to mid 70s. We did experience a few cloudy days with some light showers and north winds that picked up around noon throughout most of the week, though the fishing was great and with lots of action.

We noticed more bottom action this week in terms of bigger fish. We did see many groupers and amberjacks in the 30-60 pound class. Most of these fish were caught throughout bottom structures and pinnacles in Iman and La Fortuna. The choice of bait for these larger bottom fish were the live cocineros (green jacks). Most boats are making their own cocineros with sabiki rigs right off the harbor in the mornings while waiting for the bait guys to show with the sardines. We have also seen some smaller groupers, amberjack, and snappers caught in the same area while jigging or fishing the bottom with live sardines.

Our tuna and dorado bite has remained consistent as we saw good numbers throughout most of the week. The average tuna seems to be in the 20-30-pound club, though we did see one pushing 100 lbs. this week. Tuna and dorado are caught with live/dead sardines at Iman and La Fortuna. Most boats are focusing at Iman earlier in the morning as the area seems to be producing more variety with better bottom action in the mornings. We continue to see big schools of dorado, though we did notice smaller size this week. Nonetheless, big bulls continue to show in the mix. While fishing in this area, we are also catching good numbers of white bonitas and sierras, adding good eating variety to the fish box. Throughout the outskirts of Iman, the fleet did land a few marlin and sailfish as well while trolling live sardines and cocineros.

While fishing for tuna, many of the boats have been cut off by wahoo and sierra. The fleet has seen wahoo schools come close to the boat while chasing sardines. Most of these wahoo were on the smaller size, 10-20 pounds. A few boats were lucky to catch a few with circle hooks. Some other boats were lucky to catch one or two by trolling some Rapalas and rigged ballyhoo. The best action for this technique was definitely earlier in the morning before most of the boats arrived to the fishing grounds.

The marlin bite continues to be full of action, though we did see signs of it slowing down towards the end of the week. The best bite seems to concentrate 4-5 miles straight from our marina. Earlier in the week, we were seeing around 50-60 boats fishing in this area almost daily as many of the Cabo boats are starting to focus on our side of town. We saw around 20 boats this weekend as the bite started to scatter towards Cabo again.

Throughout the shoreline, we are starting to see a few more Roosterfish, though nothing big in size. These roosters are still too small to take on the bigger live cocineros. Though the numbers are not great, a few boats were able to catch a few smaller roosters with live sardines.

Good Fishing, Brian

GORDO BANKS PANGAS
February 4th, 2024

There appeared to be more tourists arriving this week into the Los Cabos area as we were pretty booked throughout most of the week. We did experience a few colder mornings and windy afternoons, though we had a hot bite with some great variety overall.

We continue to have a hot tuna and dorado bite at Iman and La Fortuna. These fish are nice sized, with most tuna averaging 25-30 pounds and dorado over 12-15 pounds. We are occasionally seeing a 60+ pound tuna and a 30+ pound dorado in the same mix. Most of this action has been on live sardinas. Surprisingly, the sardina supply has remained consistent throughout the last few months. This has increased our chances of getting the big schools of dorado and tuna excited. Tuna seemed to bite better either early in the morning or closer to noon. 

We did see a good number of wahoo caught this week, with some nice ones in the 30-40 pound range. The fleet has seen these wahoo feeding off sardines within the same dorado and tuna schools. That said, most of the wahoo caught, were hooked with live sardines. Some boats were lucky enough to catch a couple with circle hooks, many others lost most of the strikes right away. Some boats did hook some wahoo earlier in the morning while trolling Rapalas and rigged ballyhoo. 

Bottom action was decent as we saw a good variety of species. Again, sardines has been the go to bait. While drifting for tuna, the fleet has been dropping a few sardines to the bottom. We have seen some nice groupers, a variety of snappers, and a couple amberjack. The main bottom highlight this week was a 50-pound grouper. While drifting for tuna, we are also catching a few Sierras and Bonitas, some of them on the bigger side. The biggest Sierra this week was 9.7 pounds.

Throughout this weekend, we started to see again more signs of striped Marlin 4-5 miles out from our marina. Some boats have been able to get a few mackerel, which has been the favorite bait option for these marlin. Some other boats are trolling lures, cocineros, and ballyhoo and have been successful.

Whale action has been unreal as we have seen them daily from our fillet station. These whales are putting on a big show for our clients.

Good Fishing, Brian

GORDO BANKS PANGAS
January 28th, 2024

Even though we did not have a big number of boats go out this week, the fishing continues to be consistent and productive. Crowds of tourists arriving continue to enjoy the great weather now prevailing in the Los Cabos area. Locally, we are starting to feel the first signs of springtime, not quite as cool early in the mornings and scattered cloud cover throughout the day with average highs of about 80 degrees. We did have a few windy days this week with a mix of north and south air currents. Nonetheless, we were able to fish our go to spots.

Most of the fishing this week was concentrated at the Iman Bank. Due to great supplies of sardines, the fleet was able to be very productive as we saw a better mix of species. The main target continues to be yellowfin tuna. The tuna bite was consistent throughout the whole week, though we did see better action later in the day. Many of the local guys fished in the afternoons and were able to catch their limit within a few hours. We are using live sardines with 40# fluoro. We do not recommend going any lower than that as we saw bigger fish this week. The average tuna at Iman is around 20-40 pounds, though we did see a few ones over 70. The biggest one caught by the fleet this week was an 85 pounder. Tough fight with 30# line and 40# fluoro.

Within the same area, we continue to catch great numbers of dorado. As experienced throughout the last few months, these dorado continue to be nice sized, with many overpassing the 20-pound mark.

We did see more bottom action this week. Most of the boats that focused on the bottom, were able to catch good numbers of groupers, snappers, and amberjack while using live sardines and strips of skipjacks. The most unexpected catch this week was a 120-130 pound grouper. We were not able to weight this fish but many of the local fishermen estimated between 55-60 kilos. This fish was hooked on a strip of skipjack while looking for tuna. The fight was a bit unusual; according to the captain, they thought it was a nice size tuna throughout most of the fight.

The marlin bite did slow down a bit but they are definitely still out there. Many of the boats that specifically targeted marlin, were able to hook on average 3-5 fish a day, with some days being better than others.

Whale action has been incredible. We have been able to see them almost daily from our fillet station.

Good Fishing, Brian