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

GORDO BANKS PANGAS
February 23rd, 2025

The most productive week of the year so far. We had a busy schedule, almost fully booked every day of this week. As many families were down in Cabo for president’s week to vacation, many anglers were also trying to get their hands on the tuna action.

We had a good tuna bite at Iman throughout the week. Most of these tuna continue to be on the smaller side, averaging 6-10 pounds. However, there is a great chance of hooking into a 100 lb. + fish in the same area. For that reason, we try to go no lighter than 40# test. Most boats are catching at least a couple of these small tunas every day. Some boats were been able to catch their tuna limits as well. We continue to catch white bonita limits on the jigs and sardines almost every day. A few bait guys were able to come up with live sardines this week, however it was not enough to supply all boats; only a handful of boats got their hands on the live dines. We did have plenty of dead sardines. The bait guys are having to net sardines towards the east cape in the afternoons. The bigger tuna this week were caught on live and dead sardines (mostly dead), strips of squid, and strips of skipjack. The best day this week was Thursday as we had 5 big tuna at our fillet table. The biggest tuna came in at 187 pounds, the rest were in the range of 95 to 125 pounds. A couple more big tuna were lost that day after long hour battles.

Later in the week, boats from Cabo got word of this bite and it made Iman crowded. On Friday, there were close to 50 boats in the small area of Iman. This did not help much as the bite slowed down significantly throughout the weekend. Many boats were forced to head closer to shore to look for bottom fish, sierra, and roosterfish. Close to shore, throughout different rock structures of La Fortuna and Cardon, we were able to catch good numbers and variety of bottom fish. We had grouper, snapper, pompano, triggerfish, amberjack, sierra, and a few yellowtail. Most of this mix was caught drifting dead sardines. A few bigger sierra were caught casting jigs on the surface.

Throughout the shoreline of La Laguna and Zacaton, a few boats reported catching nice roosterfish, some of them around 20-25 pounds. Big Jacks were also caught in the same area. These Roosters and Jacks were caught on live caballitos, some on live sardines if available.

Not much activity was reported at the Inner or Outer Gordos this week, a few sharks and striped marlin.

Good Fishing, Brian