GORDO BANKS PANGAS
January 19th, 2025

Another slow week of fishing. This week, we saw a bit colder water as compared to previous weeks throughout most of our fishing grounds. Earlier in the week, the fleet reported temperatures around 65-66 at Vinorama, San Luis, Iman, and Gordo, this with a combination of green water. Temperatures towards the end of the week were at the 67-68 mark. We did not see much production from these grounds throughout the week, a few nice bottom fish- grouper, amberjack, snapper, and yellowtail, were the highlight, though the numbers were not good. A handful of small football tuna were also caught at Vinorama this week on strips of squid, a couple on the jigs. We only saw a couple of small dorado at the fillet table, these coming while trolling ballyhoo or lures looking for clear water.

The main highlight this week was Palmilla Point. More quality fish were seen at Palmilla while jigging than any other spot. The numbers were not great either, but you had a good chance at landing a few quality fish if you put in the work with the jig. We saw a good variety consisting of yellowtail, amberjack, grouper, snapper, white bonita and sierra.  On Friday, one of our boats were able to land 3 yellowtail, 1 grouper, 5 bonita, and 1 sierra while jigging most of the morning. They also lost a couple fish while trolling live caballito.

The bait guys continue to struggle finding live sardines consistently. They have been netting some small caballito on most days. A couple days this week, they were able to find nice sized sardines next to the bocana, right next to our marina. If sardines are available, we have seen good sierra action throughout our shoreline, best action coming from Cerro Colorado and Palmilla. A few small roosterfish have also been caught. One of the local guys caught 10 big Sierra at Cerro Colorado in a couple of hours on Thursday, all on jigs. Most of these Sierra were 8-12 pounds, they also lost over 15 more fish. Many boats tried for Sierra the next day and were only able to land a couple. The bite has been spotty, though there is a good chance of landing a few good eating fish.

Good Fishing, Brian

GORDO BANKS PANGAS
January 12^th, 2025

It was a cold week for us locals at the marina. We had mornings in the high 40s/low 50s and days averaging low 70s.

We had more bottom action this week. Most boats were forced to look for bottom structure as the dorado and tuna bite was very slow and spotty throughout most of the week. Most bottom action came from San Luis Bank on jigs. Earlier in the week, boats were catching double digits in white bonita (good eating). While jigging, they also caught an occasional yellowfin tuna in the mix (small size, average of 5-10 pounds). A nice 70-pound tuna was caught on Friday on a jig and light tackle (30# test). On the jigs, we were able to land some amberjack, grouper, red and yellow snapper as well. There was one 18-pound yellowtail in the mix. A few boats also caught some of these species at Iman and La Fortuna, though San Luis had the better action. While jigging and if the current allowed it, we also drifted strips of squid; a few lucky boats hooked some of the smaller tuna and a handful of nice dorado.

No wahoo were seen at the fillet tables this week, though 3 boats reported losing them on X-Raps earlier in the morning. These wahoo were hooked at Iman. Many boats specifically tried for wahoo earlier in the week, though they came in empty handed. Reports indicate greener water throughout most of our high spots with a combination of cooler currents in the high 60s. Today Sunday, water at San Luis was 68 and green, resulting in a very slow day.

Not many boats are fishing the Gordo now due to the green and cold water. The schools of skipjack and bulito have not been as present as previous weeks and most of the skipjacks caught are on the bigger side.

During most of the week, we had a good Sierra (Spanish mackerel) bite throughout the shoreline of Palmilla and Cerro Colorado on live sardines and surface jigs. A few boats reported catching over 15+ quality size Sierras. As the week came to an end, we continued to see issues with the sardine supply. The bait guys were only able to net the tiny sardines, which were not as useful to us (hard to get a small hook in them). The guys that tried for Sierra this weekend had to use small Rapalas and surface jigs to only get a couple in the box.

Good Fishing, Brian

GORDO BANKS PANGAS
January 5th, 2025

The new year started off very slow. We continue to see a good number of anglers in our marina; however, the fishing is not cooperating much.

The best chance at a decent bag was looking for dorado at the inner and outer Gordos. The dorado bite was slow throughout most of the week. The best day seemed to be Saturday as a few boats were able to catch their dorado limit. Most of the dorado caught were nice sized, with the majority in the range of 15-25 pounds. We did see some big Bulls over 30 pounds as well. The bait guys were able to net some small caballito on some mornings and these came in handy if available. The dorado were caught slow trolling live skipjacks, bulito, caballito, and ballyhoo.  While trolling these baits, a few boats were also able to land striped marlin and wahoo, though there were not many caught. Some boats drifted strips of squid on the main high spot and were lucky to catch a couple of yellow and bared snappers.

Due to the bite slowing down at the Gordo, many boats tried San Luis, Iman, La Fortuna, 25, and Cerro for dorado, but many of them came in empty handed.

This Sunday, a few of our captains decided to scout out the area of San Luis. They mostly tried drifting strips of squid, skipjack, and jigging. They had a white bonita bite on the jigs, which helped clients pack up a small cooler with good eating fish. One nice 30-pound broomtail grouper was caught at San Luis this Sunday while drifting to the bottom with a live skipjack. Two other captains reported losing big fish that cut off on the rock structure.

The sardine supply remains low. If sardines are available, there is a great chance of catching some nice sierra throughout the shorelines of Palmilla and Cerro Colorado. One boat tried this on Friday for a couple of hours and were able to land 9 decent size sierra and one small dorado, all on sardines,

Good Fishing, Brian