GORDO BANKS PANGAS
November 8^th, 2026

The annual largest tournaments are now over. As expected, the Tuna Jackpot Tournament was very competitive. Most of the bigger tuna came from Outer Gordo. There were 5 tuna over the 200-pound mark, with the biggest one weighing 220 lbs. Many teams that did not hit the scales reported fish in the 80 to 130 pound range. They decided not to weigh these fish as you needed a fish closer to 200 to compete. Congratulations to local team “North Star” for winning most of the jackpot tuna money on Day 1 with a 165 lb. tuna. There was a bigger (170 lb.) tuna this day, though that team was only in the $1k tuna jackpot. Team North Star took home $494k. Last year, this same team took home $572k. In 2023, they took home $536k. Safe to say, they know what they’re doing!

Water temperatures are now averaging 85-86 degrees; seems that some areas cooled off a bit more (84 degrees) after strong South winds on Thursday. For the most part, ocean conditions have been favorable, though we have started seeing South winds pick up in the afternoons. This Sunday, we experienced moderate North winds all morning throughout our fishing grounds.

Early in the week (Monday mostly), we saw good wahoo action towards Vinorama and Iman. Some boats were able to land a few early in the morning on X-Raps, DTXS, and rigged ballyhoo, though most of them came on live bait. These boats found schools of small skipjack at Iman that they used to troll for these wahoo. As the week went by, the bite slowed down significantly. On Monday, one of the pangas was able to land 5 wahoo! The biggest wahoo caught this week was 50 pounds.

The tuna bite at Inner and Outer Gordo remains spotty, though we are seeing good opportunities most days. More tuna came from Outer Gordo this week, especially the bigger ones. Most boats reported hooking up either early in the morning or later around mi-day. Local commercial guys also did well later in the afternoon. These tuna came on a variety of baits, such as strips of squid, chunks of skipjacks, live chiwili, skipjack, and bulito, and some smaller tuna on dead sardines. The average size tuna at the fillet table was 55 to 90 pounds, though we had many in the 120-to-180-pound range.

We are still seeing dogtooth and grouper towards Vinorama, though currents haven’t been ideal to efficiently focus on bottom fishing. On Friday, one of the pangas landed a nice snapper and grouper, while losing 6 or 7 others. This same boat tried the same area on Saturday and could not get any bites.

The tuna, wahoo, and bottom bite remain spotty, though we continue to see good opportunities. As the water start to cool down more, we expect to see more consistency, maybe some dorado as well.

Good Fishing, Brian

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GORDO BANKS PANGAS
November 1^st, 2026

Our port closed again on Wednesday and Thursday due to bad weather, mostly consisting of big swells and rain, lots of rain! The port reopened Friday morning at 6:30 am. Our fleet went out as we had big groups of anglers anxious to fish due to port closures affecting their schedules. It did not seem too bad as we were heading out; though conditions got ugly quick. Heavy rain took over the area for nearly 3 consecutive hours that morning and most boats had to come in early. The boats that fished Vinorama to Iman reported no rain throughout those grounds and were able to fish with no issues.

Unfortunately, many areas of Los Cabos suffered major flooding, with some cars even ending up in the ocean (Costa Azul bridge). Many towns are built on or near riverbeds (arroyos), so when water comes racing down the mountains into the arroyos, it creates major flooding. The flooding has cleared up, and everything seems to be almost back to normal.

Water temperatures have cooled down a few degrees. We are now seeing water temps at the Inner/Outer Gordo in the 87-88 range. Towards Vinorama, San Luis, and Iman, we are seeing temps in the 86-87 degree range. Still warm, though it makes a big difference as we were averaging low 90s a few weeks back. We are still experiencing a live bait shortage. It usually takes some time to recover after the big tournaments. We have the Tuna Jackpot tournament starting next Thursday, and this will not help the cause. However, it will make for a very interesting tournament as we are seeing some big ones at the Gordos.

Early in the week and this weekend, we saw decent tuna action at the Inner and Outer Gordo. Most boats reported these fish to be finicky, though using multiple different baits and putting in the time helped increase the chances of hooking into a nice one; some boats landed up to 4 in a day. These boats used dead sardines, squid, chunks of skipjack, live chiwili, and live skipjacks. Many of the local pangeros also reported good action later in the afternoon. Most of these fish were averaging 50 to 100 pounds, though we did have a handful in the 100-to-230-pound range.

Towards Vinorama, San Luis, and Iman, the tuna bite remains spotty, lucky to land one or two in a morning outing. The wahoo bite did seem to improve this week throughout the same tuna grounds. Many of the wahoo came on X-Raps (30-40ft divers), DTXs (165s and 200s), and rigged ballyhoo. Most of the wahoo seen have been medium size, with an occasional 35-40 pounder in the mix. Barely any dorado in the area; the ones we have seen have been small. We hope to start seeing more as the water cools down a few more degrees.

Bottom action has slowed down, though we still saw a few nice dogtooth snapper, barred snapper, and grouper, most of them coming on chunks of skipjack throughout different rock structures at Iman, San Luis, and Vinorama.

Good Fishing, Brian 

GORDO BANKS PANGAS
October 25th, 2026

As we head towards the end of October, and both Bisbee’s Tournaments are now complete, we expect to see a significant increase in foot traffic at our marina. Unfortunately, like all years, these tournaments have left us with a live bait shortage. As we head into our busiest month (November), the bait guys will be scouting out different areas for live sardines as our marina and shorelines next to us are depleted. The bait guys are still able to sell bags of dead sardines that they are getting from other bait suppliers on the East Cape. We are mixing bags of dead sardines with squid to fish for tuna. It is now a good idea to purchase a bag of ballyhoo (if available) as we are finally starting to see a few wahoo.

The tuna bite was spotty all week, especially Wednesday through Friday due to extra pressure out on the fishing grounds from the tournament boats. Many of these tournament boats focused their time either catching bait or trolling them at Vinorama, San Luis, and Inner/Outer Gordos. Many of our charters focused their efforts in trying for tuna, wahoo, and bottom fish (if the current was not too strong). Boats were lucky to hook one or two tuna within a morning outing; many of them were not able to hook any. On Tuesday, one of our charters landed a 180-pound tuna at Vinorama on a dead sardine!

Many of our boats decided to cover more ground with Rapalas and Ballyhoo at Vinorama, San Luis, Iman, and 25 for a chance at a wahoo. Wahoo numbers are still not good, though we were able to see a handful every day at the fillet station. Most of the wahoo caught were on the smaller side, averaging 15-25 pounds. Water is still warm, averaging around 87-89 degrees. While trolling for wahoo, a few sailfish and striped marlin were also hooked. Surprisingly, no dorado made it to the tables this week; only 1 boat reported releasing a baby female.

A handful of big grouper and dogtooth snapper were caught this week. The big grouper came on live skipjack while fishing for tuna at Vinorama. The snapper were hooked on chunks of skipjack within different rock structures at Iman, 25, and La Fortuna. Captain Chuy and his client Darryl had a 99-pound grouper Thursday. Darryl went on to catch another 55-pound grouper on Saturday!

This weekend, multiple boats reported tuna action at the Inner Gordo on live chiwilis and strips of squid. There is plenty of bait at the Inner Gordo (chiwilis, skipjack, and bulito). This will be the hot spot for the Tuna Jackpot tournament starting on November 5th.

Big Congrats to our friend Kenny Pymm and his team “Contango Spartan’s Revenge” for winning the 2026 Bisbee’s Black and Blue Tournament with a 491-pound Blue Marlin. This fish was caught on day one and there were no other qualifying marlin throughout the 3 days of fishing! Kenny and his team took home $5.6 Million; this would be a record for the most money ever won by a single team in Bisbee’s Tournament history!