GORDO BANKS PANGAS
April 14th, 2024

Things have been quiet around our marina area this week. Even though we still had a good number of charters go out, we can tell slow season is starting to settle in. The weather is starting to feel a lot warmer, and we expect to have temperatures in the mid-80s next week.

This week was surprising as we saw a good amount of yellowfin caught. Monday was the most productive day of the week as we experienced the solar eclipse out on the water. One of our boats came in early with 10 nice sized yellowfin that day, the biggest one weighing 75 pounds. This unexpected bite was at San Luis Bank with live and dead sardines. Tuesday and Wednesday were also good days to catch tuna, though they were a bit windy. The bite slowed down again throughout this weekend; however, we are still seeing a handful at the fillet station. We continue to see tuna over 80 pounds on a daily basis. The biggest one seen this week was 145 pounds caught on a dead sardine. A few captains reported hooking some bigger tuna on live skipjacks, though they were not able to land them after long battles. Most of the bigger tuna caught this week came from San Luis. A handful of smaller ones came from Iman Bank.

We continue to see wahoo while drifting sardines for tuna. A few boats have been lucky to catch them on sardines and circle hooks. Most of these wahoo are averaging 15-20 pounds. Many of our captains believe that the wahoo bite could be good earlier in the morning with Rapalas and rigged ballyhoo. We have not been targeting wahoo as we are focusing most of our time on the yellowfin bite. We also saw more dorado towards the end of the week. A few boats reported finding some floating buoys while looking for marlin 10-15 miles out. These boats did great as they were able to catch double digits with a few 30+ pounders in the mix.

Towards the end of the week, the fleet reported good striped marlin action at Iman while drifting sardines for tuna. Throughout the rock piles in Iman, La Fortuna, and Cardon, we continue to catch a good mix of grouper, snappers, and amberjack. Surprisingly, we also had one yellowtail close to 20 pounds. Inshore action remains consistent with Sierra (Spanish mackerel) and a few nicer Roosters. We did see a few bigger Roosters this week, most of them averaging around 15-25 pounds.

Good Fishing, Brian

GORDO BANKS PANGAS
April 7^th, 2024

With Easter vacation coming to an end, things have quieted down locally. This is a great time to visit as weather conditions are ideal, we have moderate crowds, and fishing action has remained consistent and full of surprises.

Ocean water temperatures are now in the 70-to-72-degree range. Bait supplies have included live sardines, ballyhoo, and a few green jacks (cocineros). Most of the fishing activity has now been concentrated on the grounds of Cardon, La Fortuna, Iman, and San Luis. 

Most of our fleet this week focused on targeting yellowfin tuna. Even though the numbers were not great, we did see a few productive days this week. Friday was the most productive day for tuna as our fleet had 6 fish over 60 pounds, with 2 overpassing the 100 lb. mark. The highlight this week was a 125-pound tuna caught on a dead sardine. These tuna have been finicky, though most captains still report seeing them chasing the sardines. Some of the local pangeros reported better action later in the day. It seems that we had at least a couple big tuna each day brough to the fillet station. The best area for tuna continues to be Iman.

Bottom action is showing signs of improvement. Bonito were still the most common species found while working the rock piles with yo-yo jigs. However, we did see a few more leopard grouper, amberjack, and red snapper (huachinango) caught on the jigs. Working the bottom with live sardines, we also caught a mix of barred pargo, yellow snapper, and triggerfish, all very good eating species. The best bottom action seems to be coming from various rock structures at Cardon.

Scattered through these same grounds were a handful of dorado, with a few over 25 pounds. We did see less dorado this week as compared to the previous month. We also saw a handful of wahoo, most of them caught while fishing for tuna on live sardines.

Close to shore along the beach stretches there have been good numbers of roosterfish found, striking on live sardines. Most of these roosterfish are juvenile sized fish under 15 pounds. We are also catching good numbers of Sierra (Spanish mackerel), with a few close to 10 pounds.

Good Fishing, Brian

GORDO BANKS PANGAS
March 31st, 2024

Happy Easter! We are now seeing most of our beaches crowded with local families. Throughout Easter’s weekend, it is tradition that you go beach camping with family and friends. It is nice to see many of our captains take some well-deserved time off with their loved ones. Temperatures were ideal for beach activities with highs in the low 80s. It was a windy week with currents predominantly from the North.

Our yellowfin tuna bite is now very slow, lucky if you get one bite all day. We are continuing to see some big ones, upwards of 100 lbs. chasing sardines, though we have not been able to get them to bite. Most of these tuna were spotted at Iman and San Luis. Some captains reported seeing more activity after midday and late afternoons.

We had a few big tuna at the beginning of the week. The biggest tuna brought in was close to 230 pounds. A tough fight on 50# test and high winds on a 22 ft boat. Our fleet also brought in a nice 80 pounder after a long battle with a Sea Lion that was able to take most of the stomach part, leaving the loins untouched. This same boat landed a nice 35–40-pound wahoo on a jig. A few smaller wahoo were caught this week while drifting sardines for tuna. The tuna bite died down throughout the week as we didn’t see any caught for 3 days. We only saw one small tuna caught on Friday. Most of the captains reported difficulty drifting and trolling with sardines as the needle fish were a nuisance.

The main focus this week was the bottom and inshore. We are catching grouper, snapper, and amberjack while fishing rock structures at Iman, La Fortuna, and Cardon. Surprisingly, most of this action came from sardines on the bottom, not a lot of action on jigs.

On most days, we are catching our Sierra (Spanish mackerel) limits on sardines. The best action seems to be coming from Cardon. There were some nice 10-pound Sierras in the mix. While trolling sardines closer to shore, we were able to catch some dorado. This weekend, a few boats were lucky to find big schools of dorado as they were able to catch their limits. Closer to the shore, we continue to see smaller Roosters and Jacks. The most productive area for Roosters seems to be La Laguna.

Good Fishing, Brian