GORDO BANKS PANGAS

November 12th, 2023

As we are approaching mid-November, the weather continues to be favorable for groups of anglers arriving in Cabo, specifically to fish. We are starting to see a few windy days, nonetheless the days are enjoyable with morning temperatures in the high 60s and sunny days in the mid 80s.

Due to north winds creeping in the last couple days, many fleets were forced to try different areas, closer to our marina and inshore. Many boats started fishing a few miles off Palmilla point targeting dorado. Nice schools of dorado were found while fast trolling lures/feathers, Rapalas, and ballyhoos. These dorado are averaging 10-15 pounds on most days, with a few 20 pounders in the mix.  There were a few days were boats were able to catch their limit and still release many; other days, just a couple per boat if lucky. While targeting dorado, a few of our charters were able to hook a couple of wahoo, though nothing big, 10-15 pounds. Many of these wahoo were lost on the first run due to their smaller size.

This past week, our fleet hosted a 17 boat group tournament organized by Cass Tours. This “Wahoo Rumble” was a 3-day tournament specifically targeting large wahoo. Throughout the 3 days of fishing, we were only able to weigh in 4 wahoo, the biggest one weighing in at 38 pounds and the smallest at 9 pounds. The biggest wahoo was caught while slow trolling a live caballito, the other smaller ones on Rapalas. Not the wahoo action we were expecting, but the scarcity definitely added emotion to this tournament. We had lots of fun and did see many nice sized dorado and tuna.

The tuna bite is still good at the Vinorama bank, if you are able to make it there. This week, not many boats tried going that far due to unexpected winds creeping in. The boats that did try, were able to catch a few of the 20-40 pounders while drifting strips of squid and live/dead sardinas. We continue to have a decent supply of live sardinas in the morning, though their size is not the most favorable. These sardinas are small and are mostly used to chum.

The main talk has been the inner and outer Gordos as they have been producing big yellowfin tuna. The biggest one weighed in by our fleet this week came in at 106, with many others in the 70 to 90 pound club. A few boats hooked some cows that almost spooled them a few times and were not able to slow them down. Unfortunately, some of these fish were lost after long 1-2 hour battles. Most of these yellowfin were hooked while drifting strips of squid, a few on strips of skipjacks. We are excited to see what the Gordo will deliver next week, as many boats are specifically targeting the big cows due to the great activity we saw this week.

Not a lot to report off the bottom at this time. We had one dogtooth snapper at the Gordo that hit on a strip of skipjack. A few nice 30-40 pound amberjack were also caught in the same area while jigging. Inshore, we also saw some of the first Sierra. Most of these Sierra were nice sized, some of them 5-7 pounds.

Good Fishing, Brian

GORDO BANKS PANGAS

November 5th, 2023

The annual largest tournaments are now over, though the busy fall season continues. We are seeing large crowds of anglers arriving to take advantage of great opportunities now available. We have been experiencing great conditions with mornings in the low 70s/high 60s and sunny days in the mid-80s.

We are consistently starting to see schools of sardinas every morning now. A combination of sardinas and slabs of squid has been the go-to and most recommended. There are some days where the tuna prefer one over the other and you will be thankful you have both. There are limited supplies of caballito certain mornings.

Overall, this week produced great fishing action. The main action was yellowfin tuna in the 20–40-pound range. Most boats targeting tuna can experience great action, double/triple hookups and reach their limit on most days. Of course, there are some days that are slower than others, but the fish are definitely there. These were caught while drifting strips of squid and sardinas. Using a small weight to target mid-water activity was also very successful. Our boats concentrated mostly at the Vinorama bank. Others that tried out Iman experienced a slower tuna bite.

Covering the grounds of Vinorama, Iman, and La Fortuna, there is a good chance of coming across a small school of dorado and wahoo. A few more wahoo are starting to show day by day. You can target these by covering as much ground as possible trolling rapalas, ballyhoo, and lures. One of our boats reported catching a smaller wahoo while slow trolling a caballito. A few wahoo were also hooked and lost while drifting live sardinas on the tuna grounds.

Not a lot of marlin action spotted on our side of Cabo. One of our boats did catch a nice 300 pound Black Marlin a couple days after the Bisbee’s while targeting yellowfin tuna at the inner Gordo. This fish was caught and released on 50lb test and 60lb leader. A tough fight, but quite the experience.

Nice sized tuna still hanging at the Inner and Outer Gordo. Many of our local fishermen reported seeing many fish over the 200-pound mark while fishing the Tuna Jackpot tournament, though they did not want to bite. Many tuna averaging 70-100 pounds were landed throughout this tournament. Congratulations to captain Chame and Team Castros for landing 3^rd place with a 95-pound yellowfin.

Not much bottom action this week, though we did have a nice dogtooth snapper at the Gordo while drifting for tuna. Not a lot of action along the shoreline either; a few boats did catch a few sierra while slow trolling live sardines. If sardines continue to show up, we should see better inshore action throughout the next few weeks.

First pods of whales are now arriving back into local waters after having migrated north to their summer feeding grounds.

Good Fishing, Brian

GORDO BANKS PANGAS

October 29^th, 2023

The weather took a drastic change right after the passing of Hurricane Norma. Hurricane Norma was not as bad as we were all expecting in our area. Surprisingly, we did not get a lot of rain, but we did get high winds of up to 80-100 mph, leading to power outages for a couple of days. Most importantly, our families, the marina and pangas were not harmed, and we are back to business.

The first couple of days after the hurricane, the weather completely changed. The mornings are now considered chilly for us locals with temperatures in the high 60s; the days are very nice with temperatures in the mid-80s. Late October and November are one of the most enjoyable times in Cabo as the weather is perfect for families coming to visit us for Thanksgiving.

Luckily for us and our busy season ahead, Hurricane Norma did not affect the fishing. The first couple days after the hurricane, the water was dirty and green as usual. After a couple of days, everything seemed to be back to normal, if not better than previous weeks. The main target is still yellowfin tuna at Iman and Vinorama Banks. There has been a lot of skipjacks in the same area, so it is a matter of what species gets the bait first. We are still using strips of squid due to sardinas supplies being very limited. Most of these tuna are averaging 20-40 pounds, with some occasional 70-100 pounder in the mix. Most of the boats this week were able to land 5+ tuna per day. Within the same area, we are starting to see more bottom fish action as expected. This week, we saw quite a few amberjack, yellowtail snapper, and grouper, most of them caught on the jig while drifting for tuna.

The big Bisbee’s tournament is now over and that does help alleviate some of the stress on the Gordo Banks. We still have the Western Outdoor News Cabo Tuna Jackpot coming up on November 2^nd and 3^rd. This will be an interesting one as there were quite a few tuna caught during the Bisbee’s. One of our local guys (Congratulations to Captain Romelio and team North Star) won the Top tuna overall on the Bisbee’s Offshore Tournament with two yellowfins, a 236 and 93.8 pounders. The best chance at finding one of these bigger tuna is trolling live skipjacks or bulito on the Inner and Outer Gordos.

With the change in water temperature, we are starting to see some wahoo show up at the Gordo and Iman Banks. There have been a few hooked fast trolling rapalas and lures, and some others are hitting the jigs on the surface. Most of these fish have been lost near the gaff. For some reason, this tends to be the case with the first showing wahoo of the season; you have to be extra careful and smooth while reeling these fish in.

Overall, we have seen a lot of action and a nice variety over the last week. With similar weather and water conditions ahead, we expect for fishing to remain consistent and more species to show.

Good Fishing, Brian