GORDO BANKS PANGAS
March 15th, 2026

This is always a busy week for the local population as they prepare for next week’s festivities. March 19th is the official San Jose del Cabo Day, and the city hosts a weeklong fiesta and carnival (rides, concerts, fishing tournament, off-road races, etc.) situated downtown. This makes for major congestion, as streets are blocked off and normal traffic routes are altered. Weather patterns are quickly turning around; springtime has definitely arrived. We are expecting daytime highs now of up to 87-88 degrees starting next week!

It was a challenging week for most boats. The tuna bite continues to be spotty throughout Vinorama, San Luis, and Iman. As we have seen in the previous weeks, some days were much better than others, with most bites coming later in the morning. We continue to target these tuna on live/dead sardines and strips of squid. The weight range for these tuna was anywhere from 10 to 50 pounds. On a good day, boats were able to land 1 or 2 tuna; some boats tried all morning and were not successful.

While looking for tuna throughout the areas of Vinorama to Iman, many boats were able to secure dinner by jigging for white Bonita. Some boats decided to focus a good portion of the morning on looking for bottom fish as well. Good areas this week for bottom were Cardon, La Fortuna, 25, Vinorama, Iman, and San Luis. Some boats even went the other direction towards Palmilla and Cerro Colorado. We did not see great numbers, though we did see quality fish brought in every day. On Saturday, we had 3 yellowtail in the 25-to-30-pound range. Within the mix of species, we also had a handful of amberjack, grouper, and snapper (mostly red and yellow, a couple of barred pargo).

The highlight of the week was more dorado action. While fishing for tuna or covering grounds trolling ballyhoo and lures/feathers, we saw good dorado numbers, most of them medium size in the range of 18 to 28 pounds. We even had a 40-pounder brought in this weekend. Not many wahoo to report yet, though a couple of them were brought in this weekend as well.

We are still hearing reports of tuna running with porpoise schools not too far from us. On a typical day (specially pangas or 1 engine boats) it is challenging to make this run as they can be spotted anywhere from 30 to 40 miles from the marina. On days where these schools were reported around the 30-mile mark, many pangas decided to make the run from the fishing grounds. Most boats landed quality size tuna, averaging 30 to 50 pounds. On Saturday, one of our pangas landed 5 of these tuna.

We continue to see an increase in inshore action, most specifically Sierra (Spanish mackerel). If live bait is available (sardines and caballito), there is also a good opportunity at a Rooster, Jack, or even dorado. Some nice dorado were also reported around the rock structures of our marina.

God Fishing, Brian

GORDO BANKS PANGAS
March 8th, 2026

We had more tourist activity this week; it most likely has to do with the proximity to Spring Break. Water conditions remained similar to the previous week, though we did notice North winds making a presence since the early morning around mid-week. Looking at the forecast, we should be expecting a few windy days next week as well. This will limit our options as it will most likely be a challenge to focus on further ground such as Vinorama and San Luis.

The tuna bite at Vinorama this week was spotty, though most boats did decent. On the slower days, boats were landing 2-3 yellowfin tuna on average; on the good days, we saw 5-8 tuna per boat. Most of these tuna were on the smaller side, averaging 5 to 15 pounds. The sardine supply was inconsistent this week; some days there were not enough to supply all pangas going out. Many captains mixed it up by buying a couple kilos of squid, which came in handy and worked quite well. Within the same area of Vinorama, we also saw decent size dorado on live/dead sardines while slow trolling/drifting for tuna. 

On the slower days, many boats decided to focus on the San Luis area and jig for white Bonita and a possible chance for a nice bottom fish. The Bonita bite was good all week and saved the day for many boats. While jigging for Bonita, we also saw a handful of amberjack, grouper, and small snapper, mostly yellow and red snapper. On Sunday, a handful of boats reported seeing nicer size tuna (40 to 60 pounds) feeding at San Luis, though they wouldn’t bite much. We did see 6 or 7 these nicer tuna come into the fillet tables this Sunday.

This weekend, many captains also reported seeing small tuna at 25 later in the morning. Some captains were able to land a handful of tuna in this area. While looking for tuna at 25, these boats also caught nice sierra and white skipjack.

The highlight of this week were good size tuna schools running with the porpoise, not far from our regular fishing grounds. We heard about these porpoise schools 3 days out of the week, spotted 5-8 miles offshore from Vinorama. Many boats decided to make the run after hearing good reports on the radio, and most of them were successful. Some of these boats landed up to a15 tuna in a couple of hours. These tuna were good size, most of them in the range of 40 to 60 pounds. These areas were tough on the smaller pangas as it did get windy.

Good Fishing, Brian

GORDO BANKS PANGAS
March 1st, 2026

Very slow foot traffic at our marina this week. Surprisingly, we even had a couple of days off. We are now starting to experience warmer weather with day temperatures in the low to mid 80s. That said, we saw many local families take advantage and enjoy beach activities. Looking at the forecast, we are expecting cooler temperatures towards the end of next week (mid 70s). These are ideal temperatures as we head into Spring Break.

Ocean swells and wind were minimal. Water temperatures slightly warmer than last week, now averaging in the 75-to-78-degree range throughout most of our fishing grounds. We are seeing warmer water throughout the outskirts of Gordo and Cabrillo Seamount, approaching 80 to 82 degrees. We are hoping this warmer water brings some action to both Gordo’s as we haven’t heard many reports from these areas. Live bait situation remains consistent most days; we are seeing nice size sardines throughout the shorelines in front of Secrets and Marriot Hotels. The bait guys are also netting good caballito numbers within the marina.

Fishing was on the slower end for most part of the week. Our main focus continues to be yellowfin tuna, most of them caught at Iman on live/dead sardines. Many boats tried other grounds, though they were not successful. Many captains reported the tuna bite to come later in the morning, around 10:00-11:00 am. Most of the tuna caught were small to medium size, in the range of 5 to 50 pounds. Only a handful of medium ones were caught this week; most of them were on the smaller side. This Sunday, the bite was much better, most boats were able to land 3-5 tuna at Iman, while other lucky boats reported landing up to 10.

While boats waited for the tuna bite to pick up, they spent the early morning covering multiple rock structures at Cardon, La Fortuna, 25, Iman, San Luis, and Vinorama. Not much bottom activity was seen this week. Boats were lucky to land a couple of bottom species (amberjack, grouper, snapper) on the jigs. More white bonita and skipjack were caught on the jigs than actual bottom species. There is definitely at good chance at landing a few quality fish if you put in the time and cover multiple rock structures.

Some boats are now focusing at Palmilla Point and Cerro Colorado areas, including their shorelines for a chance at some snapper, grouper, amberjack, and Sierra.

Good Fishing, Brian