GORDO BANKS PANGAS
October 27th, 2024

The 2024 Bisbee’s Black and Blue tournament ended last Friday, and it was one for the books. With 15 Black and 108 Blue Marlin, there were 13 fish that came in over the 300-pound mark. Captain Chame and Freddy on the “Burro” team brought in another Black Marlin (320 lbs.), not as big as their first one (387 lbs.). The most impressive catch was a 634-pound Black Marlin that was hooked at 8:30 am and landed at 7:57 pm; almost a 12-hour fight on a 33ft boat. They made it to the scales at 8:40 pm, right before they closed at 9. Big Congratulations to all the winners as there were many captains from our local marina that landed huge checks.

Our marina was not as busy as the Bisbee’s in Cabo took over most of the tourists for the week. On our end, we are noticing cooler morning temperatures in the low 70s and high 60s. Most of our boats fished towards San Luis, Vinorama, and Iman. These areas continue to show the small yellowfin tuna, with most productivity coming from Iman. It has been a bit tricky to catch these tuna on some days as the skipjacks are beating them to the bait. For bait, we are using live/dead sardines and strips of squid. We saw a few more dorado this weekend while drifting and trolling for these tuna, though nothing big. A handful of sailfish were also caught and released in the same area with live sardines.

A few nice wahoo were caught at Vinorama and Iman. Most of these wahoo were caught trolling XRaps/Nomads/Ballyhoo, though a couple were caught slow trolling small skipjacks (live). The bigger Wahoo preferred the live bait. The wahoo bite was spotty throughout the week as we only saw them on a couple days. This weekend, many boats pounded the area and did not have much to show for.

While drifting for tuna at Iman, some of the boats were also drifting strips of skipjack for a dogtooth on the bottom. We did see many snapper this week, a few close to 50 pounds. Some boats also caught these snapper at the Inner Gordo. Our captains reported more action throughout the early morning.

Good Fishing, Brian

GORDO BANKS PANGAS
October 20th, 2024

Busy week at both marinas, especially in Cabo San Lucas. The Bisbee’s Los Cabos Offshore tournament was from the 16^th to the 18^th, 3 days of intense fishing. Most of our top captains participated in this tournament. Big congratulations to team “Burro” with Captain Chame, Freddy, Pollo, Lalo, and Maury. They landed a 387-pound Black Marlin on the 3^rd day of fishing, winning a total payout of $518,500. They are ready for the next Bisbee’s tournament starting on the 23^rd of this month.

A day after the tournament (October 19^th), Captain Chuy decided to go out solo as he had a late-notice cancellation the day before. Chuy hooked a 450-pound Black Marlin at around 10 am at the Outer Gordo in between many big boats preparing for the next tournaments. He hooked this fish on a small live skipjack on only 80# fluoro as he was looking for tuna. After a long and tiring fight, he was able to land this fish at around 4:00 pm. His younger brother Gerardo was able to hop on his boat to help finish the battle. This fish would have gotten 2^nd place at the Bisbee’s. The biggest marlin at Bisbee’s was 467 pounds.

On our end, the highlight this week was a wahoo bite towards Vinorama and Iman. On Friday, captain Tony was able to land 4 nice wahoo. He had 7 strikes, most of them on X-Raps and Nomads DTXs, one bite came on a rigged ballyhoo. We also saw a decent bite on Thursday as Captain Chuy landed 2 nice ones on ballyhoo. Most of these wahoo are nice sized, averaging around 25-30 pounds. We did see a couple wahoo over 40 pounds this week. This bite remained spotty throughout the weekend as we only saw a few more landed throughout all of the fillet stations.

At Iman, we are also starting to see nicer yellowfin tuna in between the small footballs. This week, we saw 3 tuna in the 60–70-pound club. These tuna were caught on light gear (30# and 40# test) as the average tuna was 5-6 pounds. Most of these tuna were caught on strips of squid since live bait was hard to get. Most of the Bisbee’s boats got priority on the live sardines. There is plenty of bait throughout our shoreline, with most of the concentration towards Palmilla Point. As the big boats were buying $200-$300 worth of sardines, it left the smaller pangas with only a handful of sardines. We still continue to catch small yellowfin towards Cabeza de Ballena and Cerro Colorado, though the bite has been mainly early in the mornings when the boat count is low. Trolling Rapalas, ballyhoo, and lures in that area has also produced some wahoo and dorado stikes. Most of the dorado we are seeing are on the smaller side, averaging around 8-12 pounds.

Earlier this week before the tournament started, a few boats were able to fish the bottom at the Inner Gordo successfully. There was plenty of action drifting with strips of skipjack for dogtooth snapper. One of the boats within the fleet was able to land 4 nice dogtooth, while losing a few other in the rocks.

Good Fishing, Brian

GORDO BANKS PANGAS
October 13th, 2024

We have started our busy season, and fishing has been cooperating so far.  We are excited to see what the next couple months hold as we have big crowds and big tournaments coming to town. We can see a big change in weather as well, cooler mornings and early sunsets.

Most of the boats continue to head towards Cabo as they look for more action with the small yellowfin tuna. It seems that this tuna school has spread out more as we are starting to see some at Palmilla Point and Cerro Colorado. This week, we did notice that the tuna bite was a lot more productive in the mornings as the bite died down at around 9:00 am on most days. Most of these yellowfin are small, averaging around 4-5 pounds. Within the same area, there is a chance of landing a couple dorado with live sardines. Many of the boats also landed some white skipjacks and big Pacific Bonito (both great to eat). The bait guys continue to net plenty of sardines along the shorelines of Palmilla. This weekend, the tuna bite was a bit slower than usual, which forced many of the boats to look for wahoo or some bottom action.

The fleet started trolling X-Raps, Nomad DTXs and marlin lures starting from Cabeza de Ballena heading towards Palmilla. Many of the wahoo bites came closer to shore, around 2-3 miles. Most of these wahoo are nice sized, averaging around 25-30 pounds. On Friday, Captain Chame was able to land 4 nice wahoo after catching their tuna limit. Some bigger wahoo were also caught on marlin lures, 8-10 miles offshore from Palmilla, Cerro Colorado, and Chileno while looking for blue and striped marlin. A few of the boats reported seeing some followers as they were gaffing their fish.

A few boats within the fleet started to focus more on bottom action and they were successful. They focused primarily on rock structures around Palmilla Point and Cerro Colorado. This weekend, we saw some quality size amberjack, the biggest one weighing 60 pounds. Most of these bites came on live caballito, with only a few strikes on the jigs. We continue to see dogtooth snapper at the inner Gordo on most days. These snappers can be tricky as the current can be tough on most days. For these fish, we are using big strips of skipjacks.

We will start scouting San Luis, Vinorama, and Iman Banks next week for Wahoo and hopefully bigger yellowfin tuna. We have some reports of Los Barriles boats catching nice wahoo at San Luis and Vinorama.

Good Fishing, Brian