GORDO BANKS PANGAS
January 5th, 2025

The new year started off very slow. We continue to see a good number of anglers in our marina; however, the fishing is not cooperating much.

The best chance at a decent bag was looking for dorado at the inner and outer Gordos. The dorado bite was slow throughout most of the week. The best day seemed to be Saturday as a few boats were able to catch their dorado limit. Most of the dorado caught were nice sized, with the majority in the range of 15-25 pounds. We did see some big Bulls over 30 pounds as well. The bait guys were able to net some small caballito on some mornings and these came in handy if available. The dorado were caught slow trolling live skipjacks, bulito, caballito, and ballyhoo.  While trolling these baits, a few boats were also able to land striped marlin and wahoo, though there were not many caught. Some boats drifted strips of squid on the main high spot and were lucky to catch a couple of yellow and bared snappers.

Due to the bite slowing down at the Gordo, many boats tried San Luis, Iman, La Fortuna, 25, and Cerro for dorado, but many of them came in empty handed.

This Sunday, a few of our captains decided to scout out the area of San Luis. They mostly tried drifting strips of squid, skipjack, and jigging. They had a white bonita bite on the jigs, which helped clients pack up a small cooler with good eating fish. One nice 30-pound broomtail grouper was caught at San Luis this Sunday while drifting to the bottom with a live skipjack. Two other captains reported losing big fish that cut off on the rock structure.

The sardine supply remains low. If sardines are available, there is a great chance of catching some nice sierra throughout the shorelines of Palmilla and Cerro Colorado. One boat tried this on Friday for a couple of hours and were able to land 9 decent size sierra and one small dorado, all on sardines,

Good Fishing, Brian

GORDO BANKS PANGAS
December 29th, 2024

As we head into the new year, fishing seems to have slow down significantly.

The main highlight this week was the dorado bite. This bite has spread out more as we have seen decent action at Iman, La Fortuna, 25, Cerro, and both Gordos. Most boats are starting their day at the Gordo as they look for small skipjacks and bulito to put in their tuna tubes. We continue to see big dorado at the Gordo, though only a few per day. Most of these dorado are on the bigger side, averaging 25-40 pounds. As we head closer to shore, we see better numbers, though they are not as big, still decent size though. No big tuna were reported at the Gordo this week.

This weekend, most boas concentrated at Iman as they hooked some nicer yellowfin on strips of squid. This tuna bite has been spotty, with most of them being small footballs. We did see 4 or 5 fish this weekend in the range of 60-100 pounds in the same area. While drifting strips of squid, a few nice dorado were also landed. Live sardines could have a big impact on this high spot. The sardine supply remains an issue as we don’t see them on most days. The few sardines that are netted are on the smaller side and are mostly used to fish inshore.

Not many wahoo this week either. We did see a couple nice ones (40-45 pounders) towards the end of the week at Iman on live skipjacks. Some captains reported these wahoo being very finicky as they spotted them following the bait for long periods of time. The bites were not as aggressive as they usually are; some of these wahoo lost interest after following the bait for a long time. One captains tried a bait with no wire leader and it still wouldn’t get hit.

The marlin bite at the Gordo also slowed down significantly. Only a few marlin were reported this weekend. Reports indicate more marlin action towards Cabo.

Happy New Years!

Good Fishing, Brian

GORDO BANKS PANGAS
December 22nd, 2024

Slower week in terms of charters as we are approaching the Christmas Holiday. Conditions and weather were ideal as we had light winds, clear blue water, and perfect temperatures with lows in the mid-60s and highs of 80 degrees. As crowds of anglers continue to decrease, many of the local captains are fishing themselves in the hunt for big tuna at the famous Gordo Banks.

The tuna bite at the Gordo has been slow and spotty. We still hear reports of big fish coming up to the bait, though many of them are not taking it. A handful of big tuna were caught this week, most of them biting later in the day on live bulito and skipjacks.  These fish are finicky; safe to assume this is due to the crowded small area a lot of bait, and divers on the high spot. Most of these fish surpass the 100-pound mark, with most of them being over 150. While trolling live skipjacks and bulito for tuna, we have hooked into some striped marlin, big dorado, and wahoo. Most of the dorado seen this week were over 20 pounds, with many of them being over 30 pounds. Most of these wahoo were immediately lost as we are using fluorocarbon; a few nice wahoo were landed on circle hooks and no wire leader! We are seeing marlin every day at the Gordo, though reports claim that the marlin bite is better towards Palmilla/Cerro Colorado/Cabeza de Ballena area.

Many of the boats fishing the Gordo, tend to pick up after a few hours and move towards Iman, La Fortuna, and Cerro (Punta Gorda) to troll their live/dead skipjacks and bulitos. We have seen more action in these areas closer to shore for dorado. The wahoo bite has not been great, though we do see a couple at the fillet station every day. Most of the wahoo on bait have been showing good size; the biggest one landed this week was 56 pounds on a live skipjack. A handful of smaller wahoo were also caught on X-Raps, Nomad DTXs, and lures.

We continue to catch small yellowfin tuna at Iman. These tuna are small, on average 5-10 pounds. We are mostly using small strips of squid as we have not seen a good supply of sardines throughout the week. The bait guys have recently struggled netting the sardines as they are running smaller than usual.

We hope that you have a wonderful Christmas with your loved ones. Merry Christmas!!!

Good Fishing, Brian