GORDO BANKS PANGAS

December 17th, 2023

With Christmas approaching, we are continuing to see light crowds of anglers, which is normal for this time of year. The weather has been ideal as we are still experiencing sunny days in the mid-80s. This week, we had a few windy days, predominately from the north; though we were still able to fish our productive fishing grounds no problem.

The most productive action was found between Gordo and La Fortuna. La Fortuna, Cardon, and Punta Gorda have shown great numbers of nice sized dorado and wahoo. Again, the fleet is usually starting out their day by trolling Rapalas and rigged ballyhoo. This week, most boats were able to catch their dorado limit early in the morning, allowing them to release many others throughout the day. Using the same technique, there is a good chance of hooking a nice sized wahoo. On Wednesday, one of the boats was able to hook and land 4 wahoo back-to-back, closer to Punta Gorda while trolling Rapalas. These were nice sized wahoo with 3 of them being over 40 pounds and one closer to 60. We did notice a more consistent bite on the Rapalas this week. Wahoo are also being hooked while slow trolling live caballito and dead ballyhoo, and at times on cast jigs.

The dorado bite was phenomenal this week to say the least. They seem to be all over the place, and it has been common to hook more than one at a time as they are travelling in big groups. Most of these dorado are over 15 pounds. We saw many dorado in the 30–40-pound class, which contributes to a great fight with light tackle. For some reason, this group of fish have shown to be large but thinner than usual.

The yellowfin tuna bite at the Gordo was more consistent this week. Most hookups are coming later in the day. Many of the local pangeros and commercial fishermen have been doing the afternoon trips, which has shown to be more productive. Most of the tuna that were landed were over 80 pounds. The preferred bait was dead sardinas and strips of squid. The sardina supply this week was very spotty as we saw some days with limited numbers. Many of the bait guys have been forced to look over at Palmilla and Club Regina.

The marlin bite on the Pacific side has been great, but we are only seeing a few scattered striped marlin on local grounds off of San Jose del Cabo. Inshore, there have been a few Sierra and smaller roosterfish found, but other than that not much going on. As for bottom fishing, it continues to be slow with some occasional snappers and groupers.

Good Fishing, Brian

GORDO BANKS PANGAS

Dec. 10th, 2023

Weathers conditions continue to be ideal for anglers and families arriving for the Holiday season. We are enjoying a few cooler mornings in the low 60s and beautiful sunny days in the mid 80s.

Action throughout this week remained consistent and similar to last week. The main target continues to be dorado and wahoo. It seems that the wahoo bite has slowed down a bit. This week, it was hard to catch a the chiwili at the Gordo. The boats that looked for them were lucky if they caught 2-3 bait fish in almost 2 hours. While fishing for chiwili, boats were mostly catching green jacks, also known as cocinero. Even though not the favorite bait to troll with, the cocineros did catch several nice wahoo this week. Not many strikes fast trolling Rapalas or rigged ballyhoo. A few of the smaller 10-15 pound wahoo were caught while casting shinny jigs on the surface, most strikes coming closer to the boat.

The dorado bite was the main highlight this week. Many anglers mentioned that they couldn’t focus on the wahoo as the dorado were taking most of their bait. Most boats have been able to load up on their dorado limit with nice sized fish. We are continuing to see big bulls, with many in the 30–40-pound range. As many of the boats are catching their limit, they are also releasing multiple nice ones on the daily, which makes for a great catch and release experience. 

Best fishing grounds this week for wahoo have been La Fortuna, Cardón, and Punta Gorda. The dorado are scattered throughout La Fortuna all the way to Palmilla, with some bigger ones caught at La Fortuna and inner Gordo. We have also heard that the dorado bite is wide open on the Cabo Pacific side. A few striped marlin and sailfish have also been hooked while fishing for dorado and wahoo.

The tuna bite at the Gordo remains slow. We did hear of a few bigger fish hooked later in the afternoon, with one weighing in at 197 pounds. Again, out of 10-15 boats, only a couple have been able to hook up. These occasional tunas have been hooked on strips of squid, live/dead sardinas, and live chiwili.

Not a lot of bottom action at this time. We have seen a couple of snappers caught (red snapper and bared pargo) while jigging on different structures. A few sierra and rooster fish were also caught while slow trolling live bait closer to the shore.

Good Fishing, Brian

GORDO BANKS PANGAS

December 3rd, 2023

Lighter crowds now in Los Cabos after the passing of Thanksgiving. We expect for tourist activity to increase within the next week as many families arrive for the Holidays. Great weather is expected to greet these crowds as we are continuing to enjoy sunny days with high temperatures in the mid-80s and cool mornings in the low 60s. We did have patterns of north winds through much of this weekend, expected to extend towards mid next week, but anglers are doing well fishing closer to shore in the more protected calmer waters.

Action was consistent throughout all week. The main target species continues to be wahoo and dorado, more specifically the elusive wahoo. The most popular and productive fishing grounds are now Punta Gorda, Cardon, Fortuna and Iman Bank. The fleet usually starts of at Iman or Fortuna and make their way back to Punta Gorda in an effort to cover as much ground as possible. Most boats are starting their early mornings by trolling a combination of Rapalas and rigged ballyhoo. The goal is to cover as much ground as possible within the first hour or two of their day in hope that they can hook a couple of quality fish. After fast trolling in the early morning, they are switching to slow trolling live caballitos, chiwili and dead ballyhoo. Caballitos that you can purchase at the marina have been a reliable bait source that you can count on most mornings.

The bigger wahoo seem to be more interested in the chiwili. Some boats have been going straight to the inner Gordo to catch these chiwili and then head back to the wahoo grounds. These chiwili can be finicky some days as you might only be able to catch a couple. For some anglers, this might not be the best plan as it can lead to a big waste of your day if you cannot catch enough to run back to look for wahoo. However, if you are lucky to catch a few, they have shown their worth as we have seen some big wahoo caught this week on them. The biggest wahoo this week came in at 78.8 pounds on a live chiwili, while another one of similar size was lost by the same boat near the boat. We also had another big wahoo at 57 pounds and many in the 40-pound range.

Within these same grounds, anglers have been finding good numbers of nice sized dorado. We did continue to see some big dorado this week, a few of them in the 30 lb. range. Many of the boats were able to catch their 2 dorado per license limit. Keep in mind that it is important to release the smaller females, especially if you have already met your license limit. The goal is to continue to see nicer sized dorado as they are the fastest growing fish in the ocean, we just have to give them a chance. Dorado can grow to an estimated 0.5 to 1.0 inch in length per week while gaining two to three pounds per month.

At the Gordo, the tuna bite is still on, though the numbers are not great. On average, around 20 boats are fishing in this area on a per day basis and some days we are only able to see 3-5 fish hooked. These fish continue to be of quality size; our fleet’s biggest yellowfin this week came in at 102 pounds. We did see one of the personal boats catch a 185 pounder, meaning that there are definitely some cows still around. The boats that are targeting tuna are using a variety of baits, from live chiwili and sardines, to strips of squid and dead sardines. It seems that the favorite choice this week was sardinas and live chiwili.

Bottom action was slow this week as we only saw a handful of small grouper and snappers caught while drifting for tuna at the inner Gordo.

Good Fishing, Brian