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
