GORDO BANKS PANGAS
April 19th, 2026
Much quieter week in Southern Baja. April is offering us ideal temperatures with sunny days in the low to mid 80s and mornings in the high 60s. As discussed in our previous report, water temperatures are warm, not the usual thing for April. Water temperatures are now averaging 78-80 degrees throughout most of our fishing grounds. Some warmer currents in the 81-to-82-degree range were also found a bit offshore, throughout the surrounding areas of the Outer Gordo. We experienced North winds for most part of the week. Even though the wind did allow us to fish our normal grounds from Vinorama to Cardon, we did see rough seas, making it challenging to efficiently focus on certain species. For example, bottom fishing was challenging some days as it was hard to stay on certain rock piles and currents were not ideal.
The tuna bite, similar to last week, was very slow and spotty. This weekend, we did see better tuna reports, especially this Sunday, as most of the boats that focused on tuna were able to land one or two. These tuna were most active at Iman on a mix of live caballito/green jacks, strips of squid, and dead sardines. These tuna were in the average range of 20-30 pounds, though we did see some 60s and 70s come in. We had issues with Sea Lions hanging out at Iman and waiting for boats to hook up to tuna. For some reason, these Sea Lions prefer the medium size tuna (40 to 80) pounds as most of these hooked fish were attacked. This is most likely because they are on the line longer periods of time and can take advantage of the situation; the smaller tuna are brought into the boat faster.
Live bait options continue to be limited, mostly caballitos and green jacks (more green jacks than caballito in the mix). Small schools of live sardines were spotted this weekend throughout shorelines next to our marina. Bait guys were able to net some this Sunday, though only a few boats were able to get a scoop or two. They were on the smaller side as well. Bags of dead sardines were also available this Sunday; bigger size sardines coming from the East Cape. For clients that want to focus specifically on tuna, we recommend squid, a handful of live caballitos or jacks, and dead sardines (if available that morning). If your focus is striped marlin, we recommend live caballitos/jacks and ballyhoo.
The striped marlin bite has been pretty hot at the 1150 Bank and its surrounding areas. On good days, boats reported hooking up anywhere from 5 to 10 billfish. A handful of big dorado and 1 wahoo (50 pounds) were also caught on accident while targeting these marlin.
Closer to shore, we are starting to see nicer size Roosterfish on live caballito and jacks. Not many Sierra are reported at this time. Last year, April was a hot month for big Sierra, though we did have more sardines at that time.
On days where the wind and current were favorable, we did see some quality bottom fish (snapper, grouper, amberjack). Most captains reported that you had to work the jig extremely hard for hours for a chance at one of these fish. The most productive grounds for bottom fishing were Vinorama and San Luis.
Good Fishing, Brian
