GORDO BANKS PANGAS
January 11th, 2026

Wind played a big factor for most part of the week. Hard to trust the forecast as some days were expected to be rough and ended up being calm, and vice versa. We did have some wind, predominately from the North, though we were able to fish closer to shore throughout La Fortuna, Cardon, and Punta Gorda without a problem. Heading towards the Gordo, more specifically Outer Gordo, was a challenge some days as swells were big.

The local wahoo tournament was this Sunday. This tournament was supposed to be back in November of last year but had to be moved as storms in October affected the tournament schedule for the year. Slow wahoo activity, only 3 wahoo came to the scales (between 30 teams). The biggest wahoo came in at 42 pounds; the other two were significantly smaller. Most boats entered dorado jackpots as it was the best chance to take some good money. Most boats within the tournament landed a few dorado, making it very interesting. We saw many dorado in the 24-to-35-pound range, though the biggest on came in at 39 pounds.

The bigger 25 to 35 pounds dorado are coming from Inner and Outer Gordo while slow trolling live bulito or small skipjacks. These dorado are in the same area where the big tuna have been hooked. Not many big tuna came in this week, though we did hear reports that many guys lost them after long fights. We saw a handful of blue marlin, most of them in the 150-to-280-pound range, as well as some striped marlin and 1 small black marlin (around 150 pounds). This Sunday, one of the boats that landed a blue marlin reported losing a black marlin in the 400-500 pound range.

Closer to shore, throughout the areas of Punta Gorda, Cardon, and La Fortuna, we continue to see good yellowfin tuna and dorado action. Most boats that focused on tuna were able to catch their limits. Most of these tuna are averaging 5 to 8 pounds, with an occasional 30-40 pounder in the mix. For bait, we used live sardines, caballitos, and strips of squid. Sardines, as usual, worked best. We had a good sardine supply throughout Secrets and Marriot Hotel shoreline. Some days, captains reported getting full tanks of sardines (good size too!) for the regular $30 rate (reminded them of the old days). Towards the end of the week, we notice the supply started to dip again.

Good Fishing, Brian