GORDO BANKS PANGAS
December 15th, 2024
We are finally starting to see bigger yellowfin tuna at our high spots. Earlier in the week, we had a decent tuna bite at Iman with live skipjacks and bulito, a few strikes on strips of squid as well. The live skipjacks and bulito were caught at the Inner Gordo and kept alive in tuna tubes to slow troll at Iman. Most of the tuna at Iman averaged 60-90 pounds, a handful of them surpassed the 100-pound mark. The fleet also caught some nice wahoo this way. Because of the wahoo in the area, we were forced to troll the skippies with wire leader, though we prefer to use fluorocarbon for tuna. Not many wahoo strikes were reported on Rapalas and ballyhoo this week. One wahoo was caught on a surface jig while slow trolling live bait. With the same bait and in the same area, decent sized dorado and striped marlin were also landed, though not as many dorado as we would like to see this time of year.
As the week progressed, the bite slowed down at Iman. Many boats decided to stay at the Inner Gordo after catching Skipjacks and bulito to slow troll throughout the day. On Friday, the boats that fished the area of Inner and Outer Gordo reported nicer blue water as compared to earlier in the week being a bit greenish. On Friday, only one 120-pound tuna was landed between 10-12 boats. That same day, another local boat lost a bigger fish, pushing 200 pounds right at the leader after 2 hours. Both of these tuna hit on a live bulito on the surface. A lot more boats tried the Inner Gordo on Saturday. Most of the boats that tried for tuna on Saturday were able to hook one on live skipjacks and bulito. 8 big yellowfin were landed at the Inner Gordo on Saturday morning and afternoon. Most of these fish were over the 150-pound mark, a couple of them surpassed 200 pounds. 3 other boats lost bigger fish after long hours; one of the local pangeros lost one after a 4-hour fight on 80# test and 130# fluoro that ended up breaking the leader. Due to the hot Saturday bite, a lot more boats tried it out on Sunday, though no tuna were reported. Too many boats in the area, including a couple diving boats that were anchored right on the high spot.
A handful of boats that felt the pressure at the Gordo decided to troll their skippies at Punta Gorda (Cerro) to try to salvage the day with a wahoo or dorado. The few boats that tried this were able to land nice sized wahoo and dorado. Our 2 boats that fished Cerro this Sunday were each able to land 2 wahoo and 2 dorado, while loosing a few other strikes. The biggest wahoo reported this week came in at 55 pounds on a live skipjack.
There is now a decent striped marlin bite 5-6 miles straight out from our marina. Most of these strikes are coming on rigged ballyhoo and lures. A few bigger dorado were landed this way; most of the dorado seen were over 20 pounds.
Closer to shore, we continue to catch sierra (Spanish mackerel) on small rapalas and sardines. Not a lot of sardines at this time; most of the sardines the bait guys are netting are to small for us to us.
Good Fishing, Brian
