GORDO BANKS PANGAS

January 7th, 2024

We have seen fewer anglers arrive after the Holidays. Temperatures have been colder than usual as we are experiencing a cold front. We are seeing mornings in the mid 50s and days in the low 70s. To add to the mix, we also had some windy days this week, most coming from the northeast and northwest, with a couple days of 15-20 mph gusts. Even though it has been windy on most days, the fishing continues to be hot and full of action.

The main highlight this week was yellowfin tuna and dorado, with many striped marlin in the mix. Earlier in the week, the fleet focused on the inner Gordo as the tuna bite from the previous week at Cabeza de Ballena disappeared. Lots of bait at the Gordo. At times, it was difficult to have a bait in the water as the skipjacks would come up in big schools. If you had plenty of sardines, you were able to bring up some nice sized tuna and have a good chance of hooking a couple. We did see a few fish pushing the 100-pound mark. These bigger fish were hooked on strips of squid and skipjack. The smaller 30–50-pound tuna were hooked on live sardines.

Within the same area, it is common to run into the big schools of dorado. We continue to see big bulls in the mix.

Throughout mid-week, the bite at the Gordo seemed to slow down as many boats were fishing the area. The fleet started motoring to Iman Bank to scout out the area and they were successful. The tuna and dorado bite was great right off the bat. There are a few nice sized tuna hooked at Iman too, with the average being around 30 pounds. We have seen a few 60-70 pounders in the same area and heard of many bigger ones lost. For these fish, we are mostly using #40 fluoro; hooking one of those 70 pounders on this setup puts up a great fight.

We are also seeing good numbers of striped marlin from Iman to the Gordo. Many of the boats targeting marlin have seen great action between the inner and outer Gordos. These fish have been hooked on live skipjacks, fast trolling ballyhoo, a combination of lures, and also live sardines if they are hungry.

Sierra action has been decent throughout the shore closer to Palmilla point. Not a lot of bottom action at this time. The wahoo bite has been slower than usual. A few boats were able to pick a few wahoo throughout the week by trolling some Rapalas, most of them being caught at Iman.

Good Fishing, Brian