Sunday, December 28, 2014

December 26, 2014 AM & PM Reports

AM Report Javier from Spain and his son Danny from N.Y. had never fly fished in saltwater before and they wanted to check it out. I explained we would start slow and target productive species as they learned the double haul and other saltwater fly fishing techniques. Fighting breezier conditions than I would have liked for a first time saltwater fly fishing trip and almost constant drizzle, we fished a nearby ship wreck in 12' of water that had been producing for me. As they both got the hang of the list of things they needed to learn, Javier had a few takes and lands a nice hard fighting blue runner. Moving to the second spot of the morning ended up being the only other spot we had to fish. Around the boat were tinker mackerel, runners, snappers, barracuda and tarpon. They both caught several species on fly and Danny had a take on fly that immediately parted his leader with an audible "pop"! Javier had some great shots at tarpon but no takes. It remains a mystery if the fish Danny lost was a tarpon or big barracuda.
PM Report My afternoon trip was with Michael and his 16 year old son Alex from N.J. We almost cancelled the trip due to weather but when they arrived the weather improved and we had great conditions. Starting off looking for tarpon, we found a number of them where I had found them in the morning but no bites. When the tide changed we hit the finger channels and once again, they were lit up! Baits wouldn't last more than 45 seconds before being eaten by a number of different species. As in other days, Michael and Alex caught mutton snapper, mangrove snappers, yellow tail snappers, porgies, black grouper, red grouper, porgies and big blue runners. The day ended with another shot at tarpon at the tide but although they were present, no takers today.
Capt. Mo Estevez www.MiamiBoneFishing.com 786-853-1409

December 24, 2014 Report

It is always amazing to me how weather can change from one day to the next. Regular client David hopped aboard with his nephew Charlie and the 20-25MPH winds didn't have us too thrilled. The water was mostly dirty from the strong north wind but even in areas of clean water the fishing was slow. Pulling tricks and spots from the recesses of my memory weren't producing much, a hit here and there. Finally we ended up hiding from the wind and fishing some usually productive pilings which produced a few snappers and a few other fish, probably small groupers, that got us in the rocks. Capt. Mo Estevez www.MiamiBoneFishing.com 786-853-1409

December 23, 2014 Report

All the way from Brazil came Fabio to spend Christmas and New Years in Miami and along the way, get a little fishing done. Fabio had never fished the flats or inshore waters and wanted to try it out, a far cry from the sailfish tournaments he's fished for many years. Looking for tarpon and finding few of them we focused on lighter tackle and smaller gamefish. Trout fishing definitely improved over yesterday and Fabio caught several trout on soft plastics and hard plastic baits. We wrapped up the day in the finger channels where the action was absolutely on fire! Baits lasted less than 45 seconds before being slammed by a host of species such as mutton snapper, mangrove snapper, yellow tail snapper, big porgies, red grouper, big blue runners and a couple of nice fish we lost before getting to the boat. At the end of the day Fabio told me he loved the inshore fishing in Miami and definitely wanted to do it again. One of the recurring comments was how relaxing fishing inshore was. I agree!
Capt. Mo Estevez www.MiamiBoneFishing.com 786-853-1409

December 22, 2014 Report

Dan and his wife Ashley were in town from N.J. and took some time to explore Biscayne Bay. The fishing started slow with a few trout, caught by Ashley who reminded Dan she usually out fishes him anyway, and no tarpon to be found. We ended the day fishing the finger channels in between the flats and caught snappers before heading to the flats to look for sharks. The shark were apparently hanging out with the tarpon as they were MIA so we called it a day.
Capt. Mo Estevez www.MiamiBoneFishing.com 786-853-1409

Monday, December 22, 2014

December 21, 2014 Report

William from Brazil joined me today for a full day of fishing Miami's Biscayne Bay. The morning started rather calm so I was tempted to look for tarpon. The tarpon were certainly around with fish in the 60-100lb class rolling aggressively but moving fast. Several times we got in front of them and presented baits but no hook ups. A second tarpon spot revealed more but they had lock jaw as well. As the wind picked up the tarpon fishing ended and off we went in search of a variety of species. At the end of the day William had landed about a dozen different species including a fish blitz in the last 45 minutes. Once the action got started in the finger channels it was non-stop with mutton snappers, mangrove snappers including one about 4lbs, grouper, runners, yellow tail snapper, lane snapper and we lost a major fish that took a lure and destroyed the 10lb line! It was certainly a productive day with William not able to drink his beer because the rods were going off every 30 seconds. That's the kind of day I like!
Capt. Mo Estevez www.MiamiBoneFishing.com 786-853-1409

December 18, 2014 Report

On an exploratory mission, I fished with local angler and buddy Gil. The goal was to check out some spots in the bay and have some fun and it sure looked promising with clear skies, no wind and crystal clear water. Looking for bait along the shoreline we found several schools of bonefish and redfish cruising and occasionally tailing in 14" of water. Perfect casts by Gil were ignored so onto our search for bait. Finding none, We fished about a half dozen spots and some were better than others. Some had nice grouper on it but the minute we pulled up they would see us and leave. Others had giant barracudas on it and yet others held massive balls of snapper on it. We had a great time, I got the rare opportunity to fish and the day was absolutely perfect!
Capt. Mo Estevez www.MiamiBoneFishing.com 786-853-1409

December 16, 2014 Report

Today I fished with Richard for a relaxing day on the bay. We had absolutely gorgeous weather and calm winds. The goal was to fish a few spots for snapper and see what was hanging out in Biscayne Bay today. After looking in several places for bait and finding none, the live shrimp in the live well would do. The finger channels were a bit slow but we managed to catch mangrove snappers, small grouper, bar jacks, mutton snappers and a few mystery fish that ended our relationship sooner than we would have hoped. All in all it was a nice day.
Capt. Mo Estevez www.MiamiBoneFishing.com 786-853-1409