March 13, 2016 AM and PM Reports

AM Report I was looking forward to this charter today because I was fishing with Francisco and his friend Luis. They are both from the Dominican Republic but a few years ago Luis moved to Miami and Francisco comes into town a couple times a year. These guys are absolutely hilarious together and had me in stitches the entire trip. We started off fishing around South Beach where Francisco outfished Luis however to make matters worse Francisco kept rubbing it in. They caught big Hogfish, mutton snapper, mangrove snapper, jack's and missed another bunch of bites from other species. With the wind kicking up and the water getting rougher we decided to head in to shallower water and target sea trout. The first flat was a bit slow but the second spot proved to be the magic one and Francisco picked up another bunch of trout while Luis landed a single trout. Seeing how the day was unfolding Luis was already regretting his unfortunate hand and was getting ready for a week's worth of grilling and teasing by Francisco. These guys were great and they definitely have some great tasting dinner tonight.

PM report  My afternoon trip was with Mark and his friend Matt and conditions could hardly be worse. We had a steady 20 mile-an-hour wind gusting even higher, dirty water, tons of boats and Jet Skis everywhere which relegated us to about 3 fishing spots in the entire Bay to successfully fly fish. Spot one picked up where it left off in my morning trip and Mark caught a few trout on fly. Water started getting dirty so we moved to  a crystal clear flat that had zero Trout on it but a bunch of different manatees grazing on the bottom. The last spot with even higher winds left us with a nice ending to our trip as Matt landed a few trout on artificials and Mark landed a couple of other trout and missed a few more bites. We're scheduled to fish again tomorrow and I look forward to fishing with these guys. Capt. Mo Estevez  www.MiamiBoneFishing.com  786-853-1409 Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBoneFishing

March 11, 2016 Report

Chris is a local Angler born and raised in Miami and always brings his granddaughters aboard whenever they are in town. Today his granddaughter Blue and her friend Gaby joined us and we had a great time as always. Blue had the hot hand right behind Chris but Gabby struggled missing quite a few bites. Finally while they decided to eat lunch I grabbed the rod and started working a lure for Gaby and she quickly landed 3 trout which made my day! I seldom have had to work so hard for a fish but I was glad that Gaby was able to get a few fish under her belt. What a relief! These are great people and always a pleasure to fish with.

Capt. Mo Estevez www.MiamiBoneFishing.com 786-853-1409 Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBoneFishing

March 8, 2016 Report

Today was round two between the Machado's. Once again Ken and his son Dave boraded my skiff in order to have a good time, spend some quality time together and catch some fish. Dave is attending the University of Miami and Ken lives back in Massachusetts so time together between the two is always precious and I am always thrilled to be a part of it. Last year Ken out fished Dave but this year would be a different story. Dave definitely had the hot hand and caught a number of trout as we tried to hide from the relentless 20-25 mph wind.  Ken on the other hand missed a few fish and landed a single trout which was the opposite of what happened on our previous trip last year. The highlight to illustrate Ken's struggles was when they both made a cast just a couple of feet apart at the same time and Dave hooked and landed a trout while Ken stood by watching. These guys are great and we always have a great time. On our way to wrap up the trip we ended up rescuing two girls that were paddle boarding and the wind blew them over a mile away from the marina. Poor girls! Capt. Mo Estevez  www.MiamiBoneFishing.com  786-853-1409 Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBoneFishing

March 6, 2016 Report (Insane action) (Video!)

Chris is from Massachusetts and came down to Miami for 3 days just to fish and today was the day. Our first stop was of course for tarpon and while we found a ton of tarpon at two different spots we could not buy a bite. I was beginning to take this personally but none of the other boats could buy a bite either. Not sure if this makes me feel better. However, while tarpon fishing Chris landed a huge sheepshead and a nice Barracuda within seconds and we were off to a hot start. From that moment on the rods remained bent almost constantly with a number of different species. Then I started to mark the spinner sharks on my Raymarine and we decided to target them instead. Using a live 2 pound jack and 50 pound class spinning tackle we dropped one down and it did not last two minutes before Chris had a ferocious strike and an amazing drag burning run before we lost the first fish. Chris wanted a spinner shark so we dedicated the rest of our time to getting him one so we repeated the process. I all we hooked 7 spinner sharks and landed the last one we hooked. The take on the last one was amazing as we can see the live jack struggling on the surface and a big spinner shark coming in from about a hundred feet zigzagging looking for the live jack. Within 40 feet we could see another 2 spinner sharks and within 10 feet all 3 spinner sharks looked like a squadron of fighters as they bolted towards the jack. A large explosion later the rod doubled over the reel started to scream and Chris was on shark number 7. After an hour and 20 minute fight he released the big spinner shark at almost 200 pounds and at that point it was time to head in. Chris you will have sore arms tomorrow!

Capt. Mo Estevez www.MiamiBoneFishing.com 786-853-1409 Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBoneFishing

March 5, 2016 Report (Video!)

Today started slow on my full day with local angler and regular client Alec and his brother Kevin. Finding tarpon, and lots of them, we couldn't buy a bite but Kevin caught the biggest sheepshead I've ever seen. I checked out another 5-6 tarpon spots to no avail. Temporarily shelving the search for tarpon, we focused on smaller predators and caught some sea trout. Halfway through the trip we went back to the morning's first spot and the tarpon were still there but the spinner sharks were in thick. Trying hard for tarpon and not getting any bites, we shifted our focus to spinner sharks. It didn't take long for Alec to hook up to a big shark that gave the Quantum Boca 60 drag a workout before breaking off. Kevin was up on deck and he got a take but early on in the fight the spinner shark spit the bait. What a way to end a day that started off slow!

Capt. Mo Estevez www.MiamiBoneFishing.com 786-853-1409 Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBoneFishing

March 4, 2016 Report (Video!)

Being off yesterday and with the fresh memories of the epic fishing day we had on Wednesday I was eager to get regular client David and his son Tommy out. Our first few drifts provided just a few tarpon and no hook ups but the morning wouldn't continue this way for long. As we changed it up the rods starting bending and the drags started to get burned up. There were schools of different species of fish around the boat but most wouldn't reach the boat as spinner sharks were in thick. We took advantage of the situation and got numerous hook ups on high flying spinner sharks and what a sweet sound hearing the drag scream non-stop until having to chase these fish down to prevent from getting spooled. Today was another day where my guys were worn out before the end of the trip. At one point we had a double header and another time when chasing a fish down for David the other rod got hit twice with both times the fish making a long run then spitting the hook, one of the few times I looked forward to losing a fish, twice! I love it!

Capt. Mo Estevez www.MiamiBoneFishing.com 786-853-1409 Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBoneFishing

March 2, 2016 Report (Video!)

Today was the day that I've been waiting for since mid February because it was the day when Biscayne Bay finally went off! The morning started with George from New York, a regular client of mine, and his friend and coworker Joe meeting up at the marina at 6 a.m. We scooted off to South Beach in our search for Tarpon and once again there were tons of fish around with one big difference, the water temperature having increased about two degrees and the fish were friendlier than usual. George quickly hooked up to about an 80 pounder that gave us twoo savage jumps before spitting the hook. Drifting through waiting for another bite we were quickly distracted by big schools of spinner sharks. Taking advantage of the opportunity presented to us we quickly rigged up for them and proceeded to have an absolutely banner morning. We landed two and hook between seven and nine sharks. Most jacks and mutton snapper that we hooked wouldn't last long as we reeled them up to the boat and the spinner sharks making quick work of them. Close to the end of the trip I prepared for another drift or two when the guys said they've had enough, were exhausted and didn't think they could catch another fish. That is what fishing in Miami is all about and that is what I've been waiting for! Spring is here and its Tarpon time in Miami!

Capt. Mo Estevez www.MiamiBoneFishing.com 786-853-1409 Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBoneFishing