What a way to start fall! September 16-30, 2026

What’s up everyone and welcome back to my bimonthly fishing report. We close out the month of September exactly on schedule with the beginning of the mullet run just starting to trickle through Biscayne Bay. This has been a welcome site because as hot as September has been I thought the mullet run was going to get delayed but this last week has started nice and cool and increasing number of mullets have been flowing through into Miami. Early mornings have been a ton of fun as we have been targeting tarpon and snook using lures and it has been exceptionally consistent. The last few trips we have been averaging 6 to 7 Tarpon hook ups. These are juvenile tarpon in the 10 to 30 pound range that are feeding on schools of mullet early morning. My bait of choice has been top water lures and the strikes, as expected, are absolutely savage. 

The snook fishing is starting to become more consistent as I have been targeting them a bit more now as the mullet run begins. There are still some permit around and we had some pretty solid shots last week at a couple of schools early morning. 

The bonefishing has been good throughout the day and that has been a great species to target after the first hour or two of tarpon and fishing. Bait such as pilchards are still not thick in the bay but I expect the month of October to have them start to make a presence, however there are still schools around and a live well full of them will be a perfect opportunity to live chum big mutton snappers and yellow jacks. 

On the flats, we’ve also been seeing plenty of sharks and some barracudas. 

In the deeper areas of Biscayne Bay there have been tons of big ladyfish willing to eat anything thrown at them and every now and then either a giant barracuda or a lemon shark or black tip shark will eat them right off our lures next to the boat. 

So it’s been a lot of fun with plenty of species to target and it’ll just get better next month so make sure to check back mid October for the biweekly fall fishing report.

Capt. Mo Estevez 

786-853-1409

www.MiamiBonefishing.com (16' Flats Boat)

www.MiamiBayFishingCharters.com (22' Bay Boat)

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing @MiamiBayFishingCharters

Fall is coming September 1-15, 2026 Report

I know September 22 is the first day of fall bit I'm hoping it feels like fall sooner than that.  So far the first half of September has been hot and muggy, kind of like August ,so fishing has been looking more like the end of summer with one exception but I'll get to that exception in a bit.  

Bonefishing has been rather steady as Ken below found out releasing three nice bones in about an hour, pretty good! There are still juvenile tarpon around but they have been a bit pickier than usual as we throw hard bait at them. I haven't snook fished as I haven't been booked for it but I have seen a couple around.  Actually, on a pretty crazy incident Ken was throwing top water lures for snook when a crocodile busted his plug and got hooked.  So crazy!  

So, the species that is making the first half of September feel like fall are ladyfish.  They usually flood Biscayne Bay in big numbers this month and they are starting to do just that.  These ladies are so much fun on light tackle and fly.  They are aggressive, fight hard and make big jumps.  

There are still plenty of permit around both the oceanside and west side flats.  The ideal scenario is early morning with no wind as we look for permit tails and wakes.  

That's it for the first half of the month.  Check back at the end of the month for the next report.  

Capt. Mo Estevez 

786-853-1409

www.MiamiBonefishing.com (16' Flats Boat)

www.MiamiBayFishingCharters.com (22' Bay Boat)

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing @MiamiBayFishingCharters

The end of summer! August 16-31, 2026

 What is up everyone? I hope all of you are doing well and welcome back to the end of the month fishing report. There have been plenty of calm August days which has made it fantastic to chase early morning bonefish, permit, and tarpon. Early morning bonefishing has been spectacular with one instance providing a school of over 80 tailing bonefish making their way slowly towards the boat. This was a perfect situation for Rich and his friend as they both made good casts in front of the school and had a doubleheader on the first cast of the morning. Talk about a fantastic start! Moving onto harder species such as permit, they have been around although not as consistent as I would like, but that is permit fishing after all. Most mornings have provided a couple shots at a few schools of permit until the breeze kicks up and then it's time to move onto something else. Moving onto something else has generally consisted of juvenile tarpon fishing. The smaller tarpon in the 10 to 30 pound class are a ton of fun as they tend to be more aggressive and provide bigger jumps, making for a lot of of exhilarating fishing. Under calm conditions I like to use use top water lures and it is a site to behold to see a tarpon chase down a top water and then explode on it as they literally come out of the water with the lure in their mouth. That will get anybody's blood pumping! In addition to the big three, we have had plenty of lady fish making for good fun on light tackle as they are extremely aggressive and provide plenty of big jumps since they are related to the tarpon. In the finger channels we have been catching a number of different species of snappers, including mangrove snappers, and school master snappers. Mixed in with the snappers have also been barracudas and big sharks. How do I know there have been big sharks? Well because we had one big shark eat a permit we hooked and then we've lost quite a few fish closer to the boat. Sharks can be fun on the flats, but they're not that much fun when you're trying to catch dinner for clients and they move in and make it impossible to land a fish. Well, that's it for the end of the month fishing report. It's been a lot of fun and interestingly there have been plenty of August mornings that have been cooler than normal and the last few evenings have been cooler than normal. Hopefully this means fall will get here earlier than normal.

Capt. Mo Estevez 

786-853-1409

www.MiamiBonefishing.com (16' Flats Boat)

www.MiamiBayFishingCharters.com (22' Bay Boat)

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing @MiamiBayFishingCharters

Mixed Bag of fun. August 1-15, 2026

So far the first half of August has been hot but not as hot as a typical August and the fishing has been up and down.  Plenty of my trips so far have been on the bay boat with families that wanted to catch different species and keep the rods bent.  However, I've also had some trips where we focused on bonefish, tarpon and or permit and those have been fun too.  It's been a breezy start to the usual windless August but that has made it more pleasant on the water.  As for the fishing, well that's been fun too with plenty going on in Biscayne Bay.  On the flats, calm mornings have provided plenty of shots at bonefish, tarpon and permit both on fly and spin.  On one trip Cullen from Tennessee had two nice bonefish releases on fly in the first 45 minutes and then plenty of shots at tarpon after that.  Yesterday, long time client Alec had a couple of shots at permit using live crabs and hooked two tarpon on top water lures. The shark fishing on the flats was slow yesterday but that is more a function of the moon phase. With plenty of trips with kids we've had a great time catching snappers, margates, jacks, barracudas and more.  On one trip six year old Roman caught four small permit plus a bunch of snappers and jacks after that.  Roman is spoiled with those little permit!  The larger tarpon have been mostly MIA around Key Biscayne but there have been plenty juvenile tarpon out of Homestead.  The finger channels are offering a mixed bag of species including yellow jacks and rainbow runners.  That's it for this report, check back in at the end of the month to see how we wrap up August. 

Capt. Mo Estevez 

786-853-1409

www.MiamiBonefishing.com (16' Flats Boat)

www.MiamiBayFishingCharters.com (22' Bay Boat)

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing @MiamiBayFishingCharters

End of July Report July 15-31, 2026

We wrapped up July with a few different trips under surprisingly comfortable conditions for a typical hot July.  Around Key Biscayne there have been early morning tarpon 60-80lbs eating blue crabs for the first hour or two of the morning.  After that they are gone not to be found again.  Floating back a live blue crab has yielded us at least an early morning bit per trip.  These are fantastic numbers but they are pretty typical for summer when the water gets hot and we have resident tarpon to fish for.  Also, around Key Biscayne there have been a few hammer head sharks around that will come right to the boat and try to eat our hooked fish.  We've freelined back live jacks and have gotten a few bites but none landed so far.  For those that want action, yellow jacks, horse eye jacks, jack crevalles, lady fish, mangrove snappers, barracudas and more have been plentiful eating our shrimp offerings.  

Moving down to Homestead, to my amazement the last few weeks have not been spectacular for bonefish and permit.  We have been able to land some bonefish but not the numbers we usually get in July.  There have been permit around but again that has been inconsistent as has the fishing for juvenile tarpon.  On the flats the shark fishing has been solid with plenty of fun and fast lemon sharks around willing to gobble up whatever dead baits we throw at them.  

So, while fishing for the big three (bonefish, tarpon and permit) has been inconsistent the latter half of the month, everything else is working as it should. Thanks for reading and I'll be back in two weeks with a early August report.  

Capt. Mo Estevez 

786-853-1409

www.MiamiBonefishing.com (16' Flats Boat)

www.MiamiBayFishingCharters.com (22' Bay Boat)

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing @MiamiBayFishingCharters

A few Surprises. July 1-15, 2026

I hope all of you had a great Fourth of July and stayed safe and cool because it's hot! I always complain about the heat but as I fish with clients from all over the country the common theme is that "it's just as hot or hotter back home",  I guess we're not alone in South Florida dealing with heat.  So far this summer we have been dealing with a drought which means the absence of the afternoon thunder storms that usually pushes everyone off the water and back to the marina.  The lack of afternoon rain storms has allowed us to fish more of the afternoon for those that have been wanting to fish deeper into the day.  As for the fishing, it's been good and there have been a few surprises to keep us excited.  Around Homestead the fishing for bonefish and permit early morning has been solid as we enjoy the slightly cooler and windless mornings.  There have been plenty of tailing bonefish and permit as well as schools of juvenile tarpon patrolling shorelines ready to take lures and flies.  These juvenile tarpon are averaging 10-30 pounds making them perfect for light bonefish rods or 8wt fly rods.  On the oceanside flats the shark fishing has been very good for lemon sharks ranging from 80 pounds to 200 pounds and I've even seen a few black tip sharks mixed in as well.  On these same flats there have been big barracudas ranging between 15-25 pounds.  These barracudas are a ton of fun as they sizzle across the flats when hooked and make unexpectedly big jumps trying their best to imitate tarpon.  Speaking of tarpon, around Key Biscayne there have been the resident tarpon active in the early morning.  While these are not the 120 plus pound springtime fish, they are 40-80 pounds making them fun but not exhausting to fight during the summer time.  Wen targeting these redident tarpon this month we have been hooking at least one per trip in the early morning and the bait of choice has been a live blue crab.  For those that don't care to spend the entire morning chasing tarpon, Key Biscayne has had plenty of other smaller, faster paced options.  One of the species we have been catching in the first half of July that has been a surprise have been pompano.  These are really cool fish that fight hard on light tackle and are a smaller cousin of the permit.  Spring time is the time of year when I tend to catch pompano so it has been a surprise to catch these in July but heck I'll take it.  Also on the list of what we have been catching has been:

Jack crevales

Horse eye jacks

Yellow jacks

Bonefish

Snappers 

Lady fish

Oh, there have also been a few hammer head sharks about 6 feet long prowling our fishing areas and several times we have fed them a bait and gotten bites but they have come off.  I'm itching to land one of these hammer head sharks as they are not common inshore in Miami. Well, that's what I have so far this month, enjoy the pics below and I'll be back at the end of the month. 

Capt. Mo Estevez 

786-853-1409

www.MiamiBonefishing.com (16' Flats Boat)

www.MiamiBayFishingCharters.com (22' Bay Boat)

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing @MiamiBayFishingCharters

Wrapping it up in style. June 16-30, 2026

As we wrap up the month of June I can attest to it being hot!  Thankfully most of my trips have been half day trips where we have been getting on the water early and beating much of the intense heat that starts to make itself known by midday.  Also, the last run of trips I got booked for were all out of the Pathfinder bay boat so no super skinny bonefishing for the balance of June but that was OK, there was plenty to catch from the "bigger" boat.  There have been tons of jacks, snappers, look downs, and lady fish eating live shrimp on a jig for those that have wanted to make sure they caught a lot of fish and not too concerned about landing a trophy.  This has been perfect for kids and for the world cup fans from overseas that wanted to try the local inshore fishing.  However, with the big tarpon on the tail end of their migration our of Miami moving north towards cooler waters, I've been able to get on some tarpon and it's been fun.  This time of year I use live. blue crabs and Gary from Scotland was one of those that have a nice tarpon eat a live crab and give him the fight of his life.  The key here has been long fluro carbon leaders in the 40 pound range keeping it light and making it a bit easier to have the lighter leader be less obvious to the picky tarpon.  While we're talking about big fish, shark fishing on the flats has also been solid with plenty of lemon sharks and nurse sharks around and even some black tips.  And to wrap op the report, this is also the time of year where clients want to cool off so I've had some clients take a break from fishing and enjoy the clear shallow waters of our sand bars to jump in and cool off.  Well, that's it for June, stay cool and Happy 4th of July!

Capt. Mo Estevez 

786-853-1409

www.MiamiBonefishing.com (16' Flats Boat)

www.MiamiBayFishingCharters.com (22' Bay Boat)

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing @MiamiBayFishingCharters