Hot in a number of ways May 16-31, 2026 Report

Welcome back everyone, it's the end of May and everything is as it should be now.  The strange 20 MPH winds we had the fist half of the month are gone and they have ben replaced by the typical calm mornings and increasing heat that make May the kick off to summer in Miami. The second half of this month has been solid with weather but more importantly, fishing!  Boy is the bay going off right now with bonefish, tarpon and permit active and eating.  I ended the month with Nate and 16 year old Kit celebrating Kit's birthday bonefishing.  Oh was it a celebration! Literally, 20 minutes into our morning trip Kit had his fist bonefish in the boat. WOW!  The rest of the morning was spent taking shots at bonefish and some permit and so it has been the last two weeks and a half, it's been solid! For easier targets, there have been yellow jacks, snappers and jack crevalles filling in some time.  There have also been some big bull and lemon sharks on the prowl.  Yes it's hot but ignore that as you cast to the third school of bonefish coming at you in the last 20 minutes.  I love it! 

Capt. Mo Estevez 

786-853-1409

www.MiamiBonefishing.com (16' Flats Boat)

www.MiamiBayFishingCharters.com (22' Bay Boat)

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing @MiamiBayFishingCharters

Check out our new 22' Pathfinder addition!

 

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 slick has started! May 1-15, 2026

It's May, it's hot and it's slick!  I mean it is slick clam, no wind in the mornings and tails everywhere.  May is the month when we start our summer pattern of windless mornings, warming water and lots of bonefish, permit and tarpon early morning.  This has been the case the first couple of weeks this month, as it should be.  Here's the run down.  

There have been plenty of juvenile tarpon working the shorelines that will take popper flies or top water lures.  These juvenile tarpon have taken the place of the big migratory tarpon around Key Biscayne that sued to be the main stay of our tarpon season.  

Bonefishing has been excellent, especially early mornings as we take advantage of the calm mornings making it easier to spot their tails and dorsal fins as they move along the shallow flats.  

Permit are a steady target for those wanting the ultimate challenge.  Permit have been on both sides of the bay, the mainland shoreline and the ocean side flats.  

I haven't been snook fishing since the three mentioned above have taken up most of my time but early mornings are the best times to target them along creeks and shorelines.  

We have been catching pompano pretty regularly mixed in with small permit, jacks, snappers and lady fish.  The lady fish have been a blast on a fly rod as they crush flies and make their big jumps.  

The fishing for barracuda has been good with plenty of big ones in the 20 pound range being caught on live jacks and we have been seeing plenty of sharks but especially hammerhead and bull sharks in the channels and black tips, lemon and nurse sharks on the flats.  

That's he run down of the last two weeks.  Stay tuned for another report 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

This is the way to go out! April 16-30, 2026

Welcome back everyone and here we go with the end of the month fishing report.  We wrapped up the month of April with solid fishing although the last few days were pretty tough where we had to grind for every fish we got. With that being said, the weather has been spectacular, water temperature has been perfect and the fishing overall has been good, but I guess I'm just spoiled and want fantastic days every day. One one day Mike and Carmen released 4 bonefish on fly, Elie got a cool tarpon on fly, Maria caught snook and the list goes on.  The mullet migration has been getting better each day however very few predators have been harassing them whether early morning or afternoon. To fill that void there have been juvenile tarpon, bonefish, plenty of lady fish, jacks, sea trout, and even shots at permit under the right conditions. Shark fishing on the flats has been very productive and plenty of yellow jacks in the finger channels to keep the rods bent. The tarpon fishing around Key Biscayne has been pretty slow so my focus has been on juvenile tarpon out of Homestead and one of the advantages to that is that there are snook lurking the same mangrove shorelines.   And since we're talking about Key Biscayne, I ended the month catching Pompano, Jacks, ladyfish and losing either a big bull shark or a big hammerhead on half a ladyfish. There were also plenty of tarpon around, but they had lockjaw. As we head into May I expect the typical light winds of May to be spectacular but the end of April provided us plenty of light wind days making it an absolute joy to be out on the water every day. I hope you guys have a great month and check back in in two weeks for my mid May fishing report. 

Capt. Mo Estevez 

786-853-1409

www.MiamiBonefishing.com

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing

The ups and Downs of Spring April 1-15, 2026

Welcome back everyone and it's been a strange spring so far.  The typical windy spring days have been few, the air cooler than normal, the mullet run delayed and tarpon have been MIA.  Well, that sounds like a downer but in reality it's been good and it's been fun.  The first half of the month I have been all over the place, from fly fishing for bonefish, tarpon fishing, shark fishing and mixed bag fishing.  Overall it's been good fishing this month.  There are permit around and the numbers will grow as it gets warmer, the tarpon fishing has been tough, but the bonefishing has been good with lots of fish on the oceanside flats.  I haven't been snook fishing but filling their place have been pompano, jacks, lots of barracudas and the flats have had a ton of lemon sharks for those wanting a cool experience with some hard fighting fish on the flats.  To round up the April fishing, ladyfish have been THICK!  They have been gobbling up flies, lures and top waters.  There have been many trips where we fished for ladyfish for a bit and the clients were having so much fun they didn't want to move on to something else.  I can't blame them, they fight hard, jump tons and are really aggressive.  Since they are related to the tarpon, I do want to mention that there have been more and more small tarpon showing up and that fishing will just get better.  That's it for the first two weeks of April, I'll be back at the end of the month to give you the scoop on what transpired then.  Take care guys!

Capt. Mo Estevez 

786-853-1409

www.MiamiBonefishing.com

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing

Out with March with a bang! March 16-31, 2026

As we end the month of March we had a cold front to deal with, high winds, no wind, cold and heat, what a crazy month!  Thankfully, fish still have to eat so it has been a good month with a few ups and downs towards the end.  Bonefishing has generally been good, tarpon not so good, permit have been around, shark fishing has been solid and the finger channels kept the clients and me busy.  

On one trip recently with regular client Jake and his two friends Antonio and Nil we started slow and ended on fire.  We were looking for tarpon and there were none to be found, a sadly recurring theme this month as tarpon have been inconsistent, but we ended the trip with the guys releasing 10 bonefish.  Insane!  The last trip of the month I had Jesse and 14 year old Miles who wanted tarpon.  Ha, Miles hooked three monster tarpon but all three came off for different reasons.  A heartbreaker yes but man was it exciting!  

In the finger channels we've been catching tons of look downs (weird but super cool fish), snappers, jacks and barracudas.  The sharks on the flats have been on a tear and showing up in big numbers and along shorelines and small back bays the ladyfish have been super fun on lures and especially on flies.  

April will be another solid month so stick around and watch for mid April's report in a few weeks.  

Capt. Mo Estevez 

786-853-1409

www.MiamiBonefishing.com

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing

It's Spring! March 1-15, 2026

This first half of March has been very interesting and just as expected in some ways. March is typically a windy month and that has been the case so far with two exceptions. We have been averaging winds between 15 to 20 miles an hour and although that sounds like pretty tough fishing, it’s actually been very manageable and we’ve been doing well on a number of species in spite of the wind. 

The tarpon fishing out of Key Biscayne should be pretty solid right now but only a few resident fish have been around with none of the big migratory fish 100 pounds plus making an appearance yet. I am hoping this is just a short term issue and the second half of March starts to give us many more opportunities at them. However, taking the place of these tarpon have been bonefish and permit, and those are two species I cannot complain about. In addition to really good bonefishing, pompano are starting to show up and we have done pretty well catching a number of different species for clients that wanted to just catch a lot of fish such as lady fish, barracudas, snappers and yellow jacks. We had two really calm days on Friday and Saturday and we were able to capitalize on them. On Friday Manuel made a pinpoint cast at a tailing permit early morning in really calm conditions and the permit seeing his favorite food flutter in front of his face couldn’t help but swallow the live blue crab.  Manuel was able to land a 20 pound greedy permit and it was amazing! His buddy Jimmy also ended up landing a really nice bonefish before it was time to head back to the marina. On Saturday clients Ernie, Miguel and Frandy jumped on the boat and almost immediately upon arriving at our first spot there were tails everywhere, and the guys proceeded to land four bonefish in the first hour and a half of the trip. Pretty amazing fishing and pretty amazing start to a great day.  

I'm starting to see the first wave of migrating mullet and the large mullet muds they create.  This is a great sign as the fishing around these giant schools of mullet can be super fun and it'll just get better as March continues.  That's what's been happening in Miami's inshore and flats fishing and make sure to check back in at the end of the month for the end of month report.  See ya!

Capt. Mo Estevez 

786-853-1409

www.MiamiBonefishing.com

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing