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

Hot and Fun! June 1-15, 2026

June is here and so is the heat but so is the hot fishing.  It's been a fun two weeks to kick off June with calm mornings, plenty of silver tails and lots of options.  The last two weeks have been solid for early morning fishing for bonefish and permit making it exciting and a bit easier to target these elusive gamefish.  Fishing for juvenile tarpon has also been pretty good as we throw lures or flies at them as they roll in the early morning.  For easier fishing we have been finding sharks of all sizes on the flats and the size would depend on who's catching them with smaller kids targeting smaller sharks and adults being able to hook up to the bigger lemon and bull sharks int eh 100-200 pound range.  There have also been yellow jacks in the channels and still some ladyfish hanging around.  With the warmer water temperatures the larger snapper are off the reef but there are still a few mutton snappers prowling the channels.  Stay cool 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

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