February 26, 2016 Report

People from MD are always really nice and today was no exception with John and Sarah. We began our morning looking for tarpon and finding none until the last half of the trip. Once the tide turned the tarpon showed up and they were stacked deep. Numerous drifts resulted in a few different species but the last drift resulted in a tarpon hook up, a searing run and then a break off after John worked the fish in spite of having a sailboat run over the line and the fish. URGH! Nice work John!

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

February 25, 2016 Report

Launching my skiff at BlackPoint Marina in Homestead on my way to pick up clients at the Ocean Reef Club in Key Largo an hours run away didn't seem like a good idea at the time, the wind blowing 25 knots out of the NW. Having clients waiting I had no choice and made the long run in the nasty chop, staying as close to the shoreline as possible. Upon arriving at the ORC, Kathy and her husband climbed aboard and we sped off to the oceanside of Elliot Key where we could find some fish and hide from the wind. Staking out we had a couple of schools of bonefish move through, hooked two sharks and fought a big stingray that gobbled a shrimp meant for bonefish. It was a nice trip after all and the run back was surprisingly smooth courtesy of a strong low tide.

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

February 23, 2016 Report

Day two of John fly fishing with me and today reminded me not to complain as I launched my skiff in steady 20 plus MPH winds into a frothy and rough Biscayne Bay. Since I had an afternoon trip I decided to launch from Coconut Grove and make a long run down to South Biscayne Bay to fish the creeks for snook and bonefish. The run down was sloppy but we made it into my favorite creeks. Fishing the leeward side of keys John caught a couple of barracudas on fly but the snook were MIA with the exception of the occasional pop as they fed deep into the mangroves, the water level being higher than expected courtesy of the hard SE wind that pounded the shoreline all night. (It wasn't supposed to be this windy!) Another creek had a 30" snook sitting on a mud flat and when John was about to make a cast to the perfectly presented snook, two pelicans flew low and over the snook and spooked it. URGH! We ended the day catching a few ladyfish and being visited by a manatee curious to our activity with her two calfs resting close to the mangrove shoreline. I cancelled my afternoon trip because of the weather.

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

February 22, 2016 Report AM & PM Report (Video!)

AM Report John from Boston jumped aboard with fly rod in hand and the first place we went was to look for tarpon. The silver king were there, in big numbers but we missed the two bites we got. With steady 18 MPH winds we got blown off the tarpon spot so that was that. Moving on to the bonefish flats we found a few fish but no hook ups and fishing was slow all around. We're fishing again tomorrow so the pressure is on me to get John some fish. PM Report John from the U.K. was my afternoon charter and the wind was still blowing a steady 15-18 MPH. Fishing a leeward flat produced no bones but some shots at sharks and barracudas. The wind dropped a bit and off we went to a small wreck where John was able to catch snapper, barracuda and grouper on fly. No big groupers around today but the fishing was definitely a bit better in the afternoon.

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

February 21, 2016 Report

In Miami for a conference, Scott and John joined me for a day on the water. The hunt began for tarpon and while I was marking a bunch of them, they had lock jaw. On the bonefish flats, fishing was tough due to steady overcast skies so we moved off to do something else. Using artificial lures Scott lost a couple of nice fish but redeemed himself with grouper and snapper on lures while John quickly gained ground in the numbers category.

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

February 20, 2016 Report

Avery and Victoria from N.Y. fish with me every time they get down to Miami but today Avery brought his friends Vosco and John. The fishing was slow today but Avery and John were able to connect with some nice snappers and rainbow runners. With the wind blowing almost 20 MPH from the east it was a matter of time before our current spot would get too rough and as soon as the tide turned it definitely got rougher and we spent the rest of the trip looking for fish. Capt. Mo Estevez www.MiamiBoneFishing.com 786-853-1409 Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBoneFishing

January 18, 2016 Report (Video!)

With the Miami Boat Show being over, boat traffic was tolerable today for Bob and Drew. Fishing was good today and we didn't have to move from our first spot. Bob hooked and lost a really nice fish and then Drew had the hot hand releasing a nice spinner shark and several other fish. Bob was hot on his heels releasing a bigger spinner shark and losing another nice fish that broke us off on the bottom. There was a thick school of tarpon stacked up deep but they refused to eat anything we threw at them. I don't like it when they do that!

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

February 13, 2016 Report AM & PM Report

AM Report Taking a day off from working at the Miami International Boat Show for Bob Hewes Boats I had two trips today. The morning trip was with Floyd and Jan from Texas and they were really cool to fish with. Floyd grew up in Alaska and a big Cowboys fan. Hitting the beach for tarpon had very little tarpon around so we fished another spot. Spot two proved to hold a few tarpon but not many. However, along the way Floyd caught his first hogfish and Jan her first grouper. While fishing was slower than expected, they caught a number of different species and lost a nice fish that broke us off.

PM Report My afternoon report was with Jeff and Erin from NY. Jeff is new to saltwater fly fishing and wanted to give it a try. Towards the end of my first trip the wind had begun to increase and by the time Jeff, Erin and I hit the water it was blowing steady 15 MPH gusting higher. We tried a few different spots away from the wind but there wasn't much around to eat flies. Changing it up we used spinning tackle and live shrimp and Erin caught her first fish ever. Very cool! We ended the trip taking advantage of the outgoing tide and we looked for bonefish. A big double digit fish approached but didn't eat and then a school of about 6 fish moved in but we couldn't get a cast in front of them in time. Capt. Mo Estevez www.MiamiBoneFishing.com 786-853-1409 Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBoneFishing

February 8, 2016 Report

Having been off a few days I was itching to get back on the water and Brandon and his friend boarded my skiff this morning. Giving tarpon fishing about 45 minutes and not hooking up to a few fish hanging around, we headed to the bonefish flats. The bonefish flats had a nasty surprise for us, muddy, unfishable water courtesy of the previous nights 25 MPH winds. I took them to the only bonefish flat with somewhat clean water. We saw one big bonefish move through and they caught a few sharks. Once the water cleared thanks to the outgoing tide, we poled around with fly rod in hand but no bones around. We made the decision to change it up and we fished a small shipwreck where the guys caught a few different species including a few small grouper on fly.

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

January 31, 2016 Report (Video!)

I love to end the month with a bang and that is what happened today with Alex and Beau, both college baseball players. Tarpon was on my mind so we headed off the beach in search of tarpon but found none. Back up spot however was a different story. With my Raymarine on scanning the bottom I located a school of tarpon, dropped two rods down and Alex and Beau were both on with a double header on tarpon! What a way to start the morning, first cast, two tarpon on! Both fish came off (Urgh!) but the rods stayed bent with a number of species coming aboard. It was bitter sweet though because we had excellent action but lost so many big fish to pulled hooks, cut offs, broken leaders, etc... There were spinner sharks around and on the last cast of the trip Alex hooks one which proceeds to burn up the drag, make two huge jumps before cutting us off. WOW! What a way to introduce two great guys to inshore fishing in Miami!

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

January 30, 2016 AM & PM Report

AM Report Back in November Mike and I fished a couple of days and today he was back with his 8 year old little boy Dean and his brother in law Aneesh. I wanted to make sure Dean got into fish quik so I took him to a spot where we caught 10 fish in a few minutes (who's counting?). Then we looked for tarpon and snok but they were MIA. Sharks on the flats were also MIA so we ended the trip on a spot where the action started slow but heated up with fish or bites on every cast. Dean commented that they caught 25, no 35 fish today (but who's counting?). These guys are awesome and Dean is one bright little sales guy!

PM Report Regular client and friend David text me during my morning trip and wanted to head out in the afternoon so he jumped aboard at 2PM and we headed out. Spot one was great with David hooking a tarpon early on but losing it on the initial run. To add insult to injury he hooked another mystery monster that had us thinking we were tasting victory until it made a long sizzling run back to the bottom where eventually cut us off. David landed a few fish but the trophies beat us today.

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

January 29, 2016 Report

This is year 2 that Ron books me on his to way a cruise with his wife and he is always a really cool guy to fish with. Fishing a number of different areas using different techniques from bait to lures, we began our search for tarpon. Spot one held just a few and spot two had some but with lock jaw. The rest of the trip was spent chasing different species and it turned out to be a productive day.

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

January 26, 2016 Report

Today's weather for John and I was a far cry from the impending doom that awaited us when we were originally scheduled to fish on 1/22, the air was crisp and the skies were clear. Having to be back by 11am we had 3 hours to fish and stayed close to the marina. The breezy conditions limited the areas we could fish but fish we did and although slower than I would have liked, we caught a number of species and kept the rods bent. It's always a pleasure fishing with John and I look forward to fishing with him next year. Capt. Mo Estevez www.MiamiBoneFishing.com 786-853-1409 Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBoneFishing