Sunday Double Header November 28, 2021

Sundays is the busiest boating day of the week and I don't like running two trips on a Sunday but the weather was chilly so I figured it would keep most boaters away and it did.  In the morning I had Dave from Idaho and he wanted to try bonefishing.  I set up on one of my favorite outgoing tide spots around Key Biscayne and enjoyed the weather, the conversations with Dave and we waited for fish to move through.  Just as I told Dave we would change spots in a few minutes a bonefish moves in and Dave hooks up landing his first bonefish.  Nice!  Things got slow so we wrapped it up catching jacks on every cast.  

My afternoon trip was with Mark from MD and he also wanted to catch bonefish.  The bay was largely empty still with all my bonefish spots open with no one around.  Cool!  But, they all proved slow except one that had a school of big bonefish move through but not eat.  Then Mark asks if there are jacks round. "Well, there are!".  I took him to the morning jack spot and there he caught a bunch of jacks and yellow jacks, the yellow jacks were a nice surprise.  

Capt. Mo Estevez

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Dinner and a shark November 27, 2021

 I fished with Stefan once before and he was back today with his friend Eugene and his 10 year old son Marlon.  They wanted dinner so we looked for pilchards but they were MIA, hmmm that stinks.  No worries I had plenty of live shrimp and they wiped out about 10 dozen shrimp catching dinner for several days and releasing the rest with constant action on yellow jacks and snappers.  Then we hit the flats and they each caught a shark before we headed back.  They're eating good tonight! 

Capt. Mo Estevez

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Black Friday Fishing November 26, 2021

Another two boat trip today and I had the girls, mom Julie with Rebecca and Amanda while the "boys" were in the second boat and once again they wanted to stay close to each other.  This worked against the boys as the girls outfished them 5 to 1 catching a variety of species such as mangrove snappers, yellow jacks and more.  Then we hit the flats for sharks and a few come in but don't eat our baits but one moved off and ate a bait from the other boat and the guys finally scored as the lemon shark kicked their butt.  It was hilarious and great to watch! 

Capt. Mo Estevez

http://www.miamibonefishing.com/

786-853-1409

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Thanksgiving Day November 25, 2021

I was hoping to take Thanksgiving day off and work the day before BUT my two charters for Wednesday cancelled, one due to weather and the other due to illness so I ended up working today.  On the brightside I got to fish with Scot and his family again on a two boat trip.  I had the "kids" and the other boat had Scot and his wife and we stayed next to each other during the trip.  The kids were a blast and they caught tons of snapper, yellow jacks and lost a few really nice fish, all the while giving each other a hard time.  If I have to work on Thanksgiving day, these are the folks to fish with.  Happy Thanksgiving! 

Capt. Mo Estevez

http://www.miamibonefishing.com/

786-853-1409

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Two Days on the Fly November 22/23, 2021

 I had the pleasure of fishing with David for two days for his first time fishing in Miami/Biscayne Bay.  Since we had two days to work with we mixed it up.  On the first day we had perfect November conditions with clear skies, cool weather and almost no wind.  On our first day David missed a bonefish eat and then the snook got nasty and he lost three snook on fly through no fault of his own.  As the king tide came up and filled the bay with about 3 feet of extra water I changed it up, caught live bait, pilchards, and hit some wrecks.  Oh man!  The live chum worked as it should and David was catching fish on every cast, mainly hard fighting yellow jacks.  Staying too far away were massive mutton snappers crushing the live chum, some of the biggest I've ever seen in the bay! 

Day two was the opposite witht he wind howling 20-25 MPH we hid in creeks and in the leeward side of points fishing for bonefish and snook and while we had some takes it was a tough day.  

Capt. Mo Estevez

http://www.miamibonefishing.com/

786-853-1409

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing

The snapper charter November 21, 2021

 I was with Kevin today and the last time Kevin and I fished it was an epic day.  Today, not so much.  fishing was generally slow with no help from the weather.  While November is our best weather month, we've had tons of wind, rain and overall tough conditions.  Today wasn't horrible though but the fishing definitely needed some help.  It seemed like the snook and bonefish were MIA and in their place were mangrove snappers and jacks and while they're fun it was not what we were looking for.  

Capt. Mo Estevez

http://www.miamibonefishing.com/

786-853-1409

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing

Time for a 12 year old to retire November 20, 2021

Just imagine being in your 40's or 50's and talking to someone about how you've been bonefishing a bunch of times but never caught any bonefish and how's it's been a bucket list fish for years.  Now imagine while you're having this conversation a 12 year old overhears your conversation and innocently chimes in with "Oh, I've caught bonefish before, two big ones two while it was windy and rainy.  It was fun."  Now meet 12 year old Ford from GA and his dad Matt, two great people who were here to watch the Miami Hurricanes play Virginia Tech and the weather was not in their favor.  Yes, it was blowing 20-25 MPH and it was rainy and we got rained on several times.  But, they both caught bonefish including Matt's first and a solid 12 pound bonefish at that.  Wow, these guys really killed it.  We had to head back to the marina to wait out a nasty cell that was moving through and afterwards we hit another spot for other species but we didn't produce anything in the last 20 minutes we had in the trip.  

Capt. Mo Estevez

http://www.miamibonefishing.com/

786-853-1409

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing

Never saw this coming November 15, 2021

Fishing has been on fire regardless of weather conditions, moon phase, air temperatures, whatever, it hasn't mattered so I was excited to get back to work today with Vic and Billy from Boca Raton, FL.  We had great weather although a bit breezy causing us to meet up at Key Biscayne instead of Homestead.  With plenty of big live shrimp I was ready for some snook and bonefish but wow that was not what we got.  I fished these guys all over creation and not a snook or bonefish came to the boat.  I switched off to other species and negative.  Then I finally got them on nice jacks but that was not their cup of tea.  Hmm, a few more spots that were dead before we headed in but Vic got a nice flounder before the trip ended.  This was quite a surprise since we don't have many flounder in Biscayne Bay.  Time to lick my wounds on the way home.  

Capt. Mo Estevez

http://www.miamibonefishing.com/

786-853-1409

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing

Father and son killed it November 14, 2021

 Greg and Mitch joined me today after having to cancel last year due to Covid.  Finally back in the boat we headed off to look for bait and while they were MIA again we did have some shots at the rare Biscayne Bay redfish and Mitch caught a few jacks on lures while Greg was throwing a fly.  On to spot number two and this one was on fire at the beginning of the outgoing tide.  Here the guys caught nice jacks, snappers and snook on fly and lures.  After killing it with almost nonstop action we hit the flats where we wrapped it up with Mitch catching a nice lemon shark on light tackle.  This was a cool trip with Mitch catching his first snook and his first shark.  Way to go Mitch!

Capt. Mo Estevez

http://www.miamibonefishing.com/

786-853-1409

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing

Fall continues it's winning Streak November 13, 2021

I fish with Paul every year and so he was back again today.  Boy did I look high and low for bait but there was no bait.  Thankfully I had a back up but after checking the lsat bait spot I noticed they were holding deep in the bay, too deep for my cast net to reach them down at the bottom but I tried and caught enough to give us a shot at some nice mutton snappers and other hard fighting species.  Setting up on one of my hotspots I started to live chum a bit and the muttons showed up in full force crushing the live baits I was tossing them.  Just as things were getting good two boats set up right not to me to enjoy my hard earned action, zero courtesy.  No sir, I took off and we fish a few other spots finally getting Paul a mutton and some other species that kept the rods bend and the drags worked.  

Capt. Mo Estevez

http://www.miamibonefishing.com/

786-853-1409

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing

He is on fire! November 12, 2021

Day three with Mike and the man is on fire!  We were back in Homestead with perfect conditions (which included over cast skies and zero wind) and off we went to fish for bonefish.  The bonefishing on the outgoing tide was surprisingly slow with only a few schools showing up for our sight seeing pleasure.  With that slow I took Mike to a creek I like for snook and as soon as we got there we see a tarpon roll.  Nice!  I set up Mike with a good angle to cast to the tarpon and he made a few pinpoint casts until the fish saw his fly.  Then, a silver flash, the line comes tight and there's tarpon 3' in the air.  Yes!  After a bunch of jumps and some give and take Mike had his first tarpon in the boat.  Not long after another tarpon rolls and the process repeats itself except this time the tarpon won after the 4th jump.  Once the incoming tide started the bonefish and tarpon started to move but it was tough getting a fly to them as they were either just out of casting distance or staying deep and they would blow out as we moved over them.  But, Mike did get some shots at another tarpon that ate twice but missed getting hooked twice.  That's tarpon for you! 

Capt. Mo Estevez

http://www.miamibonefishing.com/

786-853-1409

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing

The Golden Slob November 11, 2021

 Mike was back at it again but this time we had less than ideal conditions so I decided to fish out of Key Biscayne where we would have some cover from the unusually high winds.  Sticking to fly fishing we were limited in where we could fish and the first spot didn't produce any snook, jacks or snappers.  We were fishing a floating line and I decided to switch reels and use a sinking line.  Well, that didn't last long.  Just a few casts in with the expensive sinking line a black tip shark exploded on a school of mullet and ate Mike's fly.  Cool right? No, not cool because in seconds the shark turned around and bit off the fly line taking with him the crucial sinking tip part of the fly line.  Dang, there went $75.00!  Back to using a floating line but now with a heavier fly.  We bounced around to different spots where Mike caught his first mackerel (several of them) and then jacks, blue runners and then it happened.  At our last stop I had this nagging feeling something was going to happen and after putting a few jacks in the boat, something devoured his fly and make a long run.  Mike tells me "yeah, I'm over my head with this one", hilarious!  Mike did a great job of fighting what would end of being his first snook and a slob at that.  Wow Mike!  

Capt. Mo Estevez

http://www.miamibonefishing.com/

786-853-1409

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing

This didn't take long November 10, 2021

Mike fishes with me several times a year for three days each time and Mike is a really laid back and cool guy and today we got a hot start.  We began by taking advantage of the calm conditions and looked for bonefish on fly.  Not long after Mike gets a bite but missed it.  Then a few minutes later he sweet talked a bonefish into eating and got his first of the day.  Nice!  From there we moved to to snook which were MIA, on fly anyway, and finished the morning loading the livewell with live pilchards.  The plan was to fish structure and live chum so Mike could get a mutton on fly but the wrecks were slow.  However, the last wreck we fished paid off and as I lived chummed Mike kept tossing the fly and caught snapper, yellow jacks, trigger fish (yes trigger fish on fly!) small amberjack, bluefish and blue runners.  In the process he had a huge barracuda try to eat one of his hooked fish and then a big black tip shark also tried the same thing a while later.  We wrapped it up and headed back.  What a fun day with a great guy!   

Capt. Mo Estevez

http://www.miamibonefishing.com/

786-853-1409

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing

This didn't start well... November 7, 2021

 Remember my last report about my back?  Turns out I went to the gym after my last trip and while doing weights I pulled my lower back, incline bench press at that!  Now I'm in pain, can hardly walk and I had today's trip on the books.  Todays trips was with Kevin and last time we fished it was this May and he got his first bonefish and his son Noah got a massive barracuda.  Today was different as he was with his friend Ryan and Ryan had never caught bonefish.  Oh, and my back is out, it's 59 degrees and the wind is howling at 20-25 MPH.  I almost had to cancel the trip and Kevin was game so we went for it.  It wasn't easy with few places to hide from the wind and my back killing me with the slightest movement but I worked through it.  Having to fish a bit deeper water as the flats we inaccessible the guys caught snappers but no bonefish.  I made a move and there they were as we went 3-4 on bonefish with Ryan and Kevin both got 9 pounders.  Way to go guys and now it's time for me to heal up.  

Capt. Mo Estevez

http://www.miamibonefishing.com/

786-853-1409

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing

It was a dark and stormy... November 6, 2021

I hadn't fished with Ethan in a few years as he's in college now and busy but guess who his cousin is, David from last Sunday!  This means that David was back on board today with Ethan and we had to pick our plan carefully due to the coming cold front and nasty weather.  Well, after going 0-4 on snook I loaded up the live well with live pilchards and off we went to fish some shallow wrecks.  It wasn't long until the boys were hooking up but boy we got rained on for a good while as the winds increased.  The highlight was Ethan hooking and landing a massive mutton snapper on a light bonefish rod but there was steady action on smaller muttons and big mangrove snappers as well.  Nice!  I have to tell you the run back to the marina was no fun but we got back.  However, on the run back I felt a weird something in my lower back.  More on that in my next report! 

Capt. Mo Estevez

http://www.miamibonefishing.com/

786-853-1409

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing

Mixed bag of insanity October 31, 2021

Back from my honeymoon I hit the water with regular client David and father and in law Elliott.  David always wants to fish for sharks but I suggested we change things up this time and he was cool with it.  It was a packed house as every spot I went to for snook had at least two boats on it but not snook fishing.  Whatever.  I went to another spot that has been holding bait and IT WAS HOLDING BAIT, by the thousands!  I cast netted tons of pilchards filling the live well to the brim and off we went.  I had to fish a channel I like because all the other spots had boats on them.  Wow, Sunday fishing! Once in the channel I started to live chum and things got good quick with mutton snappers and yellow jacks destroying the baits and Elliott outfishing David, but....  While having a blast with fish on every cast two big lemon sharks move in and David got all excited so I tossed out a piece of frozen yellow jack I brought and within moments David was on to a 200lb lemon.  After an hour fight and coming to the boat several times the big beast broke us off.  Ouch!   

Capt. Mo Estevez

http://www.miamibonefishing.com/

786-853-1409

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing