Bomb Cyclone Winter Report December 26-30, 2022

Wow, not like the rest of the country but we got hammered by this winter storm in Miami, by Miami standards.  One day the fishing was on fire with water temps in the mid 70's and bonefish everywhere and then we got hit on 12/24.  The air temps were in the low to mid 40's for about 3 days and barely reaching 55 the next few days with constant cloud cover, drizzling rain and high winds.  What this did is drop the water temps to a freezing 59 degrees and not much likes to be in 59 degree water.  I have to admit, my anglers toughed it out and it all worked out.  I had one trip on 12/26 and then 2 trips per day 12/27-12/29 and a half day on 12/30.  The pattern was find deeper water fish deep and take a brake from bonefishing.  And the other pattern was better fishing during the outgoing tide which was always on the second trip of the day.  This was odd as the water temps were the same but hey, they're fish, I'm not and they always keep me guessing.  Anyway, the highlights were snook on live bait, lots of jacks and muttons snappers in the 10-16" range, a bonefish caught in a channel fishing deep (where I expected them to be trying to stay warm) and an assortment of others species including a warmer day on the 30th that had some small tarpon show up but refuse to eat.  It's been a tough weather week but with great clients and enough action to keep them happy.  

Capt. Mo Estevez

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The Swedes are here! December 21, 2022

Carl and his brother Gus are hard core fishermen from Sweden.  Gus' name really isn't Gus but in spite of my numerous attempts to pronounce his name properly I just couldn't make it happen so they mercifully asked me to call him Gus.  Thank you guys!  Anyway, they wanted to try fishing for bonefish so we gave it a shot.  The morning started with zero wind and a big tide, so much water we couldn't see the bonefish around us except for an a school here and there.  We swung and missed way too many times but the high water was making it tough.  Then we got the slack tide and the action died off.  I told them to wait for the tide to change and as soon as it did the bonefish started moving again.  Thanks for making me look good mister bonefish!  Not long after Carl hooked up and landed his first bonefish, a solid 7 pounder.  A few casts later Gus misses a bite and then Carl hooks up again.  There was a steady flow of bonefish schools moving through and we ended the morning hooking 9 and landing 6.  Most of the fish were in the 7 to 9lb range.  Welcome to Miami Bonefishing guys! 

Capt. Mo Estevez

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More Dad/Son Fun December 19, 2022

Matt and Ryan fished with me for the first time about 8 years ago under terrible conditions and Ryan caught a shark.  Since then, Matt and I have fished a few time which included him sight casting a solid permit some years ago.  Today they were both back in the skiff for bonefish then a fresh fish dinner.  The bonefishing was a little off today but Ryan caught his first bonefish early on.  After that, we took off in search of bait, pilchards to be exact, but they were MIA, no pelicans diving on bait, not large schools, nothing.  We searched high and low and still nothing.  I let the guys know that without pilchards we were just going to catch small fish so we decided to bonefish some more.  That was the ticket!  We missed a few bites towards the end of the trip until Matt hooked up to a solid fish and after a number of big runs, the big bone was at the side of the boat.  Ryan on the other hand never did get his bonefish on fly.  We'll hit it again Ryan! 

Capt. Mo Estevez

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Dad Son Team December 16, 2022

A local client of mine referred Long and his dad Carl to me when they came into town so today was the day we would fish and what a blast we had.  They really could care less what they caught and weren't interested in taking fish to eat so I suggested we give bonefish a shot.  We gave it a shot and the bonefish responded being very nice and giving the guys a great show.  The guys caught 5 bonefish hooked 7 and were impressed with the speed and power of these incredible fish.  The weather has been perfect and the water temps are in the mid 70's, it doesn't get better than that plus now Long and Carl view their local fish in N.Y. with different eyes.  :)

Capt. Mo Estevez

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Not rookies anymore! December 14, 2022

I introduce you to Levi and Kennedy, a sweet couple from Jacksonville, FL and the nicest young couple you could meet.  Anyway, Levi wanted to try fishing for bonefish and mix it up with other species if needed.  We didn't need to.  It didn't start red hot and the bones made us work but eventually we found them and it was on!  Levi landed the first fish and then Kennedy landed hers and then more for Levi and another one for Kennedy.  Well, you get the picture.  It was on for the second half of the trip, we ended the trip on a high note and by the time we headed in these guys were hooking and landing bonefish like pros.  

Capt. Mo Estevez

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What a way to break him in December 11, 2022

Ok, I realize the title sounds bad but read on.  

Mike emailed me at the last minute asking if I was available Sunday afternoon.  Ouch, that is the worst time to fish in Miami due to the heavy boat traffic and the water being pounded all day by boaters and fishermen alike but I said yes.  We met up in Homestead after his meeting and we were idling out of the channel by 1:20pm.  This was a fly fishing trip so we talked about it and decided to target easier species first in order to get him acclimated to strip striking and saltwater fly fishing generally as this was his first time in the salt.  Incredibly, not only did we have perfect weather that kept getting better as the trip progressed but there were hardly any boats out.  I took him to a wreck where he caught yellow jacks, blue runners and trigger fish on fly and practiced his double haul and strip striking.  Once he had some practice and with an hour and change left in the trip we turned our attention to bone fishing.  It didn't take long until he got his first take but the fish didn't get the hook.  But the second fish, oh the second fish crushed the fly as we watched him wake behind the fly, create a swirl as he at the fly and made a blistering run around some obstruction in the water that almost broke us off.  After a few minutes Mike's bonefish was in the landing net for a photo op and we ran back with big smiles.  Wow, congrats Mike! 

Capt. Mo Estevez

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Insanity December 7, 2022

Jake, oh Jake!  He couldn't have had a better day and he couldn't be a nicer guy.  Jake booked me at the last minute for today and wanted to fish for bonefish.  Well, we did but I started off with "It's been really good but not great yesterday.".  Then, Biscayne Bay made me eat my words by providing Jake with 13 bonefish landed and 15 hooked in total!  Crazy for a half day!  It started off slow, or at least I thought because I wanted quick redemption, but it really didn't.  Within the first half hour Jake landed his first bonefish and then kept coming in the boat until the tide slackened.  Once the tide picked up again Jake was hooking up on almost every cast!  We literally left fish biting as I asked if he wanted to make a few more casts but he had to go.  Wow! 

Capt. Mo Estevez

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The Roller Coaster December 6, 2022

Great one day, OK the next, that's how it's been the week.  Today I had Peter for a 6 hour trip for an all around mixed bag of fishing.  We started off bone fishing and after much work we landed one and missed a couple of bites.  This wasn't great based on how it's been it was slow however, any time you catch a bone fish it's a great day.  Anyway, we tried snook fishing but the water level was really high and they were tucked deep into the mangroves.  Moving off to find bait I located a huge school of pilchards and quickly loaded up the live well.  Fishing two wrecks and a channel proved slow so I took one more awing at it in a channel that I hadn't fished in a while and there we landed three nice yellow jacks, a small black grouper and lost a big grouper to the rocks.  The trip wrapped up with a little more bone fishing where we drew a blank.  

Capt. Mo Estevez

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Finally! December 4, 2022

After a day off I was back to work today with Colby and his sister Madison in order to celebrate his birthday.  I was not really comfortable with the way it's been but you don't know if you don't go so we went.  They wanted bonefish and spot one was perfect, perfect tide, perfect water temps, perfect moon phase and it was dead.  Oh oh.  Spot two was dead.  What, come on!  Spot three and the last spot we were going to fish was the one and they ended our half day trip going 5 for 6 with Madison beating Colby 3 bonefish to 2 bonefish.  Not a bad way to spend your birthday and for me to get the fishing back on track.  Happy Birthday Colby! 

Capt. Mo Estevez

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I don't like this! December 2, 2022

Alec was on board today and we are more friends than client/guide and we fish together a lot, and for a long time and therefore there is forgiveness when there's a slow day because boy was that needed today.  The forecast was correct with 20 MPH winds but that usually isn't a huge reason for slow fishing.  We tried everything for bonefish and snook and it was so slow we decided to cut the full day trip to a half day.  Wow, two slow days in a row, this sucks! 

Capt. Mo Estevez

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It was a grind but... December 1, 2022

I was looking forward to a great day on the water with Ted from St. Louis as we targeted bonefish and snook on fly and spin. However, Biscayne Bay had other ideas.  The forecast called for 20 plus MPH winds but the first half of the trip was nice and calm.  The fishing was also calm, the bad kind of calm.  We couldn't buy a fish other than a couple of bonefish takes on fly but they were swings and misses.  As the wind got worst as predicted we ended the day fishing for snook on lures at a nearby creek.  I found a school of mullet and Ted tossed a top water right where it should've landed, just outside the school.  Twitch, twitch, BAM!  We saw the nice snook come out of the water to crush the plug and a nice fight later we had the fish of the day in the landing net for a photo op.  Whew, tough day but at least we pulled off a nice fish at the end.  

Capt. Mo Estevez

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Thanksgiving charter November 24, 2022

Ken and 10 year old Gianna were back on board today and they are always great to fish with.  Ken and I have been fishing for longer than I can remember and it's great to watch Gianna grow up with each trip we take.  The plan today was bonefish and lots of action so we started off bonefishing and while it didn't happen as quickly as the past few days, I'm getting spoiled I know, we eventually started getting bites and hooking fish with the total being 2-4.  Switching off to action fishing I made a long run, found a ton of pilchards and threw the cast net.  They were in 7' of water which is pretty deep for my cast net but I let it sink for an eternity and when I pulled it up it was loaded with tons of silver shining pilchards.  I loaded up the live well and gave it one more throw for good measure, plus it is so satisfying to watch the cast net load up with bait.  Hitting a couple of wrecks and channels live chumming proved to be dead.  This was unfathomable to me but yes, it was dead in spit of perfect baits and lots of live chumming.  Switching to shrimp Gianna caught a bunch of trigger fish before we moved on.  Whatever you stupid fish, we're off to bonefish some more!  We wrapped up our Thanksgiving Day charter but missing a few more bonefish bites and losing a solid double digit fish deep into the fight just a couple of minutes before release.  Ouch! 

Capt. Mo Estevez

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First time is the perfect time. November 23, 2022

The first time Ralph fished with me earlier this year we didn't catch bonefish on fly but caught a nice shark instead.  Today he brought his son Alex and the goal was to get him on his first bonefish on fly while Ralph would fish spin gear.  Same as yesterday, not long into the trip Alex got his first take from a bonefish but the bone didn't stick.  No worries, a bit later he was on and this time the end result was what we all wanted, Alex's first bonefish on fly.  Along the way Ralph had quite a few bonefish eats but they weren't playing nice and wouldn't get hooked.  Meanwhile Alex had another fish on and it came off right at the side of the boat and I seem to have taken in harder than he did as I held my head in my hands and said "Oh no, what the hell?" and his response was "No worries, I'm having a great time, this is fun."  Thank you Alex!  Not long after Ralph was on and landed a nice bonefish to brake the spin curse of the morning.  The run back to the marina was nice with some fish under our belts and smiles all over.  

Capt. Mo Estevez

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Not this time! November 22, 2022

Yesterday David and I met up at the marina for the first of our two day trip.  But, it was pouring rain and the wind was howling at about 25 MPH, pretty tough for fly fishing.  We called it a day and met up today instead with his buddy Clay.  The forecast was way off again today for, for the better with cloudy skies but no wind and no rain.  We focused  the first half of the trip on bonefish where the guys each caught their first bonefish on fly, yes!  Using a heavy shrimp pattern and a slower strip than normal in order to keep the fly deep in the unusually high tide we scored and missed a few more bites but the trick worked and the guy's patience paid off as we had two bonefish in the boat before the first hour of the trip.  Once that slowed down we made a long run to cast net live pilchards and then live chum a wreck.  This was fun and a great way to wrap up an already great trip.  The first couple handfuls of live pilchards produced constant explosions and the guys wore themselves out catching yellow jacks on fly with awesome surface explosions on baitfish patterns and gurglers.  I love it and the guys did too! 

Capt. Mo Estevez

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They got bigger and bigger! November 19, 2022

Fax and I had moved our last trip to today because of significant wind but today was looking only slightly better.  Anyway, we hit the water and I was apprehensive as to the state of the fishing after four days with Mike.  Ha, it started slow and I was secretly freaking out but part of being a guide is having a good poker face, plus it helps if you're covered with a buff.  :)  Anyway, eventually the overcast skies and increasing wind kept us moving slow through the different spots until Fax hooked up and landed his first bonefish of the morning, a nice 8 lber.  A while later he lands another one about 9lbs, then another one about the same size until he landed the last fish of the day at about 11-12lbs.  Dang Fax!  It worked out, the fishing is back on track and by the time we headed back it was blowing a steady 20 MPH.  What happened to the typical perfect weather pattern of November?  

Capt. Mo Estevez

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Four days with Mike November 14-17, 2022

Mike and I always have a great time and these four days were no exception.  We changed it up between Biscayne Bay and Everglades National Park and the theme for the four days was tough, slow fishing.  It's incredible how fishing can go from epic to slow in a matter of ONE day!  Anyway, day one is Biscayne Bay we targeted bonefish at a number of different flats but all was slow until half way through the trip when Mike landed a cool bonefish on fly.  The morning did start with shots at small tarpon and although we got several eats, they never did get the fly in their mouths.  Why, how????  During the trip we targeted snook as well but that proved to be slow.  Day two in the Everglades the highlight was a couple of snook on fly for Mike and I landed a small red on lures.  Day 3 back in the bay and we fished a couple of wrecks that had small blue runners on them and then wrapped up the day with a last minute bonefish on fly.  The last day was back in the glades and this time Mike had a tone of shots at small tarpon, landed a snook and a nice lemon shark on fly.  Tough fishing but great company, great conversations and lots of laughs.  We'll get 'em in February Mike! 

Capt. Mo Estevez

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Spoiled man! November 13, 2022

Well, this turned out for the the best.  Stan had booked me for bonefish on fly and spin for Friday but after some change of plans on his end and an open slot on mine we changed it to Sunday.  I was expecting loads of boat traffic but it turned out to be fine and off we went.  I can tell you we had to be patient and work for it but eventually Stan got one on spin, a nice bonefish to break the ice and reward him his first bonefish.  Switching to fly he got another one, the biggest of the day before landing another one on spin.  Three for three, not bad Stan! 

Capt. Mo Estevez

http://www.miamibonefishing.com/

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Before Storm Nicole Hits November 8, 2022

Man, this all really worked out perfectly!  Nick had booked me for Wednesday to try for the second time to catch a bonefish on fly.  Last time we fished he had some shots but it didn't work out.  Now I'm staring at the forecast and tropical storm, possibly hurricane, Nicole is headed out way with really nasty weather and a blood moon lunar eclipse, not sure what that means though.  Geeze.  Well, we moved the trip up to Tuesday and went for it.  When we met at the ramp the wind was calm. What?  Where is the 30 MPH winds we had all day and all night on Monday?  Anyway, we get to the first spot in almost no wind, pretty skies and clear water and on his 4th or 5th cast he gets a bonefish to eat his fly but misses the hook set.  This happened 2 more times in 10 minutes until he hooked and landed number four.  Yes!  This pace kept up until he had hooked 8 and landed five bonefish on fly in an hour!!!! Crazy!  Eventually the wind kicked up to about 20 MPH, the fishing slowed and it was time to head it.  How crazy is that?!  Now as I write this it's raining and really windy but it's OK, Nick got his bonefish on fly! 

Capt. Mo Estevez

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A Change in the Wind November 4, 2022

Two trips today once again.  the morning trip was with Vic and Billy.  They reminded me the last time we fished they only caught a flounder.  Oh, tough day that day.  Well, I wanted to make it up on this trip and they were up for bonefish so off we went, me stressing out hoping the craziness would continue today.  Ah, it took a little longer than usual (I've been REALLY spoiled), but after about an hour and a half we finally connected with Billy hooking up first but losing the right at our feet.  Dang it!  Next was Vic and he didn't forgive, landing his first bonefish of the morning.  This continued with good regularity until the guys decided they wanted to head in early.  The total tally was 5 bonefish landed out of 9 hooked.  Off to my afternoon trip.  

It's funny to me how things work.  I pay attention to most everything that happens on the water but miss a bunch of stuff in real life, like my wife asking me to do things around the house. LOL  Anyway, towards the end of the morning trip the wind started to kick up and when I read the forecast for Saturday the winds were cranking up to 20+ MPH.  As I waited for Patrick, my afternoon trip, the wind kept increasing until we got on the water a bit after noon.  Turns out the fishing was completely shut down at this point although water clarity was good, water temps were the same, the wind was ass bad as in the past were we've caught plenty of fish including bonefish but it may have been an approaching front/low pressure.  Anyway, we fished all over creation, no bonefish, missed a snook, caught a few cudas and jacks and snappers but no bonefish.  Although Patrick was happy and was a great guy, inside I was so frustrated.  Urgh!  

Capt. Mo Estevez

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The Insanity Continues November 3, 2022

OK, here we go again!  I had a double today, both trips with great long time clients and as I always mention, I have to be ready to change it up at a moments notice.  Staying flexible throughout a trip or throughout the course of the day is important with today being one of those days.  

My morning trip was with brothers Kevin and David.  I started off killing two birds with one stone, fishing for snook while looking for bait, neither of which were around.  Off to bonefish like Kevin wanted.  We started with bait and Kevin quickly got 6 to the boat using shrimp while David landed two.  Then Kevin switched to fly and missed the first two fish but eventually things worked out and he landed two on fly.  Wow, that was a solid end to a half day morning trip.  

My afternoon trip was with Kivi and Charlie and they wanted mutton snappers and other species to eat.  With this fishing live pilchards is of paramount importance so I crossed the bay and located some pilchards.  I netted a bunch but not enough to properly live chum since they were in scattered quick moving schools.  We made the best of it and in the end Charlie landed a 10 yellow jack, we missed two big mutton bites and landed a couple of smaller fish.  

Capt. Mo Estevez

http://www.miamibonefishing.com/

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5+5, My kind of Math October 29, 2022

I hadn't fished with Glenn in a while so I was really looking forward to fishing with him again today.  He was good with whatever we did so we started off fishing for snook.  It didn't take long for Glenn to get 5 snook in the boat using artificial lures.  Once the action slowed we moved off to bonefishing and it took some time for the fish to start moving but once they did Glenn quickly got 5 bonefish and called it a day early.  Nice!  The bonefishing has been incredible and we could have landed quite a few more if we stayed but to quote Glenn "why push it on an incredible morning?".  

Capt. Mo Estevez

http://www.miamibonefishing.com/

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Four Incredible Days October 24-27, 2022

Look, I'm a fishing guide and we are know to stretch the truth at times, or a lot but this report is no exaggeration.  Chris fished with me last year and he brought his son Brian this year for four days of fishing.  The goal was for them to catch barracudas on lures and mix in some other stuff.  Well, we had high water the whole week thanks to a combination of spring tides and king tides so that made the snook fishing slow and limited us on some barracuda spots.  BUT, no problem.  Over the four days we fished we spent most of our time looking for barracuda and caught plenty with a few really nice ones mixed in which were the size we were looking for.  Again, BUT we would sneak off and do something else for a couple of hours each day and it paid off.  Most of the time we bonefished and it was incredible.  We spent approximately 4-5 hours bonefishing over the course of four days and landed 27 bonefish.  We got 1 on the first day, 15 on the second day and 11 on the third day.  WOW!  We also mixed in fishing mullet muds where we hooked and lost two tarpon and landed jacks through the four days.  As for me, highlight number one was spending time with these guys and a very closed second, or 1b was 27 bonefish.  Nice!  

Capt. Mo Estevez

http://www.miamibonefishing.com/

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WHAT????? October 16, 2022

Bonefishing in general this year has been off the charts and this fall has been breath takingly good but today, oh today!  Local angler Lucas booked for a bonefish trip and that is what we did, pretty much.  The first spot was slow but the second was on fire.  Dealing a stiff 18 MPH wind we did what we could and it was fish after fish for Lucas as he caught his first bonefish and then 11 others after that!  12 for 14 on bonefish!  We ended the trip trying to catch snook but Lucas had a blast catching jacks and barracudas that were in the creeks instead of the snook.  Wow, what a day! 

Capt. Mo Estevez

http://www.miamibonefishing.com/

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Spectacular Day! October 14, 2022

I had Alec on board today and he is a long time client and friend who told me "You decide what we are fishing for."  Great!  First stop was snook, drew a blank but loaded up on live pilchards.  Then we hit a channel and live chummed the daylights with the live pilchards and had huge mutton snappers going crazy destroying the baits.  I told Alec to wait to see them exploding, then cast his live bait into them.  When he would he was on within seconds landing 2 solid muttons in the 15-12lb range, losing another solid fish and landing a few other small ones.  Once that was over with we hit a creek for snook and lost two snook.  Ouch.  We wrapped up the day by hooking 6 bonefish and landing 5.  Dang this was a good day!!!!

Capt. Mo Estevez

http://www.miamibonefishing.com/

786-853-1409

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing