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

http://www.miamibonefishing.com/

786-853-1409

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing

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

http://www.miamibonefishing.com/

786-853-1409

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing

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

http://www.miamibonefishing.com/

786-853-1409

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing

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

http://www.miamibonefishing.com/

786-853-1409

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing

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

http://www.miamibonefishing.com/

786-853-1409

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing

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

http://www.miamibonefishing.com/

786-853-1409

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing

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

http://www.miamibonefishing.com/

786-853-1409

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing

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

http://www.miamibonefishing.com/

786-853-1409

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing

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

http://www.miamibonefishing.com/

786-853-1409

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing

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

http://www.miamibonefishing.com/

786-853-1409

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing

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

http://www.miamibonefishing.com/

786-853-1409

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing