Screw the heat! July 22, 2023

"Alex, 11 o'clock 30 feet, cast 10 feet in front of the wake!  Tyler you cast 2 o'clock 35 feet, 10 feet in front of the wake!"  That's how today started with zero wind, calm conditions and bonefish all around.  Early on Tyler hooked and lost a freight train of a bonefish and then lost another one while Alex missed the bite on a third one, all within 45 minutes of our trip.  What a way to start!  Once the fast and furious action subsided an hour later, we poled off 100 yards and schools were coming straight at us down a shore line.  School after school and shot after shot started to add up until the tide slackened and so did the fishing.  So far we were licking our wounds having lost two fish, missed another bite and no matter how good the cast these guys were making, the schools of bonefish would swim over our live shrimp and not eat it, probably not seeing it.  Man that was tough.  But, oh but, when that tide turned I had grown concerned because most of the best fishing has been on the outgoing tide.  Oh, but I said "but".  Once the tide turned and started coming back in it was on and the guys got three bonefish each for a total at the end of the trip of 9 bonefish hooked and six landed.  Yes, that is what summer is all about!!!  Well, I'm taking a few days off for my birthday but I'll be back at the end of next week and ready to get back to work.  

Capt. Mo Estevez

http://www.miamibonefishing.com/

786-853-1409

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing

Working through the heat July 16, 2023

Man it's been hot but that comes as no surprise to anyone reading this report.  Today I had Jonathan and Mary Ann aboard for a 6 hour Sunday trip.  Right off the bat at 7am the water temps were 88 degrees and the bonefishing was slow.  I moved them to other flats to shark fish and boy was it slow with Jonathan hooking a nice lemon shark but the hook coming free about 10 minutes into the fight.  At this point the water temps had reached 90 degrees and I wasn't seeing much activity so we moved on to wrap up the trip bonefishing.  It turned out this was the right call and it paid off with Jonathan landed his first bonefish.  Whew, that was close! 

Capt. Mo Estevez

http://www.miamibonefishing.com/

786-853-1409

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing

Key Largo BBI Event July 13, 2023

Well, the fun BBI tournament in Key Largo was back on today after Covid shut it down for 3 years.  This is a fund raising tournament for a ministry that helps single moms coming out of abusive relationships and they are assisted with job training, clothing, work, shelter and more.  I had three very cool people on board today in Dawn, Jan and James.  They were so laid back they told me they would like to be back early so we fished for three hours and in the process Dawn landed a really nice snook, James lost a tarpon and landed a jack while Jan sat back and relaxed.  Then, they decided it was time to hit the pool and we were done for the day.  Such cool people and I'm glad it all worked out for us.  

Capt. Mo Estevez

http://www.miamibonefishing.com/

786-853-1409

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing

Bonefish/Tailers/Broken Hearts July 5-8, 2023

These last few days has been bonefish and permit fishing with different clients such as Mark, Elie and Dorian.  I have to admit, a 6AM start has been the key and for the last of the outgoing tide the fishing has been on fire with tailing bonefish and permit all over the place.  Sounds awesome right?  Well, it has bene but we haven't been hooking fish.  It's really been a combination of short casts, spooky fish and casts that were off by a mere 12".  When there are tailing fish the margin for error is close to zero and even when you do things right it just doesn't happen.  It's been a frustrating week.  

Capt. Mo Estevez

http://www.miamibonefishing.com/

786-853-1409

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing

Double in the heat! July 3, 2023

I had two trips today, rare for this time of year, and both trips went well.  In the morning I fished with Matt and his wife Danielle and you couldn't meet nice people.  Since they got to the marina about 30 minutes late we decided to fish for bonefish south of us and avoid a long time consuming run to the ocean side of the bay.  The fishing started slow but eventually Matt got his first bonefish and Danielle hooked two, losing both and we missed a couple of more takes.  

In the afternoon Arman jumped aboard with two buddies, Josh and Josh.  We basically ran around trying to catch dinner but the water temps were at 90 degrees and all the larger fish were MIA.  However, Josh did get his first bonefish and that is always awesome.  When I got home my family tells me the heat index was 114 degrees, the hottest day of the year so far.  Hmm, it didn't seem that hot out on the water. 

Capt. Mo Estevez

http://www.miamibonefishing.com/

786-853-1409

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing

Tailers SUCK! July 2, 2023

If there is one word to describe tailing bonefish in ultra shallow, ultra calm water is SPOOKY!  I got an early start today with and his friend in order to target bonefish and permit on fly.  Six AM at the dock before things got hot and crazy and off we went where the tailing bonefish have been as predictable as it can get.  They were there and they were spooky!  Lex can throw a fly and made some really good casts at them but they would spook while the fly was in the air.  We then switched to fishing for small tarpon and we got shots at a few schools of tailing permit.  WOW!  In the end we didn't hook a fish but the shots were there and the adrenaline was flowing fast and often.  

Capt. Mo Estevez

http://www.miamibonefishing.com/

786-853-1409

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing

Ending the month strong June 30, 2023

I always like to end the month on a high note and June was no exception.  Man was it hot today as Fax and I chased bonefish on fly!  We started at 7am and by 8:30am it was scorching.  As I poled all morning long after schools of bonefish the heat felt like it was increasing every half hour.  But, it was worth it.  As I poled along we blew out a few snook and eventually Fax got a snook on fly, his first on a fly rod.  Then the rest of the time we were setting up on schools of bonefish that were cruising and tailing around us.  We had some really solid shots but the bones never got a fly in their mouths.  Once conditions changed we hit the finger channels looking for hard fighting and tasty yellow jacks but most fish were MIA in the 89 degree water.  We called it a day a few minutes early and got rained on as we idled in the marina channel and it was actually really refreshing.  

Capt. Mo Estevez

http://www.miamibonefishing.com/

786-853-1409

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing

They got spoiled! June 23, 2023

I got a last minute call from Bobby and he wanted to go fishing with his wife Rachael while down here on vacation and since that was my only open day, I was open and we decided to head out.  I gave them the two best options for fun fish, sharks or bonefish as the snappers run small in the summer.  Bobby decided to bonefish and so we were off.  It wasn't epic and we had to work but Rachael scored first with her first bonefish.  There was quite a lull of slow fishing and fish not swimming much but eventually Bobby hooked up but ended up losing the fish moments later.  A bit later he hooked up again and landed his first bonefish.  Yes!  Right before the trip was over he got another take but the hook never did set properly.  Well, I can't complain as they both caught their bonefish! 

Capt. Mo Estevez

http://www.miamibonefishing.com/

786-853-1409

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing

Bonefish June 22, 2023

I had my morning trip with Brian and his daughter.  They wanted to try out fishing in Biscayne Bay while on vacation so we hit the flats and shark fished.  They ended up hooking 4 sharks and losing them all.  That was weird but that was not it.  We ran back to a flat at my favorite stage of the tide for a quick change up.  This one was more for Brian and not long into fishing this flat, he hooked up and landed his first bonefish, a nice one at that!  We decided to keep it in the net in order to not beat the fish up and we wrapped up a really nice morning trip.  

Capt. Mo Estevez

http://www.miamibonefishing.com/

786-853-1409

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing