Capt Mo's Fishing Reports: July 2026

Friday, July 31, 2026

End of July Report July 15-31, 2026

We wrapped up July with a few different trips under surprisingly comfortable conditions for a typical hot July. Around Key Biscayne there have been early morning tarpon 60-80lbs eating blue crabs for the first hour or two of the morning. After that they are gone not to be found again. Floating back a live blue crab has yielded us at least an early morning bit per trip. These are fantastic numbers but they are pretty typical for summer when the water gets hot and we have resident tarpon to fish for. Also, around Key Biscayne there have been a few hammer head sharks around that will come right to the boat and try to eat our hooked fish. We've freelined back live jacks and have gotten a few bites but none landed so far. For those that want action, yellow jacks, horse eye jacks, jack crevalles, lady fish, mangrove snappers, barracudas and more have been plentiful eating our shrimp offerings.

Moving down to Homestead, to my amazement the last few weeks have not been spectacular for bonefish and permit. We have been able to land some bonefish but not the numbers we usually get in July. There have been permit around but again that has been inconsistent as has the fishing for juvenile tarpon. On the flats the shark fishing has been solid with plenty of fun and fast lemon sharks around willing to gobble up whatever dead baits we throw at them.

So, while fishing for the big three (bonefish, tarpon and permit) has been inconsistent the latter half of the month, everything else is working as it should. Thanks for reading and I'll be back in two weeks with a early August report.

Capt. Mo Estevez

786-853-1409

www.MiamiBonefishing.com (16' Flats Boat)

www.MiamiBayFishingCharters.com (22' Bay Boat)

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing @MiamiBayFishingCharters

Sunday, July 19, 2026

A few Surprises. July 1-15, 2026

I hope all of you had a great Fourth of July and stayed safe and cool because it's hot! I always complain about the heat but as I fish with clients from all over the country the common theme is that "it's just as hot or hotter back home", I guess we're not alone in South Florida dealing with heat. So far this summer we have been dealing with a drought which means the absence of the afternoon thunder storms that usually pushes everyone off the water and back to the marina. The lack of afternoon rain storms has allowed us to fish more of the afternoon for those that have been wanting to fish deeper into the day. As for the fishing, it's been good and there have been a few surprises to keep us excited. Around Homestead the fishing for bonefish and permit early morning has been solid as we enjoy the slightly cooler and windless mornings. There have been plenty of tailing bonefish and permit as well as schools of juvenile tarpon patrolling shorelines ready to take lures and flies. These juvenile tarpon are averaging 10-30 pounds making them perfect for light bonefish rods or 8wt fly rods. On the oceanside flats the shark fishing has been very good for lemon sharks ranging from 80 pounds to 200 pounds and I've even seen a few black tip sharks mixed in as well. On these same flats there have been big barracudas ranging between 15-25 pounds. These barracudas are a ton of fun as they sizzle across the flats when hooked and make unexpectedly big jumps trying their best to imitate tarpon. Speaking of tarpon, around Key Biscayne there have been the resident tarpon active in the early morning. While these are not the 120 plus pound springtime fish, they are 40-80 pounds making them fun but not exhausting to fight during the summer time. Wen targeting these redident tarpon this month we have been hooking at least one per trip in the early morning and the bait of choice has been a live blue crab. For those that don't care to spend the entire morning chasing tarpon, Key Biscayne has had plenty of other smaller, faster paced options. One of the species we have been catching in the first half of July that has been a surprise have been pompano. These are really cool fish that fight hard on light tackle and are a smaller cousin of the permit. Spring time is the time of year when I tend to catch pompano so it has been a surprise to catch these in July but heck I'll take it. Also on the list of what we have been catching has been:

Jack crevales

Horse eye jacks

Yellow jacks

Bonefish

Snappers

Lady fish

Oh, there have also been a few hammer head sharks about 6 feet long prowling our fishing areas and several times we have fed them a bait and gotten bites but they have come off. I'm itching to land one of these hammer head sharks as they are not common inshore in Miami. Well, that's what I have so far this month, enjoy the pics below and I'll be back at the end of the month.