What a way to start fall! September 16-30, 2026

What’s up everyone and welcome back to my bimonthly fishing report. We close out the month of September exactly on schedule with the beginning of the mullet run just starting to trickle through Biscayne Bay. This has been a welcome site because as hot as September has been I thought the mullet run was going to get delayed but this last week has started nice and cool and increasing number of mullets have been flowing through into Miami. Early mornings have been a ton of fun as we have been targeting tarpon and snook using lures and it has been exceptionally consistent. The last few trips we have been averaging 6 to 7 Tarpon hook ups. These are juvenile tarpon in the 10 to 30 pound range that are feeding on schools of mullet early morning. My bait of choice has been top water lures and the strikes, as expected, are absolutely savage. 

The snook fishing is starting to become more consistent as I have been targeting them a bit more now as the mullet run begins. There are still some permit around and we had some pretty solid shots last week at a couple of schools early morning. 

The bonefishing has been good throughout the day and that has been a great species to target after the first hour or two of tarpon and fishing. Bait such as pilchards are still not thick in the bay but I expect the month of October to have them start to make a presence, however there are still schools around and a live well full of them will be a perfect opportunity to live chum big mutton snappers and yellow jacks. 

On the flats, we’ve also been seeing plenty of sharks and some barracudas. 

In the deeper areas of Biscayne Bay there have been tons of big ladyfish willing to eat anything thrown at them and every now and then either a giant barracuda or a lemon shark or black tip shark will eat them right off our lures next to the boat. 

So it’s been a lot of fun with plenty of species to target and it’ll just get better next month so make sure to check back mid October for the biweekly fall fishing 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

Fall is coming September 1-15, 2026 Report

I know September 22 is the first day of fall bit I'm hoping it feels like fall sooner than that.  So far the first half of September has been hot and muggy, kind of like August ,so fishing has been looking more like the end of summer with one exception but I'll get to that exception in a bit.  

Bonefishing has been rather steady as Ken below found out releasing three nice bones in about an hour, pretty good! There are still juvenile tarpon around but they have been a bit pickier than usual as we throw hard bait at them. I haven't snook fished as I haven't been booked for it but I have seen a couple around.  Actually, on a pretty crazy incident Ken was throwing top water lures for snook when a crocodile busted his plug and got hooked.  So crazy!  

So, the species that is making the first half of September feel like fall are ladyfish.  They usually flood Biscayne Bay in big numbers this month and they are starting to do just that.  These ladies are so much fun on light tackle and fly.  They are aggressive, fight hard and make big jumps.  

There are still plenty of permit around both the oceanside and west side flats.  The ideal scenario is early morning with no wind as we look for permit tails and wakes.  

That's it for the first half of the month.  Check back at the end of the month for the next 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