October Full Month Report October 1-31, 2026

What's up everyone and welcome back to my monthly fishing report. Notice this time I said monthly and not bi-monthly. Apparently I forgot to provide you guys with a first half of October fishing report so my apologies for that. October has been a solid month so far although thanks to more than likely the super El Niño over in the Pacific It's been a breezy and warmer than normal October. With that being said, there was a slight delay in the mullet migration into and through Biscayne Bay but after that slight delay It was on fire and all kinds of species were feasting early morning on these hapless mullet. Also delayed was the migration of Pilchard's into the bay, but towards the end of the month large schools started to show up and my last charter of the month I was able to Castnet enough bait for the trip and I was able to do that right at the Marina. How easy is that!

Early morning has been solid for juvenile tarpon in South Biscayne Bay and my approach has been pretty simple. I have been working shorelines, preferably in the lee of any breeze, and throwing top water plugs. It's been really common the see fish rolling in big numbers, but even in the absence of rolling fish, they haven't been able to stay stealthy too long because they've been crushing the schools of mullet as they cruise down the shoreline. I prefer to throw top water plugs at these fish because I have found that it really stands out amongst hundreds of fleeing mullet as opposed to throwing soft plastics or some other kind of artificial lure that doesn't make a lot of commotion. On some trips we've hooked 5 to 7 Tarpon per morning, but as it is in Tarpon fishing, a lot of them have been coming off on the first few jumps. Also mixed in with these tarpon have been snook, and it is pretty obvious that they are snook as they are coming clear out out of the water attacking mullet. However, the tarpon have been more aggressive and have been beating the snook to the lures every single time. That's not a bad problem to have!

The bone fishing has been pretty steady this entire month however, the last trip of the month was slow for bonefish which was unusual because we were coming off of a full moon so these fish should've been back in full force. We have had huge king tides, and the tide from yesterday was almost 3 feet above normal so I suspect that has been part of the issue of why bonefish was slow yesterday. They may have been way too spread out to be able to efficiently locate them. There have been some permit around as well, and that has lasted a little bit longer than normal due to the warmer than normal month of October.

As we move onto easier species, there have been tons of jacks and ladyfish keeping clients busy for those that just want to catch fish and have a good time as opposed to invest most or all of the trip into trophy species. This has been a lot of fun with tons of crazy action and at times I've had clients tell me they need to take a rest because they were worn out.  

The finger channels have been rather consistent with mutton snappers, yellow jacks, mangrove snappers and a variety of other species. This has been a lot of fun, but the boatt of choice for crossing the bay in these windy conditions has been my 22 Pathfinder as opposed to my Hewes flats boat. The key here has been casting a lot of pilchards in order to live chum and as I mentioned earlier these baits are starting to migrate down so it's been much easier to locate and cast net enough bait to make things really fun.

That's what I have for this month. I hope you guys have been well. Happy Halloween and stay tuned for my first half of November report coming in on November 16.

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

The end of summer! August 16-31, 2026

 What is up everyone? I hope all of you are doing well and welcome back to the end of the month fishing report. There have been plenty of calm August days which has made it fantastic to chase early morning bonefish, permit, and tarpon. Early morning bonefishing has been spectacular with one instance providing a school of over 80 tailing bonefish making their way slowly towards the boat. This was a perfect situation for Rich and his friend as they both made good casts in front of the school and had a doubleheader on the first cast of the morning. Talk about a fantastic start! Moving onto harder species such as permit, they have been around although not as consistent as I would like, but that is permit fishing after all. Most mornings have provided a couple shots at a few schools of permit until the breeze kicks up and then it's time to move onto something else. Moving onto something else has generally consisted of juvenile tarpon fishing. The smaller tarpon in the 10 to 30 pound class are a ton of fun as they tend to be more aggressive and provide bigger jumps, making for a lot of of exhilarating fishing. Under calm conditions I like to use use top water lures and it is a site to behold to see a tarpon chase down a top water and then explode on it as they literally come out of the water with the lure in their mouth. That will get anybody's blood pumping! In addition to the big three, we have had plenty of lady fish making for good fun on light tackle as they are extremely aggressive and provide plenty of big jumps since they are related to the tarpon. In the finger channels we have been catching a number of different species of snappers, including mangrove snappers, and school master snappers. Mixed in with the snappers have also been barracudas and big sharks. How do I know there have been big sharks? Well because we had one big shark eat a permit we hooked and then we've lost quite a few fish closer to the boat. Sharks can be fun on the flats, but they're not that much fun when you're trying to catch dinner for clients and they move in and make it impossible to land a fish. Well, that's it for the end of the month fishing report. It's been a lot of fun and interestingly there have been plenty of August mornings that have been cooler than normal and the last few evenings have been cooler than normal. Hopefully this means fall will get here earlier than normal.

Capt. Mo Estevez 

786-853-1409

www.MiamiBonefishing.com (16' Flats Boat)

www.MiamiBayFishingCharters.com (22' Bay Boat)

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing @MiamiBayFishingCharters

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

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. 

Capt. Mo Estevez 

786-853-1409

www.MiamiBonefishing.com (16' Flats Boat)

www.MiamiBayFishingCharters.com (22' Bay Boat)

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing @MiamiBayFishingCharters

Hot and Fun! June 1-15, 2026

June is here and so is the heat but so is the hot fishing.  It's been a fun two weeks to kick off June with calm mornings, plenty of silver tails and lots of options.  The last two weeks have been solid for early morning fishing for bonefish and permit making it exciting and a bit easier to target these elusive gamefish.  Fishing for juvenile tarpon has also been pretty good as we throw lures or flies at them as they roll in the early morning.  For easier fishing we have been finding sharks of all sizes on the flats and the size would depend on who's catching them with smaller kids targeting smaller sharks and adults being able to hook up to the bigger lemon and bull sharks int eh 100-200 pound range.  There have also been yellow jacks in the channels and still some ladyfish hanging around.  With the warmer water temperatures the larger snapper are off the reef but there are still a few mutton snappers prowling the channels.  Stay cool and I'll be back at the end of the month.  

Capt. Mo Estevez 

786-853-1409

www.MiamiBonefishing.com (16' Flats Boat)

www.MiamiBayFishingCharters.com (22' Bay Boat)

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing @MiamiBayFishingCharters

Hot in a number of ways May 16-31, 2026 Report

Welcome back everyone, it's the end of May and everything is as it should be now.  The strange 20 MPH winds we had the fist half of the month are gone and they have ben replaced by the typical calm mornings and increasing heat that make May the kick off to summer in Miami. The second half of this month has been solid with weather but more importantly, fishing!  Boy is the bay going off right now with bonefish, tarpon and permit active and eating.  I ended the month with Nate and 16 year old Kit celebrating Kit's birthday bonefishing.  Oh was it a celebration! Literally, 20 minutes into our morning trip Kit had his fist bonefish in the boat. WOW!  The rest of the morning was spent taking shots at bonefish and some permit and so it has been the last two weeks and a half, it's been solid! For easier targets, there have been yellow jacks, snappers and jack crevalles filling in some time.  There have also been some big bull and lemon sharks on the prowl.  Yes it's hot but ignore that as you cast to the third school of bonefish coming at you in the last 20 minutes.  I love it! 

Capt. Mo Estevez 

786-853-1409

www.MiamiBonefishing.com (16' Flats Boat)

www.MiamiBayFishingCharters.com (22' Bay Boat)

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing @MiamiBayFishingCharters

The slick has started! May 1-15, 2026

It's May, it's hot and it's slick!  I mean it is slick clam, no wind in the mornings and tails everywhere.  May is the month when we start our summer pattern of windless mornings, warming water and lots of bonefish, permit and tarpon early morning.  This has been the case the first couple of weeks this month, as it should be.  Here's the run down.  

There have been plenty of juvenile tarpon working the shorelines that will take popper flies or top water lures.  These juvenile tarpon have taken the place of the big migratory tarpon around Key Biscayne that sued to be the main stay of our tarpon season.  

Bonefishing has been excellent, especially early mornings as we take advantage of the calm mornings making it easier to spot their tails and dorsal fins as they move along the shallow flats.  

Permit are a steady target for those wanting the ultimate challenge.  Permit have been on both sides of the bay, the mainland shoreline and the ocean side flats.  

I haven't been snook fishing since the three mentioned above have taken up most of my time but early mornings are the best times to target them along creeks and shorelines.  

We have been catching pompano pretty regularly mixed in with small permit, jacks, snappers and lady fish.  The lady fish have been a blast on a fly rod as they crush flies and make their big jumps.  

The fishing for barracuda has been good with plenty of big ones in the 20 pound range being caught on live jacks and we have been seeing plenty of sharks but especially hammerhead and bull sharks in the channels and black tips, lemon and nurse sharks on the flats.  

That's he run down of the last two weeks.  Stay tuned for another report at the end of the month.  

Capt. Mo Estevez 

786-853-1409

www.MiamiBonefishing.com (16' Flats Boat)

www.MiamiBayFishingCharters.com (22' Bay Boat)

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing @MiamiBayFishingCharters

Out with March with a bang! March 16-31, 2026

As we end the month of March we had a cold front to deal with, high winds, no wind, cold and heat, what a crazy month!  Thankfully, fish still have to eat so it has been a good month with a few ups and downs towards the end.  Bonefishing has generally been good, tarpon not so good, permit have been around, shark fishing has been solid and the finger channels kept the clients and me busy.  

On one trip recently with regular client Jake and his two friends Antonio and Nil we started slow and ended on fire.  We were looking for tarpon and there were none to be found, a sadly recurring theme this month as tarpon have been inconsistent, but we ended the trip with the guys releasing 10 bonefish.  Insane!  The last trip of the month I had Jesse and 14 year old Miles who wanted tarpon.  Ha, Miles hooked three monster tarpon but all three came off for different reasons.  A heartbreaker yes but man was it exciting!  

In the finger channels we've been catching tons of look downs (weird but super cool fish), snappers, jacks and barracudas.  The sharks on the flats have been on a tear and showing up in big numbers and along shorelines and small back bays the ladyfish have been super fun on lures and especially on flies.  

April will be another solid month so stick around and watch for mid April's report in a few weeks.  

Capt. Mo Estevez 

786-853-1409

www.MiamiBonefishing.com

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing

It's Spring! March 1-15, 2026

This first half of March has been very interesting and just as expected in some ways. March is typically a windy month and that has been the case so far with two exceptions. We have been averaging winds between 15 to 20 miles an hour and although that sounds like pretty tough fishing, it’s actually been very manageable and we’ve been doing well on a number of species in spite of the wind. 

The tarpon fishing out of Key Biscayne should be pretty solid right now but only a few resident fish have been around with none of the big migratory fish 100 pounds plus making an appearance yet. I am hoping this is just a short term issue and the second half of March starts to give us many more opportunities at them. However, taking the place of these tarpon have been bonefish and permit, and those are two species I cannot complain about. In addition to really good bonefishing, pompano are starting to show up and we have done pretty well catching a number of different species for clients that wanted to just catch a lot of fish such as lady fish, barracudas, snappers and yellow jacks. We had two really calm days on Friday and Saturday and we were able to capitalize on them. On Friday Manuel made a pinpoint cast at a tailing permit early morning in really calm conditions and the permit seeing his favorite food flutter in front of his face couldn’t help but swallow the live blue crab.  Manuel was able to land a 20 pound greedy permit and it was amazing! His buddy Jimmy also ended up landing a really nice bonefish before it was time to head back to the marina. On Saturday clients Ernie, Miguel and Frandy jumped on the boat and almost immediately upon arriving at our first spot there were tails everywhere, and the guys proceeded to land four bonefish in the first hour and a half of the trip. Pretty amazing fishing and pretty amazing start to a great day.  

I'm starting to see the first wave of migrating mullet and the large mullet muds they create.  This is a great sign as the fishing around these giant schools of mullet can be super fun and it'll just get better as March continues.  That's what's been happening in Miami's inshore and flats fishing and make sure to check back in at the end of the month for the end of month report.  See ya!

Capt. Mo Estevez 

786-853-1409

www.MiamiBonefishing.com

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

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