Showing posts with label miami flats fishing charters. Show all posts
Showing posts with label miami flats fishing charters. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 16, 2026

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

Monday, December 5, 2022

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

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

Friday, November 25, 2022

Thanksgiving charter November 24, 2022

Ken and 10 year old Gianna were back on board today and they are always great to fish with.  Ken and I have been fishing for longer than I can remember and it's great to watch Gianna grow up with each trip we take.  The plan today was bonefish and lots of action so we started off bonefishing and while it didn't happen as quickly as the past few days, I'm getting spoiled I know, we eventually started getting bites and hooking fish with the total being 2-4.  Switching off to action fishing I made a long run, found a ton of pilchards and threw the cast net.  They were in 7' of water which is pretty deep for my cast net but I let it sink for an eternity and when I pulled it up it was loaded with tons of silver shining pilchards.  I loaded up the live well and gave it one more throw for good measure, plus it is so satisfying to watch the cast net load up with bait.  Hitting a couple of wrecks and channels live chumming proved to be dead.  This was unfathomable to me but yes, it was dead in spit of perfect baits and lots of live chumming.  Switching to shrimp Gianna caught a bunch of trigger fish before we moved on.  Whatever you stupid fish, we're off to bonefish some more!  We wrapped up our Thanksgiving Day charter but missing a few more bonefish bites and losing a solid double digit fish deep into the fight just a couple of minutes before release.  Ouch! 



Capt. Mo Estevez

http://www.miamibonefishing.com/

786-853-1409

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing

Not this time! November 22, 2022

Yesterday David and I met up at the marina for the first of our two day trip.  But, it was pouring rain and the wind was howling at about 25 MPH, pretty tough for fly fishing.  We called it a day and met up today instead with his buddy Clay.  The forecast was way off again today for, for the better with cloudy skies but no wind and no rain.  We focused  the first half of the trip on bonefish where the guys each caught their first bonefish on fly, yes!  Using a heavy shrimp pattern and a slower strip than normal in order to keep the fly deep in the unusually high tide we scored and missed a few more bites but the trick worked and the guy's patience paid off as we had two bonefish in the boat before the first hour of the trip.  Once that slowed down we made a long run to cast net live pilchards and then live chum a wreck.  This was fun and a great way to wrap up an already great trip.  The first couple handfuls of live pilchards produced constant explosions and the guys wore themselves out catching yellow jacks on fly with awesome surface explosions on baitfish patterns and gurglers.  I love it and the guys did too! 





Capt. Mo Estevez

http://www.miamibonefishing.com/

786-853-1409

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing

Sunday, November 20, 2022

They got bigger and bigger! November 19, 2022

Fax and I had moved our last trip to today because of significant wind but today was looking only slightly better.  Anyway, we hit the water and I was apprehensive as to the state of the fishing after four days with Mike.  Ha, it started slow and I was secretly freaking out but part of being a guide is having a good poker face, plus it helps if you're covered with a buff.  :)  Anyway, eventually the overcast skies and increasing wind kept us moving slow through the different spots until Fax hooked up and landed his first bonefish of the morning, a nice 8 lber.  A while later he lands another one about 9lbs, then another one about the same size until he landed the last fish of the day at about 11-12lbs.  Dang Fax!  It worked out, the fishing is back on track and by the time we headed back it was blowing a steady 20 MPH.  What happened to the typical perfect weather pattern of November?  







Capt. Mo Estevez

http://www.miamibonefishing.com/

786-853-1409

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing

Four days with Mike November 14-17, 2022

Mike and I always have a great time and these four days were no exception.  We changed it up between Biscayne Bay and Everglades National Park and the theme for the four days was tough, slow fishing.  It's incredible how fishing can go from epic to slow in a matter of ONE day!  Anyway, day one is Biscayne Bay we targeted bonefish at a number of different flats but all was slow until half way through the trip when Mike landed a cool bonefish on fly.  The morning did start with shots at small tarpon and although we got several eats, they never did get the fly in their mouths.  Why, how????  During the trip we targeted snook as well but that proved to be slow.  Day two in the Everglades the highlight was a couple of snook on fly for Mike and I landed a small red on lures.  Day 3 back in the bay and we fished a couple of wrecks that had small blue runners on them and then wrapped up the day with a last minute bonefish on fly.  The last day was back in the glades and this time Mike had a tone of shots at small tarpon, landed a snook and a nice lemon shark on fly.  Tough fishing but great company, great conversations and lots of laughs.  We'll get 'em in February Mike! 








Capt. Mo Estevez

http://www.miamibonefishing.com/

786-853-1409

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing

Spoiled man! November 13, 2022

Well, this turned out for the the best.  Stan had booked me for bonefish on fly and spin for Friday but after some change of plans on his end and an open slot on mine we changed it to Sunday.  I was expecting loads of boat traffic but it turned out to be fine and off we went.  I can tell you we had to be patient and work for it but eventually Stan got one on spin, a nice bonefish to break the ice and reward him his first bonefish.  Switching to fly he got another one, the biggest of the day before landing another one on spin.  Three for three, not bad Stan! 





Capt. Mo Estevez

http://www.miamibonefishing.com/

786-853-1409

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing

Wednesday, November 9, 2022

Before Storm Nicole Hits November 8, 2022

Man, this all really worked out perfectly!  Nick had booked me for Wednesday to try for the second time to catch a bonefish on fly.  Last time we fished he had some shots but it didn't work out.  Now I'm staring at the forecast and tropical storm, possibly hurricane, Nicole is headed out way with really nasty weather and a blood moon lunar eclipse, not sure what that means though.  Geeze.  Well, we moved the trip up to Tuesday and went for it.  When we met at the ramp the wind was calm. What?  Where is the 30 MPH winds we had all day and all night on Monday?  Anyway, we get to the first spot in almost no wind, pretty skies and clear water and on his 4th or 5th cast he gets a bonefish to eat his fly but misses the hook set.  This happened 2 more times in 10 minutes until he hooked and landed number four.  Yes!  This pace kept up until he had hooked 8 and landed five bonefish on fly in an hour!!!! Crazy!  Eventually the wind kicked up to about 20 MPH, the fishing slowed and it was time to head it.  How crazy is that?!  Now as I write this it's raining and really windy but it's OK, Nick got his bonefish on fly! 





Capt. Mo Estevez

http://www.miamibonefishing.com/

786-853-1409

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing

Saturday, November 5, 2022

The Insanity Continues November 3, 2022

OK, here we go again!  I had a double today, both trips with great long time clients and as I always mention, I have to be ready to change it up at a moments notice.  Staying flexible throughout a trip or throughout the course of the day is important with today being one of those days.  

My morning trip was with brothers Kevin and David.  I started off killing two birds with one stone, fishing for snook while looking for bait, neither of which were around.  Off to bonefish like Kevin wanted.  We started with bait and Kevin quickly got 6 to the boat using shrimp while David landed two.  Then Kevin switched to fly and missed the first two fish but eventually things worked out and he landed two on fly.  Wow, that was a solid end to a half day morning trip.  




My afternoon trip was with Kivi and Charlie and they wanted mutton snappers and other species to eat.  With this fishing live pilchards is of paramount importance so I crossed the bay and located some pilchards.  I netted a bunch but not enough to properly live chum since they were in scattered quick moving schools.  We made the best of it and in the end Charlie landed a 10 yellow jack, we missed two big mutton bites and landed a couple of smaller fish.  


Capt. Mo Estevez

http://www.miamibonefishing.com/

786-853-1409

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing

5+5, My kind of Math October 29, 2022

I hadn't fished with Glenn in a while so I was really looking forward to fishing with him again today.  He was good with whatever we did so we started off fishing for snook.  It didn't take long for Glenn to get 5 snook in the boat using artificial lures.  Once the action slowed we moved off to bonefishing and it took some time for the fish to start moving but once they did Glenn quickly got 5 bonefish and called it a day early.  Nice!  The bonefishing has been incredible and we could have landed quite a few more if we stayed but to quote Glenn "why push it on an incredible morning?".  





Capt. Mo Estevez

http://www.miamibonefishing.com/

786-853-1409

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing

Thursday, October 27, 2022

Four Incredible Days October 24-27, 2022

Look, I'm a fishing guide and we are know to stretch the truth at times, or a lot but this report is no exaggeration.  Chris fished with me last year and he brought his son Brian this year for four days of fishing.  The goal was for them to catch barracudas on lures and mix in some other stuff.  Well, we had high water the whole week thanks to a combination of spring tides and king tides so that made the snook fishing slow and limited us on some barracuda spots.  BUT, no problem.  Over the four days we fished we spent most of our time looking for barracuda and caught plenty with a few really nice ones mixed in which were the size we were looking for.  Again, BUT we would sneak off and do something else for a couple of hours each day and it paid off.  Most of the time we bonefished and it was incredible.  We spent approximately 4-5 hours bonefishing over the course of four days and landed 27 bonefish.  We got 1 on the first day, 15 on the second day and 11 on the third day.  WOW!  We also mixed in fishing mullet muds where we hooked and lost two tarpon and landed jacks through the four days.  As for me, highlight number one was spending time with these guys and a very closed second, or 1b was 27 bonefish.  Nice!  






Capt. Mo Estevez

http://www.miamibonefishing.com/

786-853-1409

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing

Monday, October 17, 2022

WHAT????? October 16, 2022

Bonefishing in general this year has been off the charts and this fall has been breath takingly good but today, oh today!  Local angler Lucas booked for a bonefish trip and that is what we did, pretty much.  The first spot was slow but the second was on fire.  Dealing a stiff 18 MPH wind we did what we could and it was fish after fish for Lucas as he caught his first bonefish and then 11 others after that!  12 for 14 on bonefish!  We ended the trip trying to catch snook but Lucas had a blast catching jacks and barracudas that were in the creeks instead of the snook.  Wow, what a day! 




Capt. Mo Estevez

http://www.miamibonefishing.com/

786-853-1409

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing

Spectacular Day! October 14, 2022

I had Alec on board today and he is a long time client and friend who told me "You decide what we are fishing for."  Great!  First stop was snook, drew a blank but loaded up on live pilchards.  Then we hit a channel and live chummed the daylights with the live pilchards and had huge mutton snappers going crazy destroying the baits.  I told Alec to wait to see them exploding, then cast his live bait into them.  When he would he was on within seconds landing 2 solid muttons in the 15-12lb range, losing another solid fish and landing a few other small ones.  Once that was over with we hit a creek for snook and lost two snook.  Ouch.  We wrapped up the day by hooking 6 bonefish and landing 5.  Dang this was a good day!!!!





Capt. Mo Estevez

http://www.miamibonefishing.com/

786-853-1409

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing

Thursday, October 13, 2022

Meet the Robertson's October 12/13, 2022

This family was great!  


Day one was Jason and his 11 year old son Jensen.  We started off fishing for snook and taking advantage of great fall conditions and tons of bait.  Throwing top water lures Jensen got his first two snook, what a start!  We moved off to a ship wreck so he can have more fun and then wrapped it up bonefishing where Jason and Jensen hooked four and landed three.  Dang!

Day two was Jason with his two other sons, 8 year old Ryder and 14 year old Royce.  The snook fishing was terrible today with few schools of bait moving through and being largely ignored by predators.  Bonefising was also slow so with the boys about to mutiny we hot the wrecks.  It didn't take long for them to catching 25 fish in order to "beat Jensen".  With the boys satisfied it was time to please dad.  We set up for bonefish and quickly went 1-3 before it was time to call it a day and being run off by a storm.  


Great work guys!  





Capt. Mo Estevez

http://www.miamibonefishing.com/

786-853-1409

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing

Saturday, October 8, 2022

Two Firsts October 8, 2022

I was off today until Lucas called me up and wanted to book Saturday morning with his dad.  Ok, cool.  Jason and Lucas met me at the ramp at 7am and we were off to look for snook and bonefish.  We're still dealing with a king tide that is pushing tides about 2' above normal so I wasn't going to give snook a bunch of time since with the high water they were probably way deep into the mangroves.  Well, what do I know.  There was a ton of mullet and pilchards swimming through the creek we fished courtesy of the mullet run and therefore the snook were staying just a bit further out.  We could see them crushing bait and cartwheeling out of the water but with so much bait it was tough to get them to eat a lure.  We finally got and missed a couple of hits and on our way out to a bonefish spot Jason hooked and landed his first snook.  Once at the bonefish spot it was slower than it has been, although it has been stupid good, but eventually we got a couple of hit and Jason lost one two feet from the boat before I could land it.  Then Lucas hooked and landed his first bonefish and the mission was accomplished since Jason had never caught a snook and Lucas had never caught a bonefish.  This is Biscayne Bay silver and gold!  

Capt. Mo Estevez

http://www.miamibonefishing.com/

786-853-1409

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing




Monday, October 3, 2022

Crushed Redemption October 2, 2022

Remember my last trip yesterday?  Well, this one was similar.  See, today I had Mark from D.C. and the last time we fished we targeted bonefish, tarpon, permit and we drew a blank.  I kind of had forgotten about that until Mark reminded me.  Ouch! :)  Anyway, we headed off to hunt permit and bonefish.  It was glass calm, nice and cool but with storms all around us so we got to work.  I only saw two schools of permit after about an hour so we changed it up and went bonefishing.  This is when everything changed.  On the first cast Mark hooks and lands a 6lb bonefish.  Whew!!!  Pressure is off!  But then we loose four consecutive bonefish and it's so frustrating.  Ha, but then the we righted the ship and Mark ended up going 6 for 10 on bonefish!  Dang Mark!  We wrapped it up throwing lures at snook without success.  Ok, I fell better now.  



Capt. Mo Estevez

http://www.miamibonefishing.com/

786-853-1409

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing

Saturday, October 1, 2022

Finally got it done October 1, 2022

I can't start this report without mentioning how close we came in Miami to be clobbered by hurricane Ian and how I've been praying for the poor people in Florida's gulf coast, northeast Florida and the folks in S.C.  At this time there are still clients and friends that live in Naples that I have not been able to reach and I'm becoming worried.  Lord help them.  

On to the report.  I had Fax back on the boat today.  Last and first time we fished we found a bunch of finicky bonefish and didn't land any.  Today we had slightly less than ideal conditions that seemed to both improve and worsen, if that makes any sense.  Anyway, fishing started slow with plenty of spots on the west side of the bay too fresh to fish but a few bonefish popped up along the way.  I ran oceanside and there Fax was able to land his first bonefish and we missed a few more bites.  Moving back to the west side we were able to upgrade his bonefish from a 6lber to a 9lber.  Nice job Fax.  There were no shrimp in the bait shops due to the storm but I had live blue crabs and the nickel sized blue crabs saved the day.  


  


Capt. Mo Estevez

http://www.miamibonefishing.com/

786-853-1409

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing

Monday, August 29, 2022

This is getting ridiculous! August 21, 2022

Okay, let me preface my next comment by saying I am NOT complaining.  Ok, with that out of the way, this summer has been stupid ridiculous with respect to how awesome bonefishing has been with today being a prime example.  I had regular client Kivi on board with his friend Paul who has never fished before and we talked about trying to bonefish for a while.  Once again the conditions were breezy for being summer but I've been working around that just fine.  I took the guys to the first spot that proved to be dead so we moved to spot #2.  Not long after I hear Paul's reel sing and the rod is bent, I have no doubt what it is.  A nice fight, some coaching and help from Kivi and I and Paul had his first bonefish on his first fishing trip ever.  What??!!  Yes, it's been that good.  A bit later Kivi got his first bonefish and now I can sleep at night.  We wrapped up the trip catching snappers and fun yellow jacks rounding out a nice Sunday morning.  



Capt. Mo Estevez

http://www.miamibonefishing.com/

786-853-1409

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing

Monday, August 22, 2022

The most spoiled man.... August 15, 2011

There are times when you have to tell someone how it is and I had to do just that this morning.  See, I had Alex and his brother Bombino onboard today for a half day of bonefish and permit.  These brothers had never fished the flats before and never fished for bonefish and permit.  We had the summer morning we are supposed to be having every day, absolutely calm with zero wind in the morning.  I took them to a permit spot and it didn't take long for the tails and wakes to show.  A few schools of permit waked and tailed around us but I couldn't get them in position in time as the permit were moving quickly.  Finally we got our first shot at a school of waking and tailing permit and Bombino placed the silver dollar sized live blue crab just right and we waited.  As I turned to look at another school I hear a zing and Bombino yells, "I'm on!" and on he was.  After a long reel sizzling fight Bombino landed his first permit on his first cast on his first trip.  Dang man, that crazy!  I explained to him exactly what he just accomplished and I still think it didn't quite sink in.  A few schools later his brother Alex made a great cast and hooked another permit.  A long run later Alex's permit came off and we were 1 for 2.  We wrapped up the trip taking a few more shots and ending fishing for snook.  




Capt. Mo Estevez

http://www.miamibonefishing.com/

786-853-1409

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing