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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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Permit will be Permit September 25, 2022

John fished with me last year and wanted to catch his first permit but bonefish as a back up, we caught bonefish.  Today the mission remained the same and under perfect conditions feeling more like fall each day we found a ton of permit.  Big permit, medium permit, small permit, permit everywhere.  There was one problem, they were being permit and extra picky today.  We lost count of the schools of permit of all sizes we saw and John made some very good casts where the crab would land in front of the school, they would swirl all around it but not eat.  So frustrating!  As the tide slowed so did the fishing so I took him to another spot.  Here the tide was "running late" but we still had good current.  I told John we had the perfect amount of water for permit at this spot but there would be more bonefish than permit, I was hoping the fish wouldn't let me down.  About 15 minutes into fishing this spot John hooks a freight train and a long fight later requiring I chase the fish, John had his bucket list fish at the side of the boat, a big permit.  Yes!!!!!   We fished the same spot for the balance of the trip and he proceeded to land three bonefish.  What a way to end the trip and be part of John catching one of the last remaining fish on his bucket list.  Way to go John! 

Capt. Mo Estevez

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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

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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

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Dang! August 8, 2022

Phil is a repeat client and today he brought his wife Sherry and their 6 year old fishing phenom Elliott.  Phil wanted Elliott to get his first bonefish and the same for Sherry so we went to work.  Conditions weren't great with it being windier than usual.  Actually, all summer long it has been windier than usual but the fish still have to eat.  Fishing only two spots is all we needed to do but it took some patience.  Spot one Phil landed a permit within the first 30-40 minutes and then it was crickets.  After investing some time in that spot something told me to move.  Arriving at the second spot it was slow at first but then it popped. Just like that bonefish started to swim through allowing Sherry to get her first bonefish, about a 10 pounder.  Then hooked on and handed the rod to Elliott who did a great job fighting and landing his first bonefish, also about 10 pounds.  Then Phil hooked up again and landed a 10 pounder and we ended the trip with Phil landing yet another one but this one was about 12lbs.  As the fish was in the landing net in the water it somehow swam out before we could get a really good picture of it but heck, we landed him and that's what counts.

Capt. Mo Estevez

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It was on fire! August 7, 2022

Andy and his son Ben were my clients for today and they were primed for bonefish and permit.  It has been on fire lately so I was ready to show them some bones and permit.  Incredibly, 30 minutes into the trip Andy hooks up and lands his first permit.  Wow, what a start!  Not long after he lands another permit.  What?!  Ben was way too quite working away until he hooked up to a nice bonefish and then added two more after that with Andy wrapping up the trip with a bonefish of his own.  The total for the four hour trip was 2 permit and four nice bonefish.  Way to go guys! 

Capt. Mo Estevez

http://www.miamibonefishing.com/

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Father/Son Slayers August 4, 2022

Manny and son Manny have fished with me before and today they were in for a treat as the fishing has been red hot plus I was eager to get back on the water after a nice long vacation.  We focused on the west side of the bay and using live shrimp had Manny (dad) catch a nice bonefish.  Meanwhile, Manny (son) was on a dry spell when he finally hooked up and landed a nice only to upgrade twice after that.  The final tally was four bonefish.  

Capt. Mo Estevez

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No Bait, No Problem June 8, 2022

Alex and his buddies jumped in the boat and they just wanted to fish for anything in saltwater as they are from Minnesota and hadn't fished in salt water.  Bad news was there was no live bait in any bait shop in Homestead as we had terrible weather for a couple of days before hand preventing the shrimpers from going out.  Hmmm, ok no problem.  With some frozen mullet we target sharks where the guys got a couple and lost a few and then it happened.  Under glass calm conditions and a great tide the bonefish started to tail and mud right next to the boat.  I couldn't resist so I rigged up a new penny colored Z Mann shrimp on a split shot weight and made a cast, twitch, twitch, bump, bump.  The bonefish hit it and missed.  Dang it.  I made another cast and repeated the process but this time I got a solid hit and handed the rod off to the closest guy next to me.  A few minutes later they had their first bonefish.  Nice!!!!!  We wrapped it up on a shallow ship wrecked where they hooked a 30lb barracuda but lost it to a pulled hook.  

Capt. Mo Estevez

http://www.miamibonefishing.com/

786-853-1409

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing