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

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

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

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

Check out our new 22' Pathfinder addition!

 

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

The Swedes are here! December 21, 2022

Carl and his brother Gus are hard core fishermen from Sweden.  Gus' name really isn't Gus but in spite of my numerous attempts to pronounce his name properly I just couldn't make it happen so they mercifully asked me to call him Gus.  Thank you guys!  Anyway, they wanted to try fishing for bonefish so we gave it a shot.  The morning started with zero wind and a big tide, so much water we couldn't see the bonefish around us except for an a school here and there.  We swung and missed way too many times but the high water was making it tough.  Then we got the slack tide and the action died off.  I told them to wait for the tide to change and as soon as it did the bonefish started moving again.  Thanks for making me look good mister bonefish!  Not long after Carl hooked up and landed his first bonefish, a solid 7 pounder.  A few casts later Gus misses a bite and then Carl hooks up again.  There was a steady flow of bonefish schools moving through and we ended the morning hooking 9 and landing 6.  Most of the fish were in the 7 to 9lb range.  Welcome to Miami Bonefishing guys! 

Capt. Mo Estevez

http://www.miamibonefishing.com/

786-853-1409

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

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

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

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