May 30, 2014 Report

Today was day five of fishing with Paul and Neil. The last five days have been a blast with these guys on board and by the time they stepped off my skiff for the last time, they became friends and I will miss them. Once again we targeted tarpon but had no idea what surprises today would have for us. Fishing an area that has been holding tarpon we waited an hour before our first bite of the day, this would prove to be the bite of the day! The rod barely moved but hinted of getting someones attention then the line moved towards the boat, hum. I reeled as fast as I could, the line came tight, the rod doubled over and an enormous tarpon erupted out of the water 30' from the boat and started a drag scorching run. I handed the rod to Neil and pursued the fish as best we could. Thankfully it took us out into open water where we could enjoy the fish and not have to worry about break offs. About 2/3's of the way into the fight the reel experiences mechanical issues and stops working. With no other choice I warned Neil of the risk of my next move and put the boat in gear enough to match the speed of the moving tarpon. Tying the braided line attached to the tarpon to my bow cleat, I cut off the braid and now have a 150lb plus tarpon attached to the boat, not to a rod. I quickly grabbed the other tarpon rod that was stowed, tied a uni to uni knot, untied the braid from the cleat and trimmed of the knot. Gave the rod to Neil, reel reel, tarpon still on. Wow, this is intense! After a long three hour battle the huge tarpon is 10' from the boat and I am ready to grab the leader and release the fish when suddenly and in slow motion the hook pulls free and he swims away without a photo op. Ouch! That's tarpon fishing and what a ride it is! As Paul and Neil stepped off my skiff Paul was already making plans to fish another week soon. I look forward to it guys!

Capt. Mo Estevez www.MiamiBoneFishing.com

May 29, 2014 Report

Day four of fishing with Paul and Neil and the goal continued to be tarpon. Early morning Neil hooks up to about a 100 lb tarpon that cleared the water in a big way! After a 15 minute fight the tarpon comes off after another jump. Later on Paul hooks up to a fish that never jumped but took over 200 yards of line before we could even react and get the boat moving to chase it! After regaining line the tarpon took us around an anchored boat, tried to wrap us around two markers, tried to cut us off on some rocks, sped towards a dock and finally under and through bridge pilings. What a ride! After an hour and 5 minute fight, Paul landed the monster tarpon.

Capt. Mo Estevez www.MiamiBoneFishing.com

May 28, 2014 Report

Day three with Paul and Neil. With poor visibility to fish the flats we committed ourselves to tarpon fishing. The bite was very slow all morning although they were around. In the afternoon after the tide turned that certainly changed. We ended the day hooking five tarpon up to 100 lbs and landing one in the 60lb range. It was a great day as Neil landed his first tarpon ever which was a major reason for this trip. Congrats Neil!

Capt. Mo Estevez www.MiamiBoneFishing.com

May 27, 2014 Report

Day two with Paul and Neil, this time out of Key Biscayne. Much less boat traffic today, whew what a relief! We had nice conditions today as well and started off tarpon fishing but although they were rolling, no bites. We moved to the flats and had numerous shots at bonefish, including a big 12+lb bonefish that chased Paul's bait but lost it in the grass. We also had shots at migrating tarpon on the flats but all we could manage was one fish break off the school to follow Paul's bait. We thought a hook up was assured but he lost interest at the last minute. Capt. Mo Estevez www.MiamiBoneFishing.com

May 26, 2014 Report

It's Memorial Day and a big thank you to all our service members who have fought and serve our country to defend and protect us and our way of life. Paul and Neil from Maryland were aboard braving the crowds for some flats fishing south Biscayne Bay. We had shots a bonefish, permit and tarpon but no hook ups. All in all it was a slow day today. We did see several strings of migrating tarpon on the flats. Capt. Mo Estevez www.MiamiBoneFishing.com

May 23, 2014 Report

Dean from Texas fished with me back in December and we had played hide and seek from a relentless wind but ended catching a bunch of trout and other species. Today was different. With the calm winds of May finally arriving, tarpon was on my mind and Dean wanted another shot at a brief encounter with tarpon last time. We started fishing a school of rolling tarpon and were hooked up by 7:00AM to a nice 80+lb tarpon that gave us one big jump then stayed deep the rest of the time. Dean fought the fish for 20 exciting minutes as the fish tried almost every trick in the book to break us off on jetties, points and rocks. Having survived his efforts we were confident he was in the bag, just a matter of time. Twenty minutes into the fight with the fish right under the boat he spits the hook! Bad tarpon! We got a second hit but no hook up. With boat traffic increasing we left the area and fished the beaches where there were lots of tarpon rolling but no hook ups. We finished off the day catching Dean's first shark on the flats and having some shots at big barracudas.

Capt. Mo Estevez www.MiamiBoneFishing.com

May 22, 2014 Report

Day two with Greg and today we fished out of Key Biscayne much further north than yesterday. The goal was to get him on tarpon in order for him to the experience the silver range at the end of the line. While the action started slow, it got better by 7AM when he hooked a monster 100+lb tarpon. Three huge jumps later and the tarpon was off to the races. He was out over 150 yards before we knew it. As the fight settled we kept it on a short leash close to the boat and laughed as he dragged my skiff around. However, 15 minutes into the fight the tarpon made a dash for a series of bouys where he eventually broke us off. Heart broken we redrifted the area and got a second bite but the fish came off instantly. We ended the day fishing for sharks.

Capt. Mo Estevez www.MiamiBoneFishing.com