December 28, 2014 Report

Last year when Gary and his two 12 year old sons, Adam and Jake, fished with me one of the boys was severely out fished by the other. For a year one of the boys sought redemption while the other teased incessantly about out fishing him. Today this would change. Catching a well full of live pilchards, we headed to the finger channels where they caught mutton snappers and lost a few other nice fish. I couldn't help myself but taking them to some little known spots in the bay and they caught grouper of several sizes, mutton snappers, mangrove snappers and big blur runners. At one spot I threw out a hand full of live pilchards and immediately fish began busting on the bait with splashes and audible crashes. The first hooked bait that hit the water was slammed and the kids enjoyed some rather amazing non-stop drag screaming fishing until they called it quits and wanted to chase sharks. At one point I tied on a top water lure on 8lb test tackle and Gary caught several nice fish that blew up on the top water lure with amazing speed, splashing and ferocity. Several time we could see nice sized grouper come up top the surface and eat the baits! WOW, Miami is indeed an amazing place! Oh, and someone is enjoying some redemption!

Capt. Mo Estevez www.MiamiBoneFishing.com 786-853-1409

December 27, 2014 AM & PM Reports

AM Report Rob and his two 8 year old grandsons Eton and Eli wanted to catch some fish and have a good time. The morning started with hard pulling jacks on light tackle that gave them a work out on almost every cast. As the action slowed we fished one spot with little action and them I pulled up to a nearby wreck that ended up being the last spot we would need to fish. The action was fast and furious with every single cast with producing a fish or a hard strike. They kept count of how many fish they caught and the total tally was somewhere around 60. Before the trip was over they became tired of catching fish and wanted a boat ride. Kids being worn out from catching so many fish, I love it!

PM Report David was back on board with his friend Joe and the weather was polar opposite from what we had on the 24th. We hit the finger channels immediately and the hot action continued with fish on almost every cast including big mangrove snappers. After a while we decided to go shark fishing on the flats at the end of the out going tide. Staking out on a nice flat I like for sharks we deployed out baits and waited. The live shrimp I had were put to good use targeting bonefish as well. Not long after, the 8lb rod doubles over and the reel sings. After a short run a bonet head shark comes to the boat. Deploying another live shrimp, the rod again doubles over but the drag burned fast as a big bonefish inhaled the bait and tool off. After a long run the fish settles down for a few seconds as we chase it down. It makes another 50 yard run and he cuts us off on rocks that litter the bottom. NO!!!!! David and Joe caught a few more small sharks and had 5 big sharks in our slick but they were being very finicky and only one took a half hearted swipe at one of our baits.

Capt. Mo Estevez www.MiamiBoneFishing.com 786-853-1409

December 26, 2014 AM & PM Reports

AM Report Javier from Spain and his son Danny from N.Y. had never fly fished in saltwater before and they wanted to check it out. I explained we would start slow and target productive species as they learned the double haul and other saltwater fly fishing techniques. Fighting breezier conditions than I would have liked for a first time saltwater fly fishing trip and almost constant drizzle, we fished a nearby ship wreck in 12' of water that had been producing for me. As they both got the hang of the list of things they needed to learn, Javier had a few takes and lands a nice hard fighting blue runner. Moving to the second spot of the morning ended up being the only other spot we had to fish. Around the boat were tinker mackerel, runners, snappers, barracuda and tarpon. They both caught several species on fly and Danny had a take on fly that immediately parted his leader with an audible "pop"! Javier had some great shots at tarpon but no takes. It remains a mystery if the fish Danny lost was a tarpon or big barracuda.

PM Report My afternoon trip was with Michael and his 16 year old son Alex from N.J. We almost cancelled the trip due to weather but when they arrived the weather improved and we had great conditions. Starting off looking for tarpon, we found a number of them where I had found them in the morning but no bites. When the tide changed we hit the finger channels and once again, they were lit up! Baits wouldn't last more than 45 seconds before being eaten by a number of different species. As in other days, Michael and Alex caught mutton snapper, mangrove snappers, yellow tail snappers, porgies, black grouper, red grouper, porgies and big blue runners. The day ended with another shot at tarpon at the tide but although they were present, no takers today.

Capt. Mo Estevez www.MiamiBoneFishing.com 786-853-1409

December 24, 2014 Report

It is always amazing to me how weather can change from one day to the next. Regular client David hopped aboard with his nephew Charlie and the 20-25MPH winds didn't have us too thrilled. The water was mostly dirty from the strong north wind but even in areas of clean water the fishing was slow. Pulling tricks and spots from the recesses of my memory weren't producing much, a hit here and there. Finally we ended up hiding from the wind and fishing some usually productive pilings which produced a few snappers and a few other fish, probably small groupers, that got us in the rocks. Capt. Mo Estevez www.MiamiBoneFishing.com 786-853-1409

December 23, 2014 Report

All the way from Brazil came Fabio to spend Christmas and New Years in Miami and along the way, get a little fishing done. Fabio had never fished the flats or inshore waters and wanted to try it out, a far cry from the sailfish tournaments he's fished for many years. Looking for tarpon and finding few of them we focused on lighter tackle and smaller gamefish. Trout fishing definitely improved over yesterday and Fabio caught several trout on soft plastics and hard plastic baits. We wrapped up the day in the finger channels where the action was absolutely on fire! Baits lasted less than 45 seconds before being slammed by a host of species such as mutton snapper, mangrove snapper, yellow tail snapper, big porgies, red grouper, big blue runners and a couple of nice fish we lost before getting to the boat. At the end of the day Fabio told me he loved the inshore fishing in Miami and definitely wanted to do it again. One of the recurring comments was how relaxing fishing inshore was. I agree!

Capt. Mo Estevez www.MiamiBoneFishing.com 786-853-1409

December 22, 2014 Report

Dan and his wife Ashley were in town from N.J. and took some time to explore Biscayne Bay. The fishing started slow with a few trout, caught by Ashley who reminded Dan she usually out fishes him anyway, and no tarpon to be found. We ended the day fishing the finger channels in between the flats and caught snappers before heading to the flats to look for sharks. The shark were apparently hanging out with the tarpon as they were MIA so we called it a day.

Capt. Mo Estevez www.MiamiBoneFishing.com 786-853-1409

December 21, 2014 Report

William from Brazil joined me today for a full day of fishing Miami's Biscayne Bay. The morning started rather calm so I was tempted to look for tarpon. The tarpon were certainly around with fish in the 60-100lb class rolling aggressively but moving fast. Several times we got in front of them and presented baits but no hook ups. A second tarpon spot revealed more but they had lock jaw as well. As the wind picked up the tarpon fishing ended and off we went in search of a variety of species. At the end of the day William had landed about a dozen different species including a fish blitz in the last 45 minutes. Once the action got started in the finger channels it was non-stop with mutton snappers, mangrove snappers including one about 4lbs, grouper, runners, yellow tail snapper, lane snapper and we lost a major fish that took a lure and destroyed the 10lb line! It was certainly a productive day with William not able to drink his beer because the rods were going off every 30 seconds. That's the kind of day I like!

Capt. Mo Estevez www.MiamiBoneFishing.com 786-853-1409