Grinding today January 10, 2023

Joe and I hadn't fished in a few years but we did today along with his friend Milan.  Milan is a hardcore fisherman willing to wet a line in a street puddle and Joe is much more laid back and just likes to hook up and relax.  These guys are great but we had a hard north wind that kept us in close to shore and avoid getting beat up and wet.  I have to admit, the fishing was slow with some small blue runners and barracudas to show for it.  However, I wanted then to catch bonefish but that wore on them for a while so we mixed it up.  Eventually we gave it another shot and Milan finally hooked up and landed a nice bonefish.  He was amazed at the speed and power of these fish and I was able to breathe a sigh of relief.  It was good to fish with these guys again and get Milan his first bonefish.  

Capt. Mo Estevez

http://www.miamibonefishing.com/

786-853-1409

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing

The Shark Wrestler January 7, 2023

It's been a while since I had a father/son trip for bending rods and shark fishing and that's what Eric wanted to do with his son Nick.  So, in order to hide from the wind we ran south towards the south end of Elliott Key and fished the edge of a flat.  Here they had a blast casting jig and shrimp and catching jacks on almost every cast plus look downs and small mutton snappers.  Once that cooled off we hit the flats nearby for sharks.  This particular flat usually holds 40-60lb sharks perfect for Nick.  Oh, not today.  All the sharks we hooked (about 6 of them) were in the 100-150lb range.  Not an easy task on medium tackle.  But, Nick and Eric had a blast sight fishing these lemon sharks and ended up releasing two nice ones.  

Capt. Mo Estevez

http://www.miamibonefishing.com/

786-853-1409

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing

It was good today! January 5, 2023

I had Paul today and he wanted to hunt for bonefish.  He typically fishes in the keys but wanted to check out Biscayne Bay.  We started off fishing the west side of the bay but it was pretty slow.  Finally he hooked up and landed the first bonefish of the day.  Once the tide was right we headed to the oceanside flats and that proved to be the right move as the only three flats we fished held fish.  On the first flat I saw three bonefish cruising and told him where to cast.  Paul didn't see them but made a perfect cast and a few moments later he was on releasing his second bonefish of the day a few long runs later.  The second flat had some bones tailing in a bit deeper water and he got a bite but missed it.  The last flat had some big fish mudding and tailing in super shallow water.  Once again he made a precision cast and was rewarded with a nice big fish.  Wow, what a day!  

Capt. Mo Estevez

http://www.miamibonefishing.com/

786-853-1409

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing

It's finally back on track!!!! January 3, 2023

Fishing was on fire until the big cold front we had on 12/24 and ever since it's been relatively slow.  Oh but today!  Today was different, with seemingly identical conditions to yesterday and the day before it finally popped and the fish were everywhere!  Ira and his son in law David booked me for bonefishing and I have to tell you, I was holding my breath, especially after there was no activity for the first hour.  Ira let me know his freshwater guide a few miles north of us told him just the day before they were struggling to catch fish as well.  Hmmm.  Well, after a while Ira's rod doubles over and he is on to the first bonefish of the day, a solid 8lb fish.  Later David landed his fish at about 9 lbs and then three more come to the boat for a total of 6 fish hooked and 5 landed.  Wow, that felt great.  They're back!!!!

Capt. Mo Estevez

http://www.miamibonefishing.com/

786-853-1409

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing

Happy New Year's Report January 2, 2023

Happy New Year everyone!  After taking the 1st off I was back to work with long time client Bob and Anna.  We met up at the dock and headed on looking for bonefish where once again they proved to be elusive on fly and spin but we did miss to hook ups on fly.  Dang it!  We moved off to look for live bait (pilchards) but no success.  Well, we hit a few spots to bend the rod and all the fish were small but at least we got something in the boat.  Towards the end of the trip and the outgoing tide we fished for bonefish one more time and boy did we work.  Bob later confessed he said to himself "O.K. last cast." when his shrimp got whacked, the rod got a deep bend and the drag smoked.  Finally, a bonefish!  It was solid 9lber to end the day.  Whew, that was close!

Capt. Mo Estevez

http://www.miamibonefishing.com/

786-853-1409

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing

New Year's Eve Report December 31, 2022

I had a full day with great long time and local client Chris with his grand daughter Nicole and her boyfriend Carlos.  These are such great people and I was looking forward to fishing with them.  We started off with zero wind and lots of shots at permit on the surface.  It was a crazy start to the morning seeing so many permit and getting so many shots at them.  Since the forecast called for 15-20 MPH winds I didn't buy live crabs but we threw big live shrimp at them only to have them reject Chris' pin point casts.  How frustrating, we should have hooked a few fish even with big live shrimp but it wasn't to be.  After that cooled off we looked for bonefish but it was slow so we moved on to look for live bait and live chum for muttons and groupers.  Well, no live bait to be found, no pilchards and no pelicans diving on schools of pilchards.  Wow!  Off to the wrecks where ti was also pretty slow but we did land a bunch of blue runners and Carlos caught a big trigger fish that was the highlight of his day.  We ended the day bonefishing where it proved to be just as slow.  This was a shock since we had perfect conditions otherwise.  

Capt. Mo Estevez

http://www.miamibonefishing.com/

786-853-1409

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing

Bomb Cyclone Winter Report December 26-30, 2022

Wow, not like the rest of the country but we got hammered by this winter storm in Miami, by Miami standards.  One day the fishing was on fire with water temps in the mid 70's and bonefish everywhere and then we got hit on 12/24.  The air temps were in the low to mid 40's for about 3 days and barely reaching 55 the next few days with constant cloud cover, drizzling rain and high winds.  What this did is drop the water temps to a freezing 59 degrees and not much likes to be in 59 degree water.  I have to admit, my anglers toughed it out and it all worked out.  I had one trip on 12/26 and then 2 trips per day 12/27-12/29 and a half day on 12/30.  The pattern was find deeper water fish deep and take a brake from bonefishing.  And the other pattern was better fishing during the outgoing tide which was always on the second trip of the day.  This was odd as the water temps were the same but hey, they're fish, I'm not and they always keep me guessing.  Anyway, the highlights were snook on live bait, lots of jacks and muttons snappers in the 10-16" range, a bonefish caught in a channel fishing deep (where I expected them to be trying to stay warm) and an assortment of others species including a warmer day on the 30th that had some small tarpon show up but refuse to eat.  It's been a tough weather week but with great clients and enough action to keep them happy.  

Capt. Mo Estevez

http://www.miamibonefishing.com/

786-853-1409

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing