Up and Down January 23, 2023

Alex and his brother Bombino booked me again today for some food fishing.  Step one was to look for schools of pilchards (bait) that I could cast net and then hit some spots for snappers, grouper and other tasty species.  But, the first step proved to be harder then it needed to be.  After searching high and low for bait and even asking a couple of guide buddies if they had found bait the resounding answer was "NO".  Anyway, off we went using live shrimp and the first four spots were dead.  Now I'm getting frustrated with this and hit another spot where we finally scored yellow jacks, trigger fish and smaller snappers.  The guys were able to take home some fresh fillets but it wasn't easy.  

Capt. Mo Estevez

http://www.miamibonefishing.com/

786-853-1409

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing

It's getting better January 21, 2023

Today I had repeat client Dave and he is usually up for anything, especially bonefish.  Once again, we had perfect conditions with clear skies and zero wind allowing us to take a few shots at bonefish that were cruising around.  The schools all seemed to be further out than we can reach them with a long cast but we did get a few shots.  It was slower than I had expected but once the tide turned and started to go out the fishing turned on and during the last our of the trip Dave hooked three bonefish and landed two.  Nice way to end the day.  By the way, the marinas were crazy busy even at 7AM when I launched but thankfully very few flats anglers on the water.  

Capt. Mo Estevez

http://www.miamibonefishing.com/

786-853-1409

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing

Incredible Eat January 20, 2023

I was looking forward to fishing with long time client Maria and throwing a fly with her.  We started off focusing on bonefish and 5 minutes into the trip she hooked and landed a tiny 10" bonefish, so cute and a great sign of the health of our bonefishery.  OK, cool start but let's get an upgrade.  Ha, we had to work for that upgrade!  Finally the tide turned and under perfect conditions I set up on a spot I like but hadn't fished in a while.  I had a good feeling about this spot and it lived up to its history.  School after school of bonefish started to move through and Maria kept getting solid shots.  After too many shots and casts that should've rewarded her, it finally happened.  

A school cam in perfectly at her 11 o'clock. I point them out and tell her to cast at 11 o'clock.  She makes a good cast but it was off by a few feet and by this time the school pushes towards her 12 o'clock and moving straight at us.  I tell her to pick up the fly and just roll cast at her 12.  She did just that and dropped that fly right in the face of one of the fish in the school.  I thought they would blow out but they didn't and as Maria stripped the fly we watched the big bonefish chase down the fly and eat it a few feet from the boat!  What???!!!  Awesome!  Oh, and the big bone starts to smoke the fly reel and got deep into the backing twice causing me to have to pole after it to recover some line.  After an awesome fight Maria released her biggest bonefish to date, a solid 10-11 pounder.  Wow!   The rest of the trip was pretty and slow but the fish of the day was taken care of and anything after would have been icing.  

Capt. Mo Estevez

http://www.miamibonefishing.com/

786-853-1409

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing

Dealing with Cold January 11-18, 2023

Boy oh boy did I get my wish.  Over the summer I wanted a nice cold winter, well I got it!  We got a second cold front that dropped the air temperature into the high 30's to the point where one morning on my way to work we had frost on the roof, in South Florida!  The water temps were 60 degrees by the marina and a few degrees warmer on the oceanside of the bay.  This cold air has sat over us for a few night keeping the water temps low and the fishing tough but the day before the cold front I fished with Kivi and Charlie and nailed it with nice yellow jacks and snappers the guys wanted for dinner.  After the cold front everything changed as expected.  The first trip was with long time clients Joe and Kim and it was desolation even during the warmer incoming tide that raised the water temps a few degrees.  The following trip was with Arman, Jonah and Daniel and we had a good trip with several snook landed plus snappers and other species for dinner.  By this time the water temps were a bit better and I was looking forward to better fishing with Todd from Boston but boy was I wrong.  Even though we had better water temps and perfect conditions fishing was tough.  I found just a few tarpon in the early morning and then some in the afternoon but smaller fish and just a few here and there.  We worked hard and fished all over creation for all kinds of species but nothing to get excited about.  No snook, no bonefish but Todd did hook a really nice mystery fish on lures in the early morning but it broke us off.  I can't wait for this to turn around, I'm sure it will in the next day or so, it always does! 

Capt. Mo Estevez

http://www.miamibonefishing.com/

786-853-1409

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing

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