What a way to end the month! May 24-31, 2024

What a way to end the month but it was not all good news at first.  My Saturday charter was with regular local client Barry and we were fishing out of Key Biscayne on Memorial Day weekend.  Not good.  But, he was there for a few nights and couldn't drive south so the plan was to meet him there and well that's when things went sideways.  With HUGE amounts of boat traffic at the marina, I arrived at 6:45AM only to find out the marina was already full and closed.  What?!  I had to tell Barry to reschedule and I drove an hour and a half back home.  Ouch!  My Sunday trip was also with a regular long time client, Alex and out of the same marina in Key Biscayne.  This time we started at 6:30AM and I launched out of Homestead at 5:30AM and ran by boat an hour north to Key Biscayne.  Everything went well after that but the marinas were already 3/4 full by 5:30Am.  Crazy!  Oh, back to fishing.  It was slow overall but Alex hooked and lost a tarpon and his buddy Kai caught a bunch of snappers and jacks.  I took Monday off and declined a few trips, my mental health s more important.  However, I had long time client Ken on board out of Homestead with his kids Gianna and Haram.  He wanted to make sure they caught a bunch of fish regardless of size so the kids caught endless snappers until they got bored.  At this point we target bonefish and were able to hook two and land one, nice!  My last trip of the month was Chris and his son Luke targeting bonefish.  It was on fire!  We had slick calm conditions, falling tide and great moon phase.  The end result was tons of shots at schools of bonefish coming in all directions.  We hooked four and landed two.  Not great odds but it was one of those mornings where landing bonefish was almost guaranteed.  That's what early morning bone fishing is like in the summer and it didn't disappoint.  

Capt.  Mo Estevez 

786-853-1409

www.MiamiBonefishing.com

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing

Long Report May 1-23, 2024

What's up everyone?  It's been a busy month so far so here is a catch up report of what's been going on in Miami/Biscayne Bay.  The first week of May started the way the April ended, on fire!  Joel and Paul were with me for the last day of our trip and we got into some super shallow, super calm big tailing bonefish action that had us going 3 for 4 on these big fish and had plenty more shots.  This was after fishing the finger channels and having a blast catching a variety of snappers and jacks in order to mix things up.  The following day I had Mark on board and we did well on bonefish again, in really calm conditions which is typical of May in Miami.  After a few days off and a mini well needed vacation I was back on the water with Brett and Kris out of the Ocean Reef Club in Key Largo.  these guys were great and a ton of fun to fish with.  They caught a bunch of jacks, sight fished a few lemon sharks and we wrapped it up hooking 7 bonefish and landing 6.  What a day!  The following day I fleshed with Wes and he wanted to focus on snook since they don't have snook in Texas.  We got an early 6AM start and tossed top water lures for snook.  They were there and he caught a few nice fish before the trip ended at 10AM.  

The next day I fished with local client Barry and we focused on snook (who were MIA...go figure!) so we turned out attention to bonefish.  The flats were dead but at a certain point in the tide the bonefish went crazy and a school of about 100 fish were mudding.  It was an easy shot and Barry capitalized by landing a bonefish out of the school and ending what would have been a skunk trip.  

With a slow down in fishing I was concerned taking Neil and his wife out in the morning for bonefish but it worked out and there were plenty of smaller fish around and Neil was able to land his first bonefish.  The afternoon trip was with long time client Austin and it was a dud, the fishing was dead and only a few blow ups from snook on top water.  

Saturday found me fishing with Abe armed with a fly rod for bonefish.  Once again the fishing was a bit slow for bonefish so we turned out attention to permit and found one mudding and then several singles and doubles.  Abe had some shots but permit are permit.  At the right time in the tide I took him where I took Barry a few days prior and the bones were there like clock work.  A nice long accurate cast into a school of 100 bonefish and it took seconds for Abe to hook up and landing his first Biscayne Bay bonefish. It turned out to be a nice day.  

The balance of my trips through the 14 were mainly trips to just catch anything and we did just that but the yellow jacks weren't around in the big numbers they have been but snappers filled the void.  

The last four trips consisted of three with Chris and his friend Brian as we chased bonefish on fly and the last trip of this report was with Josh, Arman and Aria, all regular clients of mine.  Josh and the crew took home some fresh fish dinner and Chris and Brian did well on bonefish. For three days we chased bonefish on spin and fly and we caught bones on every trip.  Day one Brian landed one on spin, day two Chris landed two on fly and two on spin and the lat day was a half day which was epic is the calm conditions with tailing bonefish everywhere and we went 1 for three in the first hour.  Man was that fun!  

Capt.  Mo Estevez 

786-853-1409

www.MiamiBonefishing.com

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing

More Fire April 23-30, 2024 Report

Wow, wow, wow!  What a way to end the month!  These last 7 days have been solid with just a "slow" trip mixed in.  We begin this week's report with Richard from TX and he wanted to target tarpon and snook.  This is tarpon season right?  I ask because we searched high and low on the oceanside flats for tarpon in their usual migration routes and it was devoid of life.  After putting in too many hours into this we changed it up and targeted snook and bonefish.  Both were good and Richard had a number of snook blow up his top water but miss.  To dull the pain of missing so many snook, he caught some trout and well, bonefish.  Yes!  

The next day Richard and I focused on snook and this worked out with Richard landing his first snook and then another one to make up for the prior day.  

Having Sunday off, I was back to work on Monday with Tyler and Bill.  Tyler really wanted to target bonefish and permit so we focused on bonefish first and Bill got his first one.  Once the winds laid down a bit we hit some permit flats and found none, actually there wasn't much life on the flats as not only were permit MIA but so were sharks, rays and barracudas, all the signs of life we look for.  

I wrapped up the month with Joel and Paul who wanted to focus on just catching fish and having a good time.  With lures tied to 30lb florocarbon leader we hit the mangroves where Joel landed a nice snook and Paul lost a slob snook due to a spit hook.  Ouch!  Moving along the trip they caught sea trout, jacks and barracuda until the tide was right and I took them bone fishing.  I'm glad I did as the guys hooked 8 bonefish and landed 7, wow!  Great job guys!  Well, we're done with April and we ended strong.  Now we are on to May, one of my favorite months in Miami.  

Capt.  Mo Estevez 

786-853-1409

www.MiamiBonefishing.com

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing

On Fire Report April 15-23, 2024

Well, what can I say, it's been good this week!  From bonefish to snook and everything in between.  The first two trips of the week was with Ben and his son Patrick and the following day with Ben and his other son Nick.  What two great trips!  Day one Ben and Patrick caught a bunch of trout, hooked a few snook and landed a few more. Patrick hooked a slob that almost got him tot he mangroves but he did a great job keeping his out and landing a great fish.  The following day we caught even more trout with Ben and Nick but no snook.  However, we did target bonefish on soft plastics and Ben hooked a nice bonefish that simply spit the hook deep into the second run.  Ouch! 

The following day I had Reggie and Audrey and they wanted lots of action and catching many species so we did just that in the finger channels and the highlight were some nice yellow jacks.  The following day I had two trips, Grant and Emma being my morning trip with Grant fly fishing and Emma spin fishing.  I took them to a snook spot where they caught a bunch of trout, go figure.  The next spot Grant had a big snook eat his fly but rush the boat and come off   We wrapped it up bone fishing where Emma landed her first.  My afternoon trip was with Mike ad his son Tyler and these guys were great.  they wanted big fish so we caught some jacks and hit the flats for sharks where they hooked a few nice lemon sharks and landed two lemons that had them working hard to bring those powerful lemons to the boat.  

Saturday I had Abe and his wife Amanda for a full day of fly fishing for bonefish.  The fishing was slow but I managed to get them 8-10 shots at bonefish but it didn't work out perfectly which is what is required to catch bonefish on fly.  Sunday I fished with Brian and his son Dennis again targeting snook and bonefish, neither of which cooperated but we caught a bunch of snappers in the finger channels and Brian lost a bonefish he hooked briefly.  

Monday found me taking Scott and Anna out for a combo fishing trip/tour of Biscayne National Park.  These folks were great and while I gave them a tour of the bay, took them snorkeling and had them walk around and bath in Boca Chita, they also caught a bunch of snappers and Anna got Hooke on fishing.  She decided no more snorkeling and she just wanted to get back to fishing.  Nice!

This report ends with Alec and I deciding to forgo our usual full day for a half day based on the weather reports of high winds and small craft advisories.  It started really nice actually and earlier than usual as we were fishing by 6:30AM throwing top waters for snook.  I saw a small tarpon roll, had Alec cast and a few seconds later he hooked the tarpon but it threw the hook on the first jump.  After to many swings and misses by snook he finally got one to stick and landed the first snook of the day as the wind started to pick up.  We fished along shoreline where he landed yet another snook, huh bigger this time, and a sea trout that kept hitting his top water.  With the wind getting to over 20MPH we decided to give bone fishing about 45 minutes and wouldn't you know it, he landed one.  Wow! What a four hour trip in increasingly tough conditions and what a way to end this weeks report.  This past week has been solid fishing and great weather.  I love it!  

Capt.  Mo Estevez 

786-853-1409

www.MiamiBonefishing.com

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing

On Fire! Week of April 12-14, 2024

What a way to end the week!  I love the mullet migration and I love April for so many reasons.  It started with Chris from Sarasota wanting to fly fish for bonefish.  Friday was slow(ish) with a few shots at permit and a few bonefish but definitely slow, but there were mules being crushed everywhere but that was not the goal.  Saturday was day two with Chris and we switched to spin and landed a nice bonefish and lost two more before the two day adventure was over.  Sunday I had two trips, a six hour with Rick, Brad and Ted began at 7am and these guys were so hilarious!  We pretty much laughed for all six hours as they lost a nice snook, missed about a half dozen more snook bits on top water, landed lady fish, jacks and barracuda but we struck out on bonefish for the brief time we pursued them.  I got back to the dock at 1PM and Duncan and Madison were right on time.  The morning guys jumped off, Duncan and Madison jumped in and off we went.  Duncan wants to fly fish and Madison was spin fishing as she hasn't fished much before.  I took them to several big mullet schools and Duncan landed a sea trout on fly and had a few more predators blow up on his fly but missed.  We've been catching the odd sea trout here and there so hopefully they are making a comeback.  I ran a bit to fish another mullet school and this was the ticket.  Duncan had a few blow ups on his fly as snook would bust the mullet schools here and there until Madison...  Oh Madison, I taught her how to use a top water lure and after a few blow ups she had a bucket sized mouth inhale her plug and give her a solid fight.  She landed her first snook, a slob at that!  She did a great job and some pics later we got a healthy release on an over slot snook.  Wanting to change it up we had about 45 minutes left and we fished a bonefish flat that typically produces and this is where Duncan got his first bonefish on fly and lost another really solid fish to a pulled hook.  

What a way to end the week, great clients, fun trips and some really nice fish!  

Capt.  Mo Estevez 

786-853-1409

www.MiamiBonefishing.com

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing

Fun week of April 7-11, 2024

Oh yeah this has been a fun week.  The early part of the week had great conditions and then the wind increased as the week progressed but that is typical of April.  My week began with Chris and Franz for a day of rod bending fun.  The guys caught a bunch of species but no bonefish.  Ah man that stinks, until Chris hooked a small permit and made my day.  The following day I had Jeremy and his dad Chuck for some fly fishing.  We started off looking for small tarpon on fly and got a couple of surface bites from either lady fish or jacks but it was a swing and miss.  A the day hit the 3/4 mark we switched off to bone fishing and the guys each got their first bonefish and on fly, an 8lber and a 10 lier, wow!  We wrapped up the day in the increasing wind throwing top waters for snook and we lost one big snook next to the boat and missed 3 more explosives bites and lost a nice trout next o the boat.  The day before I had a day off, and an appointment to fix my PowerPoles, I fished two trips.  My morning was with repeat client Joe and his priest father Turner.  These guys are great and at 90 years old, father Turner is still going strong.  With pretty significant wind all morning I decided to stay close to shore and it paid off with Joe landing his first snook on a free lined shrimp and father Turner landed a bunch of snappers, some being small so his nick name for the trip was "Micro Snapper Slaying Turner".  LOL. The final trip was with Hesham from Chicago and we were fly fishing for whatever would eat a fly.  I took him to a bay that had a ton of migrating mullet but no hook ups although we had either snook of jacks blow up on his fly a couple of times.  With bone fishing being slow we started to work some mullet muds and sure enough it paid off.  Hesham got a nice snook on fly and then a nice jack before it was time to head in.  The wind was getting tougher but Hesham could throw a fly really well and that made a huge difference.  Well, I'm off today having some repair done to the skiff but I'll be out tomorrow.  Stay tuned! 

Capt.  Mo Estevez 

786-853-1409

www.MiamiBonefishing.com

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing

First week of April report April 1-6, 2024

This first week of April I had mainly all charters where clients wanted to just caught anything and have a good time.  It started with Brian, Gainor and Bryson and this was so cool because they all caught a bunch of species including a ton of jacks, snappers, some pompano and a bonefish.  Then I had Rachel and her two kids and they caught a bunch of snappers before heading in.  On Thursday we had terrible weather and my morning client rescheduled but once the weather cleared Lindsay called and wanted to take out her son Sullivan fishing before they ended their vacation.  They were so cool and 10 year old Sullivan got worn out catching big blue runners and snappers.  On Friday I had local clients David and his wife Christina for a half day of showing them the bay and catching fish for dinner.  Well, we caught a bunch of fish but nothing big enough to turn into big fillets but they still had a great time and learned a lot.  I wrapped up the week with repeat client Pete and his cousin Fred. These guys are so great.  Fred had never caught a tarpon so we out in some time early morning looking for small tarpon to no avail so we chased bonefish and we lost two solid fish and missed a few bites but they some jacks along the way.  It's been a fun week with great weather so I am definitely looking forward to next week! 

Capt.  Mo Estevez 

786-853-1409

www.MiamiBonefishing.com

Follow me on Instagram @MiamiBonefishing