The entire estate of Florida just went through one of the worst natural disasters to date in recent history: the Hurricane Irma. After causing havoc and total destruction in the Caribbean, The Giant storm entered the Florida Keys as a Category 4 hurricane, then went over the whole state as a category 3 hurricane and left as a still powerful tropical storm, bringing Florida plus for 4 more other states to their knees. Flooding, lost of power, property damages, fallen trees among other issues were the aftermath of Irma's path. The Florida Keys, most specially the lower keys suffered substantial damage and destruction and were the most affected area in the state of Florida. I'm blessed and happy to say that nothing happened to my property and fishing vessels. It took me at least 10 days after the hurricane before I was able to get back on the water to assess all the changes that the storm made to the fishery. As far as Biscayne bay, the most visible changes happened in the ocean side shorelines, where the storm surge almost "moved the shoreline in", destroying some of the vegetation and dumping more sand, sediment and debris into the shores. As result, most ocean side shorelines now have bigger and wider sandbars. It will take some time before this new shoreline and bottom configurations begin to hold crustaceans, sea worms bait fish and such, whom will start to bring the permit, bonefish and tarpon back to their feeding grounds. As far as the inside and bayside flats, no major changes were noted. As per the fishing, the fall bait migration is in full force and with the bait, the tarpon and snook have been actively feeding along the shorelines and bays. We have had some very good days catching good numbers of baby to mid size tarpon and some snook in Biscayne Bay. Find the bait and the predators won't be too far behind. Fall Time comes with the biggest tides of the year. Like I have said before, Big tides can be negative or very positive for fishing, as long as you know how to utilize them in your favor. Permit love big tides and strong current. with the right weather conditions and visibility, the fall can be a great time to encounter big numbers of big permit feeding on the flats. The permit fishing has been great when the right tide conditions have lined up with clear skies and moderately light winds. Bonefishing can be a bit tough in the fall due to big tides but those big tides send them to areas that they don't normally access due to lack of water and food. Do your homework finding those places and you'll find bones. You'll also see fish actively mudding during the lowest stages of the tides. This is also a great time to fish for big mangrove snapper, big mutton snapper and barracuda. A live well full of pilchards or finger mullet always gets the job done. As we get into November, we will soon be making the transition into winter time. The first cold fronts will start to move in and with that, some other great fishing opportunities and scenarios will open up. That's it for now. Go fishing and take the kids with you!

Shark fishing is one of the coolest and most exciting things to do while visiting Miami and the Florida keys. Sharks get constant attention in TV channels such as Discovery and National Geographic and without a doubt, are the most popular and widely known fish **hidden content** in the ocean. While some of these documentaries show some cool interesting stuff, many times they also create some misconceptions about sharks behavior, habits, whereabouts and customs. When it comes to fishing, People have the wrong idea about sharks, often being labeled as man eating monster and dangerous offshore-deep water targets. Sharks are wonderful creatures, almost always accesible and willing to show you and your family a good time on the water. Luckily, Miami and The Florida keys including the Everglades, rate among some of the best places in the world for shark fishing. I often get trip inquires and questions like: I have always wanted to watch or catch a shark, Do we have to go far out? Is the water too deep? What about big waves? I tend to get sea sick, could we stay near shore in shallow water? Can we target big sharks? Is it safe? Do we have to go far to catch a real big one? I’d like to catch small sharks for my kids, can we do that? All these are usual questions that come mostly from people with little to no fishing experience. They can be tourists, visitors, outdoor lovers or fishing aficionados wishing to experience and learn something different. If you fall into any of those groups, shark fishing is for you. While you can certainly book a big yacht or boat to take you shark fishing in deep offshore waters, you don’t need to go that far to catch sharks while visiting south Florida and the keys. We can find different species of sharks almost all over the coastal areas of south Florida, in water as shallow as one foot to several thousand feet offshore. As inshore fishing guide, I focus on sharks species that inhabit the shallow areas of Biscayne bay, The Everglades and the Florida keys. Sharks can be targeted all year long, except when the weather gets too cold during the winter months, and they leave for deeper water. During any given day of the year with decent weather, we can can catch sharks species such as bonetheads, blacktips, lemons, nurses, tigers, hammerheads and bulls. When I say “shallow areas” that means that we can catch any of these species from 1 to 20 feet of water. Calm water, no big waves, no sea sickness and no long boat rides. As far as size, we can catch sharks ranging from 3lb to **hidden content**lb So don’t think that because we stay in shallow water we can’t hook into big animals. We can catch a wide variety of sharks in shallow-clam water, all within sight of the coast line, sometimes right next to it. Sharks can provide lots of enjoyment for fishing enthusiasts, whether they have experience or not. They are powerful adversaries that make long and powerful-sustained runs and espectacular jumps when hooked. Spin tackle, conventional or flyfishing? Your call. Sharks provide valuable learning opportunities to get you started in the fishing game. If you’re a seasoned fisherman, sharks are a great target when the weather or fishing conditions are not ideal for other “more glamorous” species. Also, if you have an interest in learning how to fight big fish on light tackle or even fly tackle, sharks are the perfect practice target. If you want to show your kids a good time on the water, shark fishing is a great idea. I still haven’t met a kid that doesn’t love catching a mean looking toothy critter! Be ready for a tug of war when you hook into one of these animals. Whether they weight 3 or 200lb they are a great contender at the end of a fishing line. Once you bring one to the boat, your guide will carefully manipulate the shark and will invite you to capture that memory forever on film. After caught and photographed, Every shark is carefully released to ensure their survival and future of our fishery. Give shark fishing a try, you’ll be glad you did. Call me up and I’ll be more than happy to set up your trip. Capt Alex Zapata Flats fishing guide IFFF certified fly casting instructor Miami, Everglades and the keys

Fortunately, South Florida wasn't seriously affected by hurricane Mathew, only leaving moderate rain, lots of wind and inactivity. For us, the fishing guide community, any major storm coming means charter cancellations and down time at the dock. Let alone if windy conditions become prevalent for the following weeks after the storm, which is the case for now. The wind has been blowing relentlessly since Mathew, making fishing very tough to say the least. Add the seasonal fall king tides along with cloudy skies and rain to make the bonefish and permit fishing very, very difficult. On the positive side, the hurricane pushed even more bait down south, creating a feeding frenzy show. There have been acres of mullet and pilchards working their way south, along with Jacks, snook, trout, snappers, barracudas, tarpon and ladyfiish happily joining the party. We have been finding bonefish pushing in schools and mudding, during the lower stages of the tide, at spots with strong current or moving water. The muds have been key to spot the fish in days when visibility is greatly reduced by cloud cover and/or higher than normal water levels. We have been also taking advantage of the massive schools of bait and catching some nice hard pulling jacks around them. Some of these jacks are pushing 12 to 15lbs and make a great choice for those days when the weather conditions aren't ideal for sight fishing.

The fishing for snappers in the shallow wrecks and channels in Biscayne Bay is starting to get consistent and will only get better through fall and into winter time. we have been finding good size muttons, mangroves, yellow jacks, barracuda and red groupers. These fish have been averaging 2 to 6 pounds with some fat ones up to 12lbs. fishing for these tasty fish on light spinning tackle (10-15lbs) is one of my favorite things to do in Biscayne Bay! whenever you tangle up with one of these nice snappers, be ready for a fight! They will surprise you with fast and long runs heading straight to the safety of the bottom. You will have to do your part pulling hard and keeping them away from the rocks, seafans and coral. The secret for success has been finding the bait, usually pilchards or finger mullet. Some times we find them only minutes after leaving the marina, some times it might take 1 or 2 hours before we are able to black out the live well. it is just what it takes... find the bait, find the fish. Another cool thing is that once we get these snappers hot behind the boat, they can be caught using artificial lures and flies which is an absolute blast! This is a great way to take your kids fishing instead of trying to do some challenging and more difficult fishing like sightfishing for bonefish, permit, tarpon, redfish etc... They will love very minute of it! even catching the bait keeps them busy and interested. Give me a call and let's go have fun out there.

late summer and fall is my favorite time of the year for bonefishing, as the water temperatures start to cool off a bit, making the fish actively feed through the day. Fall is also the time of the year when we get some of the biggest tides. Big tides can be good and bad. For permit fishing, big-strong tides are hard to beat, as they tend to feed hard through the tide and also are able to reach areas that otherwise would be too shallow for their comfort. Add some wind and the permit fishing can be epic!! The same applies to Bonefish. the fish will take advantage of the high water to access those backwater areas full of goodies, that are usually too shallow for them to get in. The drawbacks... well, you really need to time your tides right as your window for low water will be minimum. Sometimes there will be no low water at all, making the Bonefish really hard to find in their normal whereabouts, as they will have plenty of water and places to go. It's a double edge sword, but if you know how make that high water play in your favor, the fishing can be very good. We have been finding plenty of Bonefish in big schools, tailing and waking during low water periods and then mudding and cruising during the high water and outgoing water. The permit have also been around in good numbers, providing plenty of shots for the fly fisherman willing to put his time trying to fool one with chicken feathers, and also, the spin fisherman armed with an always effective live crab.

I'm sure that many of you have heard about the water quality issues, algae blooms and massive grass die off that we have had lately, in many areas throughout Florida bay. Several environmental groups and the Florida fishing community have been urging to stop the damaging discharges into the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee estuaries and restoring the flow of clean freshwater from lake okechobee to Florida Bay which is key to the future and health of our Florida fisheries. Whether you are an avid fisherman or not, This should be a common concern to the general public as our water ways and drinking water sources are being badly polluted and threatened. We all hope that our politicians and government representatives start taking action and supporting better policies towards the conservation of our waterways. While is true that some areas around flamingo have taken a big negative hit, our Mother Nature is still very generous and despite the adversity, has been providing very good action around some of these areas that have suffered from loss of grass and low oxygen waters. Please DO NOT get discouraged by some of the bad reports as the fishing is still very good in the park!! The key has been to find areas with cleaner water, decent grass and bottom quality. There have been some nice schools of big redfish working these areas along with snook and great numbers of baby tarpon. We have been sightfishing for cruising and tailing reds in less than a foot of water, throwing flies, soft plastics and live shrimp at them. The fishing in the west coast around the river mouths, creeks and shorelines has been extremely good with plenty of snook, reds, tarpon and trout. The bait migration is in full force in both coasts right now, drawing all kinds of action on all kinds of predators. It's important to remark that the fishing off the west coast of flamingo has seen very few issues if any due to the water problems that have primarily affected all the areas east of flamingo down to Islamorada and key largo.