Florida Freshwater Fishing Forecast for January 25-February 1, 2026

Sunday's Comprehensive Fishing Article for Florida's Freshwater Anglers

Time to Perfect Your Winter Fishing Strategy

The Florida Freshwater Fishing Forecast for January 25-28, 2026, gives anglers a strong last quarter moon since the lunar high occurs Wednesday and the lunar orbit perigee Thursday, and pre-front conditions today followed by a strong high pressure cold front system which will drop temperatures at least 20 degrees and will remain in the state all week.

All fishing factors considered, anglers will need to perfect their winter fishing strategies if they want to catch fish this week. But today fall-like, pre-front conditions will cause fish to feed very aggressively, which I predict will continue into early Monday morning.

Monday afternoon through Thursday fish will be in a state of normalization as their bodies acclimate to the 20 plus degree drop in water temperatures. During true winter temperature periods in Florida, freshwater fish’s metabolisms slow way down and the need-to-feed slows down as a result. But when fish need food they will feed aggressively albeit for shorter period but the good news it the entire food-chain participates in the feeding effort.

So this week, anglers must get their winter season strategy perfected as in, fishing during the warmest water period of the day and presenting fat heavy-action short baits at very slow speeds coupled with several very long pauses up in the shallows which is where all the fish will be after Monday-Tuesday’s pressure rise of 0.43 in hg.

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