Florida Freshwater Fishing Forecast for February 1-8, 2026

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

Fishing slow with short fat baits is winning strategy

The Florida Freshwater Fishing Forecast for January 11-18, 2026, gives anglers the last three days of a strong full moon seven-day phase and a real winter high pressure cold front which has dropped temperatures 25 degrees. However as is usually the case, temperatures will climb back into the normal seasonal range by the midweek when a low-pressure warm front improves feeding activity.

If you are going to fish over the next three to four days, I recommend fishing during the underfoot period when water temps are warmest. Fish will be in the shallows due to the 0,40 in hg pressure rise which occurred over the past 16 hours.

I recommend baits which are very short and fat, which emit a heavy vibration when retrieved extremely slow---if you think your bait is moving slow, slow down, and implement a long pause every foot or two. And try dark red, brown, and black colors with gold accents. Big jigs with big trailers rocking back and forth on the lake bottom in the shallow within thick vegetation I believe will be very effective. Short fat creature baits and tubes should also be tried.

Time to go slow using short fat baits. Big bass and pan fish prefer fat, slow easy meals when their bodies slow down.

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