Florida Freshwater Fishing Forecast for January 18-25, 2026

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

Good New Moon Fishing Next Four Days

The Florida Freshwater Fishing Forecast for January 18-21, 2026, gives anglers the second half of a weak new moon phase and continuation of a winter weather forecast. All fishing factors considered, warmer water temperatures, bright sunshine, during an afternoon overhead new moon, will combine to give anglers the best fishing period over the next four days.

The new moon occurs today but it will have a weak influence due to the lunar low which occurred three days ago and the orbit apogee two days before that. However, the good news is bright sunshine will cause water temperatures to rise enough to create an increase in feeding activity during the afternoon which currently is when the overhead new moon occurs, adding a point or two to the feed rating.

A strong west wind is forecasted for today with speeds topping twenty mph by the midafternoon. Pre-front conditions occurred yesterday and very early this morning but ended once the wind direction switch south to west. Wind speeds will be in the ideal range of 8-12 mph from the northeast Monday through Wednesday and bright sunshine is forecasted until Thursday when a low-pressure system is predicted to provide some much-needed rainfall.

The last three days of the new moon seven-day phase will be much better than the first half—the further away from the lunar low and orbit perigee the moon gets, the more it has a positive influence on fish and wildlife feeding trends.

With the pre-front feeding which occurred yesterday and perhaps lasted until early this morning, I don’t expect fish to bite at average rates until Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon during the overhead moon. With pressure rising 0.20 in hg or more today through Monday afternoon fish will certainly be shallow Tuesday and Wednesday and remain there until pressure drops Wednesday and creates another pre-front condition during Wednesday’s overhead afternoon lunar period.