January 2026 Fishing Roundup — Tampa Bay, FL

On Lake Kissimmee, January trips produced full limits of crappie, up to 25 fish per person. Back on Tampa Bay, bottom fishing was the way to fill a cooler, from the bridge pilings out past the nine mile line.

Here's the month, water by water, and the trip that fishes each.

Lake Kissimmee: crappie in the grass

The crappie moved into the grass on Lake Kissimmee. The best action came along the grass edges and openings, where the fish were staging and feeding. Once a school was located, the bites stayed steady.

Light tackle with jigs did most of the work, and minnows worked well too. Our January report called December through March the crappie window on these lakes.

Crappie trips run with Capt. Ashmore or Capt. Gonzalez on Lake Kissimmee, Lake Toho and Crooked Lake: four or six hours, $550 or $650 per boat, up to four anglers. This is freshwater, so each angler brings a Florida freshwater fishing license. See crappie trips.

Bridges, docks and reefs: sheepshead

January was excellent for sheepshead. Good numbers were stacked on reefs, rock piles, docks and bridge pilings.

Shrimp on jigs was the go to presentation. The bite is subtle, so it takes patience, but sheepshead fight hard all the way to the boat. They're also some of the best eating fish in the bay, with clean, mild fillets, which makes winter a good month for a family trip that ends with dinner.

Nearshore: a mixed bottom bite

Nearshore water runs from the mouth of Tampa Bay out to about nine miles. In January it gave up plenty of white grunt, mangrove snapper and red grouper, plus lots of sheepshead.

It was steady fishing and a good fit for groups with mixed experience. Nearshore trips start at $650 for four hours, with room for six. See nearshore trips.

Offshore: bigger mixed bags

Past the nine mile line, where the boat's federal permit opens up reef fish, the bags got bigger. Red grouper, lane snapper, mangrove snapper, triggerfish, porgies and hogfish (hog snapper) all showed up over the rail.

Capt. Ashmore runs our offshore trips, six or eight hours from $950, and they depend on the Gulf cooperating. See offshore trips.

If a full cooler is the goal, call (813) 714-5670 and we'll match your group with the right captain and water.