About Free Fishing Forecast
Methodology last reviewed August 5, 2026.
Free Fishing Forecast turns the same factors experienced anglers already watch — moon phase and timing, barometric pressure, wind, temperature, sky, and tide — into one 0-100 score for any lake, river, or coastal spot, so you can decide whether today's worth grabbing the rod without checking five different apps first.
How is the Free Fishing Forecast score calculated?
| Factor | Weight | What it captures |
|---|---|---|
| Solunar timing | 25 pts | Moon phase and the daily major/minor feeding periods tied to moonrise, moonset, and moon transit. |
| Barometric pressure | 20 pts | Trend over the surrounding hours (falling, stable, or rising), which tends to affect feeding activity more than the raw reading. |
| Time of day | 15 pts | Whether the window in question overlaps dawn or dusk. |
| Temperature | 15 pts | How far air and water temperature deviate from the recent seasonal pattern, not just the absolute number. |
| Wind | 10 pts | Light-to-moderate wind is generally favorable; dead calm and very strong wind both score lower. |
| Tide | 10 pts | Tide phase and proximity to a tide change, for coastal spots with a nearby NOAA tide station. Dropped (and the rest renormalized to 100) for inland spots. |
| Sky & precipitation | 5 pts | Cloud cover and precipitation. |
A location with no nearby tide station (inland) drops the tide points and renormalizes the rest back to 100, so inland and coastal scores stay on the same scale. Species-specific scores start from the same base conditions and adjust for how each species — see our species guides — responds differently to temperature, pressure, light, and wind.
How do I know if today is a good day to fish?
Every forecast page shows a live 0-100 score for that spot, right now:
- 75 and up — Great
- 55–74 — Fair
- 35–54 — Poor
- Below 35 — Very poor
Search any lake, river, or coastal spot to see today's score and the best time window to fish it — browse fishing locations to get started.
Where does the weather, tide, and solunar data come from?
Weather comes from Open-Meteo, tide predictions from NOAA CO-OPS (U.S. coastal stations only), location search from OpenStreetMap Nominatim, and solunar/moon timing is computed directly from your spot's coordinates. All of it is fetched live — nothing is a guess dressed up as data.
What are the score's limitations?
- Tide data and coastal detection only cover U.S. waters (NOAA's network) — international coastal spots are currently scored as inland.
- Water temperature for inland spots is estimated from recent air temperature, not measured directly.
- "Seasonal normal" is a trailing 14-day average, not a true long-term climatological average.
- The species list currently covers common U.S. freshwater and inshore gamefish.
Is a high score a guarantee I'll catch fish?
No — the score is a decision aid, not a guarantee — see our Terms.
Contact
Questions, feedback, or a data request? hello@freefishingforecast.com.