Occur when the moon is directly overhead or underfoot. These are the strongest feeding times of the day.
Minor Periods (1-2 hours)
Occur during moonrise and moonset. Secondary feeding windows that still offer good activity.
December 2026 Fishing Calendar
Sun
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
1🌗C+
2🌗C+
3🌘C+
4🌘B
5🌘B
6🌘B
7🌑B
8🌑B+
9🌑B+
10🌑B+
11🌒B
12🌒C+
13🌒C+
14🌒C+
15🌓C+
16🌓C+
17🌓C+
18🌓C+
19🌔C+
20🌔C+
21🌔B
22🌕B+
23🌕B+
24🌕B+
25🌖B
26🌖C+
27🌖B
28🌖C+
29🌗C+
30🌗C+
31🌗C+
Best (A/A+)
Good (B/B+)
Fair (C/C+)
Poor (D/F)
Top 5 day
Grades rate solunar timing and moon phase for the whole US. Water temperature moves a fishing day more than the moon does and depends on where you fish.
Get the full A+ to F grade for your water at bestdaystofish.com
Winter Fishing Tips
Winter fishing requires patience and slower presentations. Fish deeper water and target sunny afternoons when water warms slightly. Focus on major feeding periods as fish conserve energy.
Best Fishing Days in December 2026
The top-rated fishing days in December 2026 are December 23, December 24, December 9, December 8, December 10, ranked by solunar activity, moon phase, and the strength of each day's major and minor feeding periods. Those are the factors a national calendar can actually know. Water temperature moves a fishing grade far more than the moon does, and it depends entirely on where you fish, so enter your location for a full grade that adds water temperature, weather, and barometric pressure.
December splits the country in two. The northern tier is into first ice, which brings some of the most reliable fishing of the winter before the deep cold sets in, while southern waters fish like a slow late autumn with a good bite available on any mild afternoon. Either way, the days are short and the feeding windows are narrow, so timing matters more than water covered.
Want it on the boat or the fridge? This page doubles as a free printable fishing calendar for December 2026. Use the Print or Save as PDF button at the top and your browser produces a clean one-page PDF of the whole month, grades and moon phases included.
What the Fish Are Doing in December
Pre-spawn (1 species)
Rockfish feed hard before spawning in December, and our scoring raises their activity by up to 1.20x. Look for rockfish on nearshore reefs and pinnacles 60-200 ft.
Spawning (3 species)
Coho Salmon, Lingcod, Pacific Halibut spawn during December. Fish on beds are harder to tempt, so our grades apply a spawn-lockout penalty. Target pre-spawn and post-spawn species instead, or fish deeper staging areas nearby.
Fall feeding (1 species)
Sheepshead feed aggressively through December ahead of winter, with activity lifted by up to 1.25x. Cooling water and baitfish movement make this some of the year's best fishing.