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Hillsborough River (Florida) — one of the area's fishing spots. About 96 km long. Close by — Tampa, Brandon and Lakeland. A smart bite calendar — moon phase, atmospheric pressure, and weather combined into an hourly fish-activity forecast for the coming days.
Other nearby waters
The course meanders heavily: the current digs a pool on the outside of every bend and builds a bar on the inside. Those pools under the undercut bank are where largemouth bass typically sits.
Nearest towns and cities
Florida: the months when each species peaks and when it goes quiet. The current month is outlined.
| Fish | January | February | March | April | May | June | July | August | September | October | November | December |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| White crappie | peak | peak |
Work the cover — snags, weed edges, hole entrances; retrieve the lure with pauses.
Hillsborough River — Tuesday, October 20
The bite is strong — fish are active. Pressure is rising — activity tends to be more subdued. Peak 07:00–09:00 and 19:00–20:00.
The computed water temperature is around 69 °F — inside the 57–75 °F comfort range for Black crappie, so baseline activity is high.
Black crappie works the twilight: the peaks are pinned to sunrise and sunset — their times are in the sun-and-moon card above.
Pressure is dropping 0.06 inHg over the day — fish are usually more active ahead of a weather change.
One more input — the moon's feeding windows: within their hours the score sits higher than across the rest of the day. The window times are in the “Solunar feeding periods” card below.
October is an active season for Black crappie here.
These are the same values the bite curve above was computed from. How the forecast works
Clear · feels like +62°
The day is 2 min shorter than yesterday.
Sunshine hours count direct sun only — cloud cover cuts it, so it is shorter than daylight.
Geomagnetic fieldG1 geomagnetic storm, Kp 4.7
Kp index — NOAA data. Not part of the bite score: catches show no link between geomagnetic storms and the bite.
The windows are set by the moon's transit and rise, and the forecast above already accounts for them: within these hours the bite score sits higher than across the rest of the day, while the day's overall level still comes from the catch-calibrated model.
What are solunar periods?Blue check: this species appears as a catch in reports for this waterbody.
Work the cover — snags, weed edges, hole entrances; retrieve the lure with pauses.
Hillsborough River — Tuesday, October 20
The bite is strong — fish are active. Pressure is rising — activity tends to be more subdued. Peak 07:00–09:00 and 19:00–20:00.
| active |
| fair |
| fair |
| active |
| active |
| active |
| active |
| active |
| peak |
| Black crappie | peak | peak | active | fair | fair | fair | active | active | active | active | active | peak |
|---|
| Striped bass | active | peak | peak | active | active | active | peak | peak | active | slow | slow | slow |
|---|
| White bass | active | peak | peak | active | active | active | peak | active | active | fair | slow | fair |
|---|
| Largemouth bass | peak | peak | active | active | active | fair | fair | fair | fair | fair | active | active |
|---|
| Blue catfish | slow | fair | active | peak | peak | peak | active | slow | slow | slow | slow | slow |
|---|
| Bluegill | slow | fair | active | peak | peak | peak | active | slow | slow | slow | slow | slow |
|---|
| Carp | slow | fair | peak | peak | peak | peak | active | slow | slow | slow | slow | slow |
|---|
| Channel catfish | slow | fair | active | peak | peak | peak | active | slow | slow | slow | slow | slow |
|---|
| Flathead catfish | slow | fair | active | peak | peak | peak | active | slow | slow | slow | slow | slow |
|---|
| Grass carp | slow | fair | active | peak | peak | peak | active | slow | slow | slow | slow | slow |
|---|
| Spotted bass | slow | fair | peak | peak | peak | peak | active | slow | slow | slow | slow | slow |
|---|
Biting
Fish in 1 of 1 report · Mostly Largemouth bass
Anglers have logged 1 fishing report here. Most commonly caught: Largemouth bass. Peak season: April.
Measured river conditions are available for Hillsborough River: current gauge height, streamflow, and water temperature when reported by the source.
USGS gauge HILLSBOROUGH RV AT STATE PARK NR ZEPHYRHILLS, FL, 0.7 mi away · measured 2026-10-20 22:00 · data source · provisional data, subject to revision