Today — sit it out — wave, wind and surge pounding.
Sources & confidence
Compiled by the spearo sea-state engine · How it works →
The verdict comes from seven water factors and hard safety gates — not ten tabs. Go or stay.
Our own model
Our own forecast engine — not a third-party widget. It weighs these water factors into one go-or-stay verdict for this coast; the 0–10 dial is that verdict, read out as a number.
Safety gates
It all folds into a single 0–10 score and one verdict: go or stay.
A forecast, not a guarantee — the sea has the last word.
Where to get in, where to hunt
Wind, wave and the swell windows — when to go and the best hours.
The day is picked above, in the hero. Here are that day's windows, the hour-by-hour map and the trends. Tap a window to break down the conditions.
Visibility and what drives it — post-storm clearing, river plume, temperature and the thermocline.
spearo.app folds wind, wave, swell period, visibility, tides, water temperature and risk into a single verdict — go to the spot or not. It computes 7 days ahead from open marine models (Open-Meteo, IPMA), with no sign-up and no accounts. Built for solo spearfishing off the rocks, where any mistake costs dearly.
Now live: 3016 spots across 406 stretches of coast — mainland Portugal, Madeira and the Azores.
See all spotsRelief and bottom type, tides, and the depths of each spot.
The models set the window. Whether you go in is read only at the water: count the sets, watch the surge on the entry. If in doubt, you don't get in.
Scouted entries, coloured by today. The colour is the sea state at the spot, not a guarantee: the wash and a slippery entry you judge on site.
Open the seafloor mapThe full spot briefing is part of the subscription: entry, bottom, hazards, tide window.
Open in the appRock platform headland between Sharpes and Angels beaches at East Ballina, listed by the shire among its high-risk rock-fishing sites. No depth is published for it and none is invented here; the mark is the platform and its fringing reef, well south of Cape Byron Marine Park.
Google MapsBroad rock platform between Lennox and Ballina. Our layer drew Cape Byron as one bounding box until 2026-08-19 and this fell inside it; against the register's real zones NSW DPI answers OUTSIDE ANY marine park. The protected flag stays as our caution — read it as «unverified shore», not «closed».
Google MapsThe full spot briefing is part of the subscription: entry, bottom, hazards, tide window.
Open in the appRocky headland and boulder reef south of Lennox Point. The NSW DPI register puts this coordinate in a Cape Byron HABITAT PROTECTION zone, not a sanctuary — spearfishing is lawful there. We still flag it protected, our own caution: the sanctuary line is close and invisible from the water. Check the official map.
Google MapsSheltered reef corner east of Ballina; easy shore entry, bream and snapper on the rocks.
Google MapsSOLO is the biggest risk: underwater you can black out from lack of oxygen silently and fatally, with no one around. Solo is never truly «safe». Below are the best weather windows; carry a buoy, tell someone your plan and exit time, and any doubt — don't go.
Cameras, map and reference — to hand as you come up.
Check the cam BEFORE you leave. Foam, brown/green murk, or waves washing the entry rocks = No-go. At night/in fog the cam is useless — treat it as «unknown», NOT «green».
Rules as of now — 25.10.2026 14:47 (Australia/Sydney)
Rules change and vary BY STATE. Before heading out, check with your state's fisheries (NSW DPI, Fisheries QLD, VFA, DPIRD WA, PIRSA, NRE Tas, NT Fisheries) and the marine-park zoning map.
Spearfishing in Ballina / Lennox Head is not a hunt-the-headland story. The two obvious reefs, Lennox Head - Boulder Beach and Flat Rock at Skennars Head, ship flagged protected — and that flag is OUR caution, not a zoning line. Checked against the NSW DPI register on 2026-08-19, Boulder Beach sits in a Cape Byron habitat protection zone, where spearfishing is lawful, and Flat Rock sits outside any marine park at all; our layer used to draw Cape Byron as one bounding box, which is what put Flat Rock 'inside' it. Read the flags as 'we have not verified this shore', and use the official zoning map on the day. The practical open option recommended is Shelly Beach at Ballina. Pay the NSW recreational fishing fee and avoid eastern blue groper.
The short answer is Shelly Beach, then a map check for anything else. Attractive rock platforms do not overrule zoning, and our protected flags do not prove it either — check the register.
| Spot | Type | Depth | Level | Access | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shelly Beach (Ballina) | Sheltered reef corner east of Ballina | Shallow reef edge | Accessible shore entry | Enter from the beach corner only when swell is low and swimmers are clear | Bream and snapper are listed on the rocks. It is the open candidate while Boulder Beach and Flat Rock carry our own caution flags. |
Both are marked protected in our data, and that mark is a decision of ours rather than a boundary. The NSW DPI Marine Protected Areas register, queried on 2026-08-19, answers habitat protection for Boulder Beach — a zone where spearfishing is lawful — and 'outside any marine park' for Flat Rock. Until this coast is properly surveyed the flags stay, because the Cape Byron sanctuary boundaries are close and invisible from the water; but read them as caution, not as a closure, and use the official zoning map on the day.
NSW is one of the states where a Recreational Fishing Fee applies to spearfishing. That is different from Queensland, WA, South Australia and Tasmania under Australian state-by-state rules. The fee does not override marine parks, aquatic reserves, species bans or local closures.
The open reef can produce bream and snapper. Australian species rules include snapper and yellowtail kingfish where limits allow, but NSW adds a clear warning for eastern blue groper: it has been protected from spearing since 1969. Grey nurse shark and black cod are also no-take.
Ballina faces east, and the bad sector runs from about 40 to 170 degrees. North-east and east swell push colour and surge into reef corners. A flatter morning after the swell drops is the better bet. No webcam or buoy is listed for this city.
Yes. NSW requires the recreational fishing fee for spearfishing.
Our layer flags it protected as a caution. The NSW DPI register puts Flat Rock outside any marine park, so the honest answer is 'unverified, check the official zoning map', not 'sanctuary'.
It is a Cape Byron habitat protection zone in the register, where spearfishing is lawful; our protected flag is caution because the sanctuary line is near. Check the official zoning map.
Shelly Beach is the listed open shore-entry candidate.
No. Eastern blue groper is protected from spearing in NSW.
Leave your email — and the moment a window opens at Ballina / Lennox Head, we'll send the go / no-go verdict. Email is all we need.
All 461 spots → · Region: NSW North Coast · spearo.app — All countries
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