Today — sit it out — wave, wind and visibility. 🌫 Murky all week after the storm — the water isn't settling
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.
Leave your email — and the moment a window opens at Bluff, we'll send the go / no-go verdict. Email is all we need.
What's missing? Tell us what you'd like to see — new spots, species, data or features. We read everything.
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 appThe full spot briefing is part of the subscription: entry, bottom, hazards, tide window.
Open in the appThe full spot briefing is part of the subscription: entry, bottom, hazards, tide window.
Open in the appThe full spot briefing is part of the subscription: entry, bottom, hazards, tide window.
Open in the appExposed Ocean Beach rocks west of Bluff Hill; pāua and butterfish in cold kelp water — extreme cold + GW, go local.
Google MapsRock platforms at Stirling Point on the Foveaux Strait; pāua, blue cod and butterfish — cold, strong current, GW area: advice-heavy.
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 17:37 (Pacific/Auckland)
Spearfishing at Bluff is advice-heavy diving rather than a casual shore session. The marks are rock at the entrance to Bluff harbour and open shore facing straight into Foveaux Strait, and both are governed by tidal flow: the entrance rocks are described as slack-water only. Water sits at 8–14 °C all year, which points at a 7 mm suit and something warm afterwards. New Zealand has no recreational sea-fishing licence, but MPI Southland rules still set the day, with a combined daily limit of 30 finfish and species minimums such as blue cod at 33 cm. White shark presence in the strait is part of the planning, not a footnote.
All three marks below are cold, current-driven and exposed, and the local framing is the same each time: wait for slack and wait for a rare calm. Depths are the ranges recorded for each mark, and none of them is a beginner entry.
| Spot | Type | Depth | Level | Access | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Argyle Rock (Bluff) | Rock with kelp over boulders | 3–9 m | Experienced, slack water only | At the entrance to Bluff harbour | Tidal flow through Foveaux Strait is described as serious here, so this is a slack-water mark rather than a tide-any-time one. Water at 8–14 °C all year is the reason a 7 mm suit and a warm recovery plan come before the fish plan. |
| Channel Rocks | Rock ridge with kelp and sand between | 3–10 m | Experienced, slack water only | At the entrance to Bluff harbour | A ridge in the harbour throat where the flow runs hardest, so the window is short. Kelp sits over the boulders with sand between the ridges, which makes the ridge lines the ground worth working. |
Rules change and are regional. Before heading out, check with MPI (regional fishing rules / the NZ Fishing Rules app), DOC (marine reserves) and local notices (rāhui/mātaitai).
| Lookout Point (Bluff West) | Rock shore facing Foveaux Strait | 3–10 m | Experienced only | Shore rock west of Bluff | This one faces straight into the strait, and southerly swell is described as near-constant, so entry waits for a rare calm. Cold water and hard current are the two constraints that decide whether the day happens. |
Because three constraints stack on the same coast. Foveaux Strait tide runs through the harbour entrance, so the two entrance marks are slack-water dives; Southland swell keeps the open west-facing rock in surf for much of the year; and water at 8–14 °C year round shortens every session. The regional note is that most of this coast is boat-access diving with a real weather window rather than a drive-up shore plan. Treat a calm forecast as the requirement, not the bonus, and pick the exit before the entry.
No. MPI states that no licence is needed to fish in the sea around New Zealand, and spearfishing is a lawful recreational method under the same size and bag limits as any other. Bluff falls under the MPI Southland rules, which set a combined daily bag limit of 30 finfish per fisher, plus 50 baitfish and 6 eels on top. Southland excludes Fiordland, which runs its own much tighter table, so do not carry a Fiordland number across to the strait or the reverse.
The southern kelp and reef list is the realistic one. Butterfish is 15 per day at a 35 cm minimum, blue moki 15 per day at 40 cm, trumpeter 15 per day at 35 cm and tarakihi 15 per day at 25 cm; kahawai has no minimum length and a 15 per day limit in Southland. Blue cod carries a 33 cm minimum and may be landed headed and gutted in the Southern area at a 24 cm headed minimum, but the daily number changes between blue cod areas within the region — check the Southland page for the figure that applies at Bluff before you dive rather than assuming one.
Divers take crayfish by hand everywhere in New Zealand: a spear or puncturing device is prohibited, and possessing a speared rock lobster is an offence. Southland allows 6 per day spiny and packhorse combined, with a maximum of 3 packhorse, at a minimum tail width of 54 mm for males and 60 mm for females for spiny (red) rock lobster and 84 mm for males and 90 mm for females for packhorse; if unsure of the sex, use the female size. Pāua is 10 blackfoot per day at a 125 mm minimum, and underwater breathing apparatus is banned nationwide for taking or possessing pāua — including carrying one in the vehicle or on the boat. Kina is 50 per fisher per day in Southland.
Plan around both rather than around one. Tagging work cited for this coast describes white sharks aggregating at the Tītī/Muttonbird Islands and north-east Stewart Island, present from late summer into early winter and peaking March to June, which is a reason to keep catch off the body, work with a float and a buddy, and choose a season and a mark deliberately. The white shark is absolutely protected under the Wildlife Act 1953, so it is never a target. Cold is the other half: at 8–14 °C, thermal protection failure ends more southern dives than depth does.
Two named closures sit in this part of Southland. MPI lists the Pikomamaku (Womens Island) Mātaitai Reserve in the North Tītī Isles, Foveaux Strait, where all fishing is totally prohibited and no person may take or possess any fish, aquatic life or seaweed. Ulva Island – Te Wharawhara Marine Reserve, off Stewart Island, is no-take under the Marine Reserves Act 1971 like every New Zealand marine reserve. Mātaitai bylaws and temporary closures change during the year, so check the current MPI Southland page and DOC's reserve maps before each trip.
No. New Zealand has no recreational sea-fishing licence, but MPI Southland rules, mātaitai bylaws and reserve boundaries still apply.
MPI lists a combined daily bag limit of 30 finfish per fisher in Southland, plus 50 baitfish and 6 eels.
33 cm whole or gutted, or 24 cm headed where the Southern area allows headed landing. The daily number varies by blue cod area, so check the Southland page.
The local range given is 8–14 °C all year, which is why the marks here are described as 7 mm suit dives with a warm recovery afterwards.
Tagging work describes aggregation at the Tītī/Muttonbird Islands and north-east Stewart Island from late summer into early winter, peaking March to June. The species is protected and must never be targeted.
No. Divers take rock lobster by hand; spearing one, or possessing a speared one, is an offence nationwide. Southland allows 6 per day combined, with a maximum of 3 packhorse.
No. MPI lists it as totally prohibited to all fishing, with no taking or possession of any fish, aquatic life or seaweed.
