Today — right on the edge — wave, wind and visibility.
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 Fire Island Inlet, 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 mapFederal jetty on the south side of Fire Island Inlet at the island's west tip, inside Robert Moses State Park, 2–6 m. Tautog and black sea bass on the rock; the inlet current is treacherous.
Google MapsOfficial state artificial reef 2 nautical miles south of Fire Island Light — roughly 340 hectares of barges, dredges and rock in 19–22 m. Black sea bass and tautog sit over the material.
Google MapsRock-and-sand dike on the north side of the inlet at Oak Beach, built to fight barrier erosion, 2–6 m. Loose stone holding tautog; the bay side runs murkier.
Google MapsGreat South Bay reef 900 yards east of the Robert Moses Bridge, 8-12 m on pallet balls and reef units — one of only two bay reefs New York maintains. Small-boat access from the inlet; dive the slack, bay visibility is short and the tide runs.
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».
US spearfishing law is state-by-state. License, spearable species, powerhead rules and distances vary; federal sanctuaries (Gray's Reef, the Keys, Flower Garden Banks) ban spearfishing. Always confirm with the state agency and local ordinances.
Spearfishing Fire Island Inlet works when you separate reef days from jetty days. Fire Island Reef sits about 2 nautical miles south of Fire Island Light and spreads barges, dredges, rock and hard material across roughly 850 acres in 62 to 73 ft. Democrat Point Jetty and the Sore Thumb or Oak Beach side give closer inlet rocks for tautog and black sea bass when the water is clean. South swell is the weak point: it pushes into the beach and inlet mouth at once. New York allows spearing species such as tautog, black sea bass, fluke and striped bass, but lobster is not a spear target.
These are yellow-safety structure dives with no local no-take hit. The reef is a boat dive; the inlet rocks demand current awareness and a conservative surf call.
| Spot | Type | Depth | Level | Access | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fire Island Reef | NYSDEC artificial reef | About 62 to 73 ft | Intermediate boat dive | Boat entry about 2 nautical miles south of Fire Island Light | The largest structure field here, with barges, dredges and rock. Pick it when south swell is down and offshore visibility beats the inlet. |
| Democrat Point Jetty | Federal inlet jetty | Rock edge and inlet shallows, qualitative only | Intermediate rock dive | South side of Fire Island Inlet at Robert Moses State Park | A tautog and black sea bass rock dive. If sets wash the stones or boat traffic is tight, skip it. |
| Sore Thumb / Oak Beach Jetty | Rock and sand-dike structure | Inlet-side rock and sand, qualitative only | Intermediate rock dive |
All 367 spots → · Region: New York · spearo.app — All countries
| North side of Fire Island Inlet at Oak Beach |
| Useful when the north-side structure is cleaner than the ocean beach. Treat it as an inlet dive before a fish dive. |
The bad swell sector runs from southeast through southwest, with straight south worst. The Ocean Beach camera can show a white surf line, but not reef clarity. For jetties, tide and boat movement matter as much as swell. For the reef, check the offshore buoy and the recent calm window.
Choose Fire Island Reef with a boat, stable weather and enough visibility for 60-plus ft structure. Choose Democrat Point or Sore Thumb only when the inlet rocks are calm and current is manageable. The jetties are closer, but they concentrate tide, wake, rock and surf.
The Northeast list includes tautog over rock, black sea bass on structure, summer flounder over sand breaks, scup, bluefish and striped bass. Striped bass is spearable in New York, but not in every Northeast state. American lobster is never taken by spear and belongs under separate hand-take rules.
New York uses free marine fishing registration rather than the license model used in many other states. Spearguns are muscle-powered, and divers must respect bathing-area separation. Fish have season, size and possession rules that change by species. Sturgeon are fully protected. If a fish is not clearly open by method and season, leave it.
Yes, New York is one of the states where striped bass is listed as spearable, but season and size rules still apply.
No. It is an offshore artificial reef about 2 nautical miles south of Fire Island Light and should be planned as a boat dive.
South is the worst direction, with southeast to southwest swell also in the bad sector for this south-facing coast.
No. American lobster is never a spear target; it is hand-take only under separate permit rules.
The listed spots are not flagged by a local no-take polygon, but New York species, season and method rules still control the dive.
