Glass Beach / MacKerricher reefFort Bragg
dangerousswell on the quarter today
- window
- tide
- shelter
- hazard
- access
Shallow nearshore reef inside MacKerricher SMCA — rec finfish take allowed, verify the current reg.
Google MapsFort Bragg spearfishing forecast — wind, swell, visibility, tides & live cameras
2.5
🌫 Murky all week after the storm — the water isn't settling
visibility1m
Today — sit it out — wave, wind and surge pounding. 🌫 Murky all week after the storm — the water isn't settling
Sources: IPMA · NDBC · Copernicus — high confidence · data 17:29
Sources & confidence
- Sources
- IPMA · NDBC buoys · Copernicus Marine
- Method
- Model consensus, read per window
- Freshness
- Re-read every hour, per coast
Compiled by the spearo sea-state engine
The verdict comes from seven water factors and hard safety gates — not ten tabs. Go or stay.
How we score the water
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.
- Swell & wave memory
- Height, period and direction of the swell, plus the wake of recent storms — an old storm still stirs the water, and the engine remembers.
- Wind & gusts
- Speed and gusts, hour by hour — wind speed and an onshore push chop the surface and cut visibility.
- Tide phase
- Timing and range of the tide, calibrated per coast — big spring tides pull the verdict toward caution.
- Water temperature
- Sea-surface temperature — sharply cold water vetoes a green verdict.
- Currents & outflow
- Direction and drift of the current — it pushes you, and it drags turbid coastal water across where you dive.
- Rain runoff & air clarity
- Rain muddies the water inshore through land runoff, while fog and haze cut visibility at the surface.
- Coast shape & exposure
- How the coast faces the swell — a sheltered cove keeps the water clean; an exposed, head-on point takes a penalty.
Safety gates
- Thunderstorm forecast — an instant red, no exceptions.
- An official warning (MeteoAlarm / IPMA) — yellow, or red for the higher ranks.
- Missing input data — a would-be green is capped to yellow rather than overstated.
- Strong disagreement between forecast models — a green day is pulled back to yellow.
- Night hours — forced red; the window is closed after dark.
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
Entry points with coordinates
Seabed relief — promising ground
Surface
Wind, wave and the swell windows — when to go and the best hours.
spearo.app
calmupdated 17:29
Fort Bragg — solo, off the rocks
don't go · wave 1.7 m (occasionally up to ~3.5 m)
wave 1.7 m head-onwind 20, gusts 30 km/hsurge pounding the rocksvisibility ~1 m
today, best window 15:00–18:00
fish · Visibility 1 m · Water 13.9°C
confidence medium · verdict for the selected day
Whole week — tap a day. is driving swell right now.
Solo risk: carry a float · tell someone your plan and exit time · doubt = don't go. A model-based planner; the call is made on site.
Selected day
Windows, hours
and the day's trends.
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.
Wednesday · today2026-07-22
06:06–20:36 · first quarter
▼ 00:00▲ 07:00▼ 11:00▲ 18:00 · 1.4 m
Hours (06→20)
15
18
Day's trends
Tide-0.30 m
Wave1.44 m
Wind4 km/h
Water14 °C
fish activity: moonset 00:28 · moderate · moon underfoot 07:50 · high · moonrise 15:20 · moderate · moon overhead 20:10 · high
Conditions window15:00–18:00
don't go fish
Hs 1.74 mperiod 7.2 s head-onwind 20→30surge 2.8viz 1 m
1.74 mup to ~3.48 · 189° head-on
7.2 sswell moderate
20→30gusts 30 km/h
2.8pounding the rocks
0.22m/s
1 mrecent swell
13.9°Cthicker suit + hood
▲18:00tide turn near
Atmosphere16 kmlandmarks visible
moderatemoonrise
- wave 1.7 m (occasionally up to ~3.5 m)
- steep wind-wave — choppy surface, careful on entry
- flood toward high water
confidence mediumday
The water column
Visibility and what drives it — post-storm clearing, river plume, temperature and the thermocline.
What it is
A marine instrument,
go / no-go for solo hunting.
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: 1152 spots across 189 stretches of coast — mainland Portugal, Madeira and the Azores.
See all spotsThe seabed
Relief and bottom type, tides, and the depths of each spot.
On the rock
The forecast is the plan.
The call is on the rock.
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.
Entry points
Where to get in
off the rocks.
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 map
Noyo Harbor jetty mouthFort Bragg
dangerousswell on the quarter today
- window
- tide
- shelter
- hazard
- access
Lingcod and halibut over rock and sand at the river-mouth jetty.
Google MapsTodd's Point (Pomo Bluffs) reefFort Bragg
dangerousswell on the quarter today
- window
- tide
- shelter
- hazard
- access
Kelp-fringed reef south of the Noyo mouth; lingcod, rockfish and cabezon.
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.
Surfacing
Cameras, map and reference — to hand as you come up.
Live cameras, map & reference
Cameras · live
Look at the water
right now.
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».
Reference
What's in season,
what the law says.
In season now
- white seabass
- California halibut
- California yellowtail
- California sheephead
- kelp/sand bass
- rockfish
- lingcod
Law
- ✓California sport fishing licence (+Ocean Enhancement Validation south of Point Arguello). No separate spearfishing permit.
- ✓No take: giant sea bass, garibaldi, salmon; abalone closed to 2036. network: no-take, by zone. Lobster hand-take only.
- ⛔ 🚫 Giant (black) sea bass and garibaldi — fully protected, no take. Red abalone — fishery CLOSED until Apr 1 2036. Salmon — no spear.
- ⛔ 🚫 network: State Marine Reserve () — no-take; — varies (check the specific zone). Lobster — hand-take only. No spear within 100 yd of a stream mouth north of Ventura.
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.
Safety protocol
- Sets: watch the wave trains ≥15 min before entering; Hmax ≈ 2×Hs, the wash can run 50 m past the foam line. A lull >10 min with period >12 s = a big set «overdue», do NOT enter; enter right after a full set passes and re-check at minute 30.
- Exit FIRST: find your exit AND a backup before entering. On a rocky/boulder shore a 0.5 m rise in swell can make the exit impossible — getting pinned/unable to climb out is the main killer.
- Headland rip: prominent points often have a permanent topographic rip regardless of the model — locate it, enter/exit on the windward side, never swim against it.
- Cold: wetsuit per the SST chip; the first shiver = a metabolic surge and a drop in breath-hold → get out at the first steady shiver. Cap the session at 45–60 min below 15 °C.
- Solo discipline: buoy up; tell someone the spot and exit time; conservative breath-hold (never push it in cold/murky/surfy water); visibility <3 m — don't enter.
- Afternoon wind: on many coasts the wind builds from midday — plan to be out of the water by midday; the chop builds — get out.
- UV 11:00–15:00 (UVI ≥6): sunscreen and cover up on the surface interval.
- Solo is a fundamental risk (hypoxic blackout with no buddy). Any doubt = No-go.
Spearfishing in Fort Bragg: spots, seasons and rules
Spearfishing Fort Bragg is a Mendocino cold-water game: rock, bull kelp, surge and short windows. The local marks are Todd's Point at Pomo Bluffs, Glass Beach / MacKerricher reef, and the Noyo Harbor jetty mouth. Lingcod, rockfish and cabezon are the core species, with halibut possible over rock-and-sand edges. The coast faces west, and west-northwest swell is the worst direction; even a bright day can be hard if long-period energy is on the buoy. Treat MacKerricher carefully. It is a State Marine Conservation Area advisory hit, not a simple green light. Verify current CDFW zone rules before entering.
TL;DR
- Fort Bragg is cold-water kelp and rock spearfishing around Noyo, with lingcod, rockfish and cabezon as practical targets.
- West and northwest swell are the main shutdown directions; clear water can still be cold because this is upwelling coast.
- Glass Beach / MacKerricher is an SMCA advisory hit: verify the exact zone before diving.
- California requires a sport fishing license; giant sea bass, garibaldi and salmon are no-take, and red abalone is closed until April 1, 2036.
Best spearfishing spots around Fort Bragg
These are yellow-safety rocky or kelp-edge sites. The MacKerricher entry keeps a conservation-area warning because the legal boundary is the main risk.
| Spot | Type | Depth | Level | Access | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Todd's Point (Pomo Bluffs) reef | Kelp-fringed rocky reef | Shallow to mid-depth reef, qualitative only | Intermediate cold-water dive | South of the Noyo River mouth | A direct Fort Bragg reef option for lingcod, rockfish and cabezon. Enter only when west swell is truly down. |
| Glass Beach / MacKerricher reef | Shallow nearshore reef inside MacKerricher SMCA | Shallow reef, qualitative only | Intermediate, legality check required | MacKerricher / Glass Beach area | Do not treat the SMCA as automatically open. Check zone rules and any seasonal closure before diving. |
| Noyo Harbor jetty mouth | River-mouth jetty, rock and sand | Jetty edge and sand breaks, qualitative only | Intermediate, current-aware | At the Noyo Harbor mouth | A lingcod and halibut style mark, but also a river-mouth environment. Verify the exact legal approach locally. |
When is Fort Bragg worth a dive?
Fort Bragg needs a smaller swell window than many divers expect. The bad sector runs from southwest through northwest, with west-northwest worst. Buoy 46014 is close enough to matter. Long-period west energy means working rock exits and kelp beds even if the wind is light.
How should you handle the MacKerricher SMCA?
MacKerricher is not a hard no-take hit in local notes, but it is a protected marine zone advisory. Check the CDFW MPA map and species rules for the exact reef. State Marine Reserves are no-take, while State Marine Conservation Areas vary by site.
What fish define Fort Bragg spearfishing?
Lingcod, rockfish and cabezon are the practical north-coast targets, with California halibut over mixed sand and rock. Rockfish rules need special attention because depth, sub-limits and species closures change. The broader California list exists, but Fort Bragg is primarily cold Mendocino reef structure.
Which California legal limits matter here?
A California sport fishing license is required. Giant sea bass, garibaldi and salmon are no-take by spear. Red abalone is closed until April 1, 2036. Lobster is hand-take only. SMR means no-take; SMCA rules vary by zone, so check before loading a gun.
FAQ
Can you spearfish at Glass Beach or MacKerricher?
Only after checking the exact MacKerricher SMCA rules. It is an advisory protected-zone hit, and recreational finfish permissions vary by zone.
What are the main Fort Bragg spearfishing species?
Lingcod, rockfish, cabezon and California halibut are the practical local targets here.
What swell direction is worst for Fort Bragg?
West-northwest is the worst direction, with southwest through northwest swell all in the bad sector.
Is red abalone open for freedivers near Fort Bragg?
No. The California red abalone fishery is closed until April 1, 2036.
Do I need a special spearfishing permit in California?
California lists a sport fishing license, not a separate spearfishing permit, but MPA and species rules still control the dive.
Sources
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