Local guide · Gills RockSpearfishing in Gills Rock: spots, seasons and rules
Updated 2026-09-04 · By Oleksandr, spearfisher
Gills Rock is legal for spearfishing under Wisconsin's Outlying Waters rule, which means no game fish at all: only panfish, white bass, yellow bass, rock bass and bullheads while skin or scuba diving in the open rough-fish season, plus the rough-fish list. What makes this place special is not the fishing but Death's Door — Porte des Morts — the strait at the tip of the Door Peninsula with one of Lake Michigan's densest wreck concentrations. The A.P. Nichols lies in 11 m mid-passage, the Fleetwing in 8 m in Garrett Bay, the Grape Shot in 2 m at Northport. Current decides every dive here.
TL;DR
- Gills Rock sits on Porte des Morts — Death's Door — where current, not depth, is the limiting factor, and Wisconsin's Outlying Waters rule bans spearing any game fish.
- Lawful targets are panfish, white bass, yellow bass, rock bass, bullheads while skin or scuba diving in the open rough-fish season, plus the whole rough-fish list.
- The passage holds one of the lake's densest wreck concentrations: the A.P. Nichols in 11 m, the Fleetwing in 8 m, the Resumption in 6 m and the Grape Shot in 2 m.
- Work slack water. The shoals that wrecked the schooners are the same shoals that make an unplanned drift dangerous, and a diver-down flag is not optional here.
What can you dive in Death's Door, and how deep?
The wrecks in the passage sit shallow — 2 to 12 m — because that is what killed the ships: dolomite shoals in a current-swept strait. The legal column is identical throughout: panfish, the three named basses, bullheads and rough fish by spear, no game fish anywhere. Two more shallow hulls, the scow-schooner Forest in about 9 m off Pilot Island and the steamer Louisiana in about 5 m in Washington Harbor, extend the list below. Nothing may be lifted from the National Register sites.
| Spot | Type | Depth | Level | Access | Notes |
|---|
| Waverly Shoal | Reef | 3-12 m | Advanced, current-driven · panfish and rough fish only | Boat | A charted dolomite shoal in Death's Door between Northport and Plum Island, rising steeply out of the passage. Current is the defining hazard; boat only, slack water, dive flag mandatory. |
| A.P. Nichols | Wreck | 11 m | Advanced boat dive · panfish and rough fish only | Boat | Schooner wrecked on Pilot Island in 1892, scattered over rock in about 11 m in the middle of Death's Door. Fully exposed — slack water and a settled forecast only. |
| Fleetwing | Wreck | 8 m | Intermediate boat dive · panfish and rough fish only | Boat | Schooner of 1867 that ran hard into Garrett Bay in 1888, in 8 m with hull, windlass and deck gear in place. Sheltered from south wind, superb visibility in autumn; a National Register site. |
| Resumption | Wreck | 6 m | Beginner, snorkel or single tank · panfish and rough fish only | Boat | Schooner of 1879 in 6 m just off Northport, three kilometres from Gills Rock. An easy second dive on sand and rock with good light; exposed to north-east swell. |
| Grape Shot | Wreck | 2 m | Beginner, snorkel or single tank · panfish and rough fish only | Kayak or small boat | Schooner of 1855 stranded at Northport, her bottom in about 2 m of cobble close to shore. A snorkel site reachable by kayak from the ferry dock; any north wind closes it. |
Is spearfishing allowed at Gills Rock?
Yes, under the same Outlying Waters rule that governs the whole Wisconsin Great Lakes coast: Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, Green Bay, Sturgeon Bay, Sawyer's Harbor and the Fox River to the De Pere dam. There, it is unlawful to spear any game fish, except that white bass, yellow bass, rock bass, panfish and bullheads may be speared while skin diving or scuba diving during the open season for rough fish spearing. Wisconsin's definition of spearing expressly covers spearguns, so your gun is inside every rule in the book — including the hours, which are sunrise to sunset. There is one further point for this particular corner of the state: there is no open spearing season at all on Wisconsin-Michigan boundary waters, so know exactly which side of the line you are working.
What is Death's Door, and why does the current matter more than the depth?
Porte des Morts is the strait between the tip of the Door Peninsula and Washington Island, and it is the reason so many schooners are on the bottom here. Waverly Shoal, a charted dolomite bank between Northport and Plum Island, rises steeply out of the passage; the A.P. Nichols and the Forest lie scattered on rock off Pilot Island in the middle of it. Current through the passage can run hard, the sites are fully exposed, and there is no shelter to duck into. That inverts the usual planning: a 6 m dive here can be harder than a 20 m dive in a sheltered bay. Work slack water, dive from a live boat, and treat a settled forecast as a precondition rather than a nicety. A diver-down flag is mandatory in this traffic.
What may you take, and what is closed?
Open to the spear: panfish, white bass, yellow bass, rock bass, bullheads, and the rough-fish list — all suckers, redhorse, buffalo and carpsuckers not listed as threatened or endangered, common carp, bighead, black, silver and grass carp, goldfish, freshwater drum, burbot, bowfin, gar, lamprey, alewife, gizzard shad, smelt and mooneye. Closed: every game fish — lake trout and the salmon, walleye, northern pike, muskellunge, the black basses, lake whitefish — and lake sturgeon, which is never a spear target on this coast. The rough-fish season is continuous in the coastal counties, so the season is not usually your constraint; the weather is.
Season, ice and visibility at the tip of the peninsula
Harbours and canals freeze from January to March while the middle of the lake usually stays open. The season runs June to October, and the water is at its clearest from August to October once the plankton has settled — the Fleetwing in Garrett Bay is specifically noted for superb autumn visibility. Expect a summer thermocline and cold water beneath it even on the shallow sites. There is no tide: the Great Lakes astronomical range is a few centimetres and NOAA publishes no predictions for these stations, so the water movement you plan around is the passage current and the wind. The nearest CO-OPS gauge is Sturgeon Bay Canal, about 58 km away, so local level here is an estimate.
Licence, gear and hazards
A Wisconsin fishing licence is all that is required: resident annual $20, non-resident annual $55, non-resident 1-day $15, 4-day $29, 15-day $33; non-residents under 16 need one to spear even though they do not for hook and line. Hours: sunrise to sunset. Gear for Death's Door means a drysuit or heavy semi-dry, a reel or line to a live boat, a surface marker and a flag. The three hazards to plan for, in order: current in the passage, exposure with no lee when the wind turns, and ferry and pleasure traffic between Northport and Washington Island. The National Register wrecks — the Fleetwing, the Louisiana — are look-only; nothing may be lifted.
FAQ
Is spearfishing allowed at Gills Rock?
Yes, under Wisconsin's Outlying Waters rule: panfish, white/yellow/rock bass, bullheads and rough fish only, skin or scuba, sunrise to sunset. No game fish at all.
What is Death's Door?
Porte des Morts, the strait between the tip of the Door Peninsula and Washington Island, with one of Lake Michigan's densest wreck concentrations and hard current through the passage.
How deep are the Death's Door wrecks?
Shallow: the Grape Shot in about 2 m, the Louisiana in 5 m, the Resumption in 6 m, the Fleetwing in 8 m, the Forest in 9 m and the A.P. Nichols in 11 m.
What is the main hazard here?
Current. The passage runs hard and the sites are fully exposed, so slack water, a live boat and a settled forecast are preconditions, not refinements.
Can I spear walleye or pike?
No. Both are game fish and closed to the spear across Wisconsin's Great Lakes coast.
Is there an open spearing season on the Wisconsin-Michigan boundary?
No. There is no open spearing season at all on Wisconsin-Michigan boundary waters, so know which side of the line you are on.
When is visibility best?
August to October, after the plankton drop. Harbours freeze January to March and the season runs June to October.
Do I need a boat?
For most sites, yes. The Grape Shot at Northport is reachable by kayak from the ferry dock, but everything in the passage is a live-boat dive.
Portugal
Spain