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The Cobden breakwater/tiphead at the Grey River mouth; butterfish and cod, big Tasman swell and river plume — dive rare calm.
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Sources & confidence
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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.
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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.
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Open the seafloor mapThe Cobden breakwater/tiphead at the Grey River mouth; butterfish and cod, big Tasman swell and river plume — dive rare calm.
Google MapsRocky Point Elizabeth walkway coast at Rapahoe; butterfish and cray, exposed west swell, cool upwelled water.
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.
Spearfishing at Greymouth is condition-limited rather than spot-limited. The coast faces west into Tasman swell, the Grey River plume gives it a turbid baseline, and southerly flow drives upwelling that pulls the water temperature down, so the usable days are the settled ones. Two marks are recorded locally: the Cobden tiphead at the river mouth and the rocky Point Elizabeth coast at Rapahoe. New Zealand has no recreational sea-fishing licence, but MPI Challenger rules still decide the take, with a combined daily limit of 20 finfish and minimum sizes such as butterfish at 35 cm and blue cod at 33 cm.
Both recorded marks are exposed west-coast rock, and both are framed the same way: dive the rare calm. The river bar and the swell are the serious part of the plan, so the exit matters more than the fish.
| Spot | Type | Depth | Level | Access | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cobden Tiphead | Breakwater and rock at the Grey River mouth | Around 5 m | Experienced, settled conditions only | Shore, at the Cobden breakwater | Butterfish and cod are the named fish here, but this is the river mouth: big Tasman swell and the plume are the two reasons to walk away. Treat the bar as the deciding factor rather than the forecast alone. |
| Point Elizabeth (Rapahoe) | Rocky open-coast point | Around 6 m | Experienced, settled conditions only | Shore, off the Point Elizabeth walkway coast at Rapahoe | Butterfish and crayfish habitat on exposed west-facing rock with cool upwelled water. It is further from the plume than the tiphead, but it takes the swell directly, so it also needs a genuinely calm day. |
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).
On the settled days, and there are not many of them. The coast opens west, and the bad wind sector runs roughly south-west through north-west, which is most of the Tasman weather. Southerly flow drives upwelling on this coast, so a clean-looking day can still bring cold water in — the local cold thresholds sit around 10–12 °C. On top of that the Grey River plume gives the shore a turbid baseline after rain. No local webcam is supplied for this town, so wind sector, swell and recent rainfall are the read.
No licence is needed. MPI states that you do not need a licence to fish in the sea around New Zealand, and spearfishing is a lawful recreational method subject to the same sizes and limits as any other. Greymouth falls in the MPI Challenger area, which runs from the West Coast of the South Island north of Awarua Point around to Clarence Point, and the combined daily bag limit there is 20 finfish per fisher. Crayfish, salmon and trout cannot be speared anywhere in the country.
Butterfish is the reliable kelp fish, with a 35 cm minimum inside the combined 20. Blue moki and red moki both carry a 40 cm minimum, and tarakihi 25 cm, though tarakihi usually sits off the reef edge and deeper than a comfortable breath-hold. Blue cod is 33 cm and landed whole or gutted; MPI splits the blue cod daily number five ways across this region, and Greymouth sits inside the Westland area between Haast and Heaphy, which the Challenger table lists at 15 per day. Crayfish is 6 per day spiny and packhorse combined at tail widths of 54 mm male and 60 mm female, hands only — spearing one, or possessing a speared one, is an offence, and no more than 18 spiny rock lobster may be held at any one time, including at home, under the bag-and-tag rule.
Punakaiki Marine Reserve lies up the coast from Greymouth and is no-take: New Zealand marine reserves are closed to all fishing, spearfishing included. MPI's Challenger page also lists Tauparikākā Marine Reserve and the Waiau Glacier Coast among the region's closed areas. Separately, Makaawhio mātaitai bylaws covering nine West Coast reserves came into force on 1 October 2025 and set no-take or reduced limits species by species and reserve by reserve, so they must be read as tables rather than as one rule. Pāua is free-diving only nationwide — underwater breathing apparatus is prohibited for taking or possessing it — and MPI's Challenger table gives 5 blackfoot and 5 yellowfoot in Tasman, Nelson and Marlborough against 10 and 10 elsewhere in the area, at 125 mm and 80 mm.
No. New Zealand has no recreational sea-fishing licence, but MPI Challenger rules, mātaitai bylaws and reserve boundaries still apply.
MPI lists a combined daily bag limit of 20 finfish per fisher in the Challenger area.
No. Marine reserves are no-take under the Marine Reserves Act 1971, and all fishing including spearfishing is prohibited.
West-facing exposure to Tasman swell, the Grey River plume and cool upwelled water around 10–12 °C. The settled days are the workable ones.
35 cm, inside the combined 20-finfish daily limit in the Challenger area.
No. Rock lobster is hands only nationwide; the limit here is 6 per day spiny and packhorse combined, and Makaawhio mātaitai reserves may set stricter rules.