Juneau spearfishing forecast — wind, swell, visibility, tides & live cameras

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◈Juneau · United States
8.1
wave <0.1 m
visibility~4m

Dayisover

Dive today — wave <, wind and visibility.

Sources: NWS · NDBC · Open-Meteo · Copernicus — high confidence · data 13:28

Sources & confidence

Sources
NWS · NDBC · Open-Meteo · Copernicus
Method
spearo sea-state engine: consensus of up to 6 models + satellite clarity (ZSD) + buoy-bias checks
Freshness
Re-read every hour, per coast

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.

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.

01
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.
02
Wind & gusts
Speed and gusts, hour by hour — wind speed and an onshore push chop the surface and cut visibility.
03
Tide phase
Timing and range of the tide, calibrated per coast — big spring tides pull the verdict toward caution.
04
Water temperature
Sea-surface temperature — sharply cold water vetoes a green verdict.
05
Currents & outflow
Direction and drift of the current — it pushes you, and it drags turbid coastal water across where you dive.
06
Rain runoff & air clarity
Rain muddies the water inshore through land runoff, while fog and haze cut visibility at the surface.
07
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 — where night spearfishing is banned by law the window is forced red; where it is legal (Australia outside NSW, New Zealand, South Africa) it is capped at yellow, never green.

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.

Entry pointsNo-take zonesLive cams

Where to get in, where to hunt

Entry points with coordinates
Seabed relief — promising ground

This verdict — in your pocket. Open the app for the week's window.

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Washington

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0 m

Surface

Wind, wave and the swell windows — when to go and the best hours.

spearo.app
NWS no dataupdated 13:28
Offshore marks — solo, off the rocks
Day is over
spearfishing is banned at night · current 0.78 m/s
wave <0.1 mwind 2 km/hvisibility ~4 m
today, best window 18:00–21:00
fish · Visibility 4 m · Water 7.2°C
confidence medium · verdict for the selected day
Best window · next 3 days
borderlineMonday · 12:00–15:00
you can see ~4 m ahead fish

↓ low tide 18:27 · slack water ~17:42–19:12 bite times: 10:20–12:20 · 16:04–17:04

Tell me when it's on

Just your email — nothing else needed.

Before entering, check the camera and the surge
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.

Saturday · today2026-10-24
07:54–17:27 · full moon
▲ 00:00▼ 06:00▲ 12:00▼ 18:00mid-range tides · 6.3 m
Hours (06→20)
06
09
12
15
18
Day's trends
Tide1.94 m
Wave0.02 m
Wind4 km/h
Water7 °C
fish activity: moonset 06:05 · moderate · moon underfoot 11:20 · high · moonrise 16:34 · moderate · moon overhead 00:00 · high
Conditions window18:00–21:00
spearfishing is banned at night fish
Hs 0.02 m · calmperiod 1.6 swind 2→7surge 0viz 4 m
0.02 mcalm · up to ~0.04 · 335° at an angle
1.6 sswell moderate
2→7gusts 7 km/h
0weak surge
0.78m/s
4 mrecent swell
7.2°Cthicker suit + hood
▲01:00tide turn near
Atmosphere7 kmovercast
lowoff the lunar peaks
  • current 0.78 m/s
  • first hours of the flood — fish moving in
confidence mediumnight
Open the seafloor map with entry points →

Your best window — with you. Forecast in your pocket.

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point your camera
−10 m

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: 3016 spots across 406 stretches of coast — mainland Portugal, Madeira and the Azores.

See all spots →
−20 m

The 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 →
Auke Bay / Point LouisaOffshore marks
borderline
in the headland's lee today — swell from the quarter/behind
window
—

A rock-and-kelp shore with simple access from the Auke Bay recreation area, 4–15 m: rockfish in the cracks. Water between 5 and 10 °C all year. A good place to check weighting and rig before a boat trip.

Google Maps
Outer Point (Douglas Island)Offshore marks
borderline
in the headland's lee today — swell from the quarter/behind
window
—

Juneau's flagship shore dive: a rock-and-kelp wall from 5 to 20 m with rockfish, greenling and wolf eels. The walk to the water is long — carry the minimum and allow for a big tidal range.

Google Maps

One morning glance — and you know.

Download on theApp StoreGET IT ONGoogle Play
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≈

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».

more: Juneau Harbor (PTZtv, no stream URL confirmed) ↗
Open the seafloor map →
Reference

What's in season,
what the law says.

In season now
  • rockfish
    Sebastes spp. · 5–60 m · ⚠️ closed season/limit
    Alaska splits rockfish into three regulatory groups whose limits differ by an order of magnitude. Southeast: pelagic (black, dark, dusky, widow, yellowtail) 3/day and 6 in possession; slope 1/day; demersal shelf (canary, China, copper, quillback, rosethorn, tiger, YELLOWEYE) 1/day, non-residents an annual limit of 1 with a harvest record, and a Jul 1–Aug 25 season. No minimum size anywhere. Every vessel must carry a functional deepwater release device.
  • Pacific halibut
    Hippoglossus stenolepis · 10–90 m · ⚠️ closed season/limit
    JANUARY IS CLOSED outright; Feb 1–Dec 31 open statewide. No size limit for unguided anglers, 2/day and 4 in possession; guided/charter limits are federal and differ. Halibut may not be filleted or disfigured aboard the vessel beyond 2 ventral, 2 dorsal and 2 cheek pieces with skin attached, and proxy fishing for halibut is not allowed.
  • kelp greenling and other unlisted marine fish
    Hexagrammos spp. · 2–25 m · legal
    The realistic nearshore breath-hold target in Alaska once lingcod is out of season and demersal shelf rockfish is capped at one fish. Year-round, no size or bag limit. But the basis is a RESIDUAL clause — 'other fish species not listed' in the SE Alaska saltwater general regulations — not a named species entry. Read it that way.
Regulated — check your state
  • lingcod📋 season by state
    This is a closure on ALL gear, not a spear-specific one, and its real shape is a summer/autumn window that differs by region. SE residents May 16–Nov 30; area windows for everyone: Northern SE May 16–Jun 14 and Sep 1–Nov 30; Central SE Outside May 16–Jun 30 and Sep 1–Nov 30. SE non-residents: annual limit 2 (one 30–35″ and one 55″+), harvest record required. Southcentral and Kodiak 35″ with head attached, 1/day. Resurrection Bay (Seward) is closed YEAR-ROUND.
Seattle
  • Westport
  • Burien
  • Artondale
  • Des Moines
  • Tacoma (The Narrows)
  • Oregon

    • Astoria
    • Depoe Bay
    • Newport
    • Charleston (Coos Bay)
    • Port Orford
    • Brookings

    California

    • Crescent City
    • Trinidad
    • Eureka
    • Fort Bragg
    • Mendocino
    • Bodega Bay
    • Vallejo
    • San Pablo
    • Corte Madera

    All 367 spots → · Region: Alaska · spearo.app — All countries

    Tee HarborOffshore marks
    borderline
    in the headland's lee today — swell from the quarter/behind
    window
    —

    A rocky Sound shoreline north of town, 4–15 m: rockfish and the occasional lingcod over slabs and kelp. A quiet, lightly visited site; visibility improves on dry days and at slack tide.

    Google Maps

    SOLO 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.

    Law
    • ✓ADF&G sport fishing licence. Spear/speargun (no explosive charge) — legal gear for halibut/rockfish/lingcod.
    • ✓This is a closure on ALL gear, not a spear-specific one, and its real shape is a summer/autumn window that differs by region. SE residents May 16–Nov 30; area windows for everyone: Northern SE May 16–Jun 14 and Sep 1–Nov 30; Central SE Outside May 16–Jun 30 and Sep 1–Nov 30. SE non-residents: annual limit 2 (one 30–35″ and one 55″+), harvest record required. Southcentral and Kodiak 35″ with head attached, 1/day. Resurrection Bay (Seward) is closed YEAR-ROUND.
    • ✓In-season Emergency Orders override the printed regs — check the regional summary. Cold, low-viz water: expert level.
    • •Statewide in saltwater, every vessel must carry a functional deepwater release device, readily available, regardless of the species targeted. Unretained rockfish must be released at depth of capture or 100 ft (30 m), whichever is shallower.
    • ⛔ 🚫 Sea turtles and mammals, closed waters, refuges and seasonal closures (in-season Emergency Orders override print) — check the regional summary.

    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.
    Local guide · Juneau

    Spearfishing in Juneau: spots, seasons and rules

    Updated 2026-07-09 · By Oleksandr, spearfisher

    Spearfishing Juneau is a cold-water shore-diving problem built around rock walls, kelp and big tidal exchange. Outer Point on Douglas Island is the standout local entry because it has structure, access and fishy habitat in one place. Auke Bay/Point Louisa and Tee Harbor add rocky shoreline north of town, but none of them removes the need for conservative timing. Juneau water visibility can change with wind, tide and rain, and NOAA station 46083 is far offshore, so pair it with a direct shore check before any freediving Juneau plan.

    TL;DR

    • Juneau spearfishing is cold, tidal and kelp-lined. Outer Point on Douglas Island is the lead shore dive, with Auke Bay and Tee Harbor as sheltered rock options.
    • This is not a swell-tourist coast: hyper tides, poor light, cold exposure and boat separation matter more than postcard calm.
    • Targets are Alaska groundfish such as rockfish and halibut; lingcod must be checked carefully because Southeast closures can affect spear and diving gear.
    • Use ADF&G sport rules and current Emergency Orders before going, and use NOAA station 46083 only as a distant Gulf reference, not a dockside guarantee.

    Best spearfishing spots in Juneau

    These entries are cold, kelpy and tide-sensitive. The listed spots carry moderate solo severity in the source records, but the practical standard should be buddy diving, surface support when possible, and a hard turn time before the tidal exchange strengthens.

    SpotTypeDepthLevelAccessNotes
    Outer Point (Douglas Island)Kelp and rock wall shore diveShallow edge to wall waterAdvanced cold-water shore diveShore access on Douglas IslandThe flagship Juneau option, with rockfish, greenling habitat and occasional wolf eel encounters. Cold exposure is the limiting factor.
    Auke Bay / Point LouisaRocky and kelp shorelineShallow to moderateIntermediate to advancedAuke Recreation area shorelineEasier access than many Southeast Alaska entries. It still needs slack planning and a clean exit route.
    Tee HarborRocky Sound shorelineShallow to moderate along rocksIntermediate to advancedShore north of townRockfish and occasional lingcod habitat. Lingcod retention must be checked against current Southeast Alaska rules.

    When is Juneau diveable?

    The tidal range is the main clock. A calm-looking inlet can become a conveyor belt once the exchange builds, and kelp makes that change harder to manage on the surface. Pick short windows around slack, keep the dive plan inside easy swimming distance, and avoid testing new entries in poor light. The coast is sheltered compared with open Gulf water, but Southeast weather still changes quickly. NOAA 46083 helps with the outer pattern; the final answer comes from the shoreline itself.

    What can you target in Juneau?

    Rockfish are the most realistic reef target, with greenling habitat on the same broken bottom. Pacific halibut are legal sport fish under Alaska rules, though they are usually a deeper and more demanding objective than a quick shore swim. Lingcod can be present around Tee Harbor and rock walls, but ADF&G notes Southeast Alaska closures for spear or diving gear in certain periods, including winter timing. Marine mammals are protected, and wolf eels should be treated as wildlife to watch, not a casual target.

    What Alaska rules should be checked?

    ADF&G sport fishing rules allow spear or speargun gear without explosive charge for halibut, rockfish and lingcod, but Alaska regulations are regional and Emergency Orders override the printed summary. Hold the required sport fishing license, check the Southeast page for the day, and confirm bag, size and closed-water details before entering. If a refuge, closure or emergency notice is unclear, do not hunt there. The water is cold enough that legal and survival checks belong in the same pre-dive routine.

    FAQ

    Is Juneau good for beginner spearfishing?

    No. Cold water, kelp and large tides make it a cold-water intermediate or advanced destination.

    Which NOAA station is listed for Juneau?

    NOAA NDBC station 46083 is the listed reference, but it is a distant offshore station.

    Can you spear lingcod in Juneau?

    Only if the current Southeast Alaska rules allow it. Check ADF&G closures before targeting lingcod.

    Is Outer Point the main local shore dive?

    Yes. Outer Point on Douglas Island is the strongest listed Juneau shore option.

    What is the biggest safety issue?

    Tide strength and cold exposure. Plan around slack and keep exits short and visible.

    Sources

    • Alaska ADF&G, sport fishing regulations
    • Alaska ADF&G, sport fishing by area
    • NOAA NDBC, station 46083 Fairweather Ground

    Nearby towns

    • Dive spots near Homer
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