Can I use a speargun in Wisconsin?

Yes. Wisconsin's definition of spearing expressly includes spear guns, and skin and scuba diving are named as lawful methods for the panfish and bass group.

What is Milwaukee's signature wreck dive?

The Prins Willem V, a Dutch motor freighter of 1948 lying on her starboard side in 21 m, buoyed in season. Carry a line cutter for the monofilament on the hull.

Is there a shore dive in Milwaukee?

Texas Rock off the South Shore, cobble and boulder in 2-8 m — the one hard bottom divers reach without a boat. It blows out after any east wind.

How deep is the car ferry Milwaukee?

38 m, upright, with rail cars still on the deck. A serious cold dive on a protected National Register site.

Can I spear a walleye or a salmon here?

No. Both are game fish and closed to the spear across Wisconsin's Great Lakes coast.

Are there city rules on spearguns?

Municipal and county ordinances on discharging a speargun were not swept for Milwaukee in this research. Confirm locally before diving an urban shoreline.

When is visibility best?

August to October, after the plankton drop. Harbours freeze January to March and the season runs June to October.

Milwaukee spearfishing forecast — United States

Q: Is spearfishing allowed in Milwaukee?

Yes, but no game fish. Wisconsin's Outlying Waters rule allows panfish, white/yellow/rock bass, bullheads and rough fish, taken while skin or scuba diving in the open rough-fish season.

Milwaukee · United States

5.2

wave 0.3 m

visibility2m

Today — right on the edge — wave, wind and visibility.

Sources: IPMA · buoys · Copernicus · Sentinel-2 — high confidence · data 09:03

Sources & confidence

Sources: IPMA · NDBC & IH buoys · Copernicus Marine · Sentinel-2
Method: spearo sea-state engine: 6-model consensus + 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.

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.
Tides — none here: The Great Lakes are fresh water: there is no tide, so this factor never moves the verdict. The level is pushed around by wind setup and seiche instead.
Water temperature: Lake surface temperature from NOAA GLERL's GLSEA daily composite, not an ocean model — 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 — 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.

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0 m

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

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NWS no dataupdated 09:03

Milwaukee — solo, off the rocks

BORDERLINE

caution — solo off the rocks is risky, check on site · wind 18 km/h, gusts to 38 — caution

wave 0.3 mwind 18, gusts 38 km/hvisibility ~2 mwindow 09:00–21:00

today, best window 09:00–12:00

fish · Visibility 2 m · Water —

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 · today2026-09-09

06:24–19:12 · new moon

Hours (06→20)

Day's trends

Tide0.00 m

Wave0.18 m

Wind10 km/h

Water0 °C

fish activity: moonrise 04:31 · moderate · moon overhead 11:40 · high · moonset 18:31 · moderate · moon underfoot 00:00 · high

Conditions window09:00–12:00

caution — solo off the rocks is risky, check on site fish

Hs 0.34 m · calmperiod 2.7 swind 18→38surge 0.1viz 2 m

0.34 mcalm · up to ~0.68 · 157° at an angle

2.7 sswell moderate

18→38gusts 38 km/h

0.1weak surge

—m/s

2 mrecent swell

—no data

—

Atmosphere14 kmovercast

highmoon overhead

wind 18 km/h, gusts to 38 — caution
lunar fish activity

confidence mediumday

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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.

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AppomattoxMilwaukee

borderline

Ultra · subscribers

exposed head-on to the swell today

window: —

The full spot briefing is part of the subscription: entry, bottom, hazards, tide window.

Open in the app

Edward E. GillenMilwaukee

borderline

Ultra · subscribers

exposed head-on to the swell today

window: —

The full spot briefing is part of the subscription: entry, bottom, hazards, tide window.

Open in the app

LumbermanMilwaukee

borderline

Pro · subscribers

exposed head-on to the swell today

window: —

The full spot briefing is part of the subscription: entry, bottom, hazards, tide window.

Open in the app

Milwaukee (car ferry)Milwaukee

borderline

exposed head-on to the swell today

window: —

The 388 ft railroad car ferry lost with all hands in the 1929 gale, upright in 38 m with rail cars still on the deck. A serious cold boat dive north of Milwaukee, buoyed by local clubs, and a protected National Register site.

Google Maps

Milwaukee Fireboat No. 23Milwaukee

borderline

Pro · subscribers

exposed head-on to the swell today

window: —

The full spot briefing is part of the subscription: entry, bottom, hazards, tide window.

Open in the app

Prins Willem VMilwaukee

borderline

Pro · subscribers

exposed head-on to the swell today

window: —

The full spot briefing is part of the subscription: entry, bottom, hazards, tide window.

Open in the app

Texas RockMilwaukee

borderline

exposed head-on to the swell today

window: —

A named rock patch off the South Shore of Milwaukee Bay, the nearest hard bottom to a city shore entry and the one place divers reach without a boat. Cobble and boulder in a few metres; surge and turbidity after any east wind. Panfish and rough fish only.

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.

What's in season,
what the law says.

In season now

no targets this month

Regulated — check your state

Northern pike📋 season by state
Michigan: underwater spear in the named 2026 waters (Lake Michigan to the 45th parallel, Huron from the Thunder Bay River pier to Fort Gratiot Light, Erie, Superior; Grand Traverse Bay, Stannard Rock, Big Reef and the 4.5-mile ring round Isle Royale excluded), possession season 1 July – 15 March, 24 in minimum, 2 a day; plus a separate hand-spear ice season 1 December – 15 March. Wisconsin allows pike by spear only through the ice on Lake Superior — never underwater.
Yellow perch📋 season by state
Wisconsin is the one place a diver can shoot it: panfish carve-out on the outlying waters, skin or scuba, sunrise to sunset, while the rough-fish spearing season is open. Michigan allows it only by hand spear through the ice on Lake St. Clair, 1 December – 15 March.
Burbot📋 season by state
Pennsylvania's burbot fishery is the one real underwater lane in the eastern lakes: scuba divers only, non-mechanical spear or gig, at least 60 ft, 1 June – 30 September, 5 a day, no minimum size, fishing licence plus Lake Erie permit. Michigan and Wisconsin carry burbot on their year-round rough-fish lists.
Common carp📋 season by state
The one species spearable almost everywhere a spear is legal at all: Michigan and Wisconsin year-round, Ohio as forage fish, Pennsylvania under 58 Pa. Code 63.8 with a non-mechanical spear. New York gives you a bow instead, carp only, 15 May – 30 September. Illinois and Indiana list it but neither names Lake Michigan as a spear water.
White sucker📋 season by state
Rough fish in Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio and Pennsylvania, so it is lawful quarry wherever those states let a spear in the water. Identify the fish first: Ohio and New York protect the longnose sucker, and Wisconsin excludes any listed threatened or endangered sucker from its rough-fish class.
Longnose sucker📋 season by state
State endangered in Ohio and threatened in New York — fishing for it and possessing it are illegal there, catch and release included in New York. Elsewhere it falls under the general 'suckers' allowance, which is exactly why a diver must tell the sucker species apart before shooting.
Freshwater drum (sheepshead)📋 season by state
Ohio's forage-fish class names the sheepshead by name, so it is a real Lake Erie spear target. Michigan and Wisconsin carry it year-round; Pennsylvania's 58 Pa. Code 63.8 list does not include it, so it may not be speared there.
Bowfin📋 season by state
Rough fish in Michigan, Wisconsin and Ohio, with no bag limit at all in Minnesota's inland waters. Illinois and Indiana both list it, but neither names Lake Michigan among its spear waters.
Longnose gar📋 season by state
Rough fish across the western lakes; Minnesota caps the take at 10 in its inland waters. In Ohio the alligator, shortnose and spotted gar are state endangered even though 'gar' is a forage fish — identify the gar before you shoot.
Sea lamprey (invasive)📋 season by state
Wisconsin's rough-fish definition includes lamprey, so it may be speared on the outlying waters; Illinois lists it too, with no live possession. In Michigan it is not on the spear list at all, and fishing anywhere in a fish ladder or within 100 feet of a lamprey control weir is prohibited.
Rainbow smelt📋 season by state
On the Michigan and Wisconsin rough-fish lists. On Minnesota's waters of Lake Superior smelt is a dip-net and minnow-seine fishery under Minn. R. 6262.0300, not a spear one.

Not a target — don't shoot

Lake trout🚫 no-take
Underwater spear only in the Michigan waters the 2026 regulations name: Lake Michigan from the MI/IN border north to the 45th parallel, a 2-mile strip in Green Bay to the Ford River mouth, a 5-mile strip from Point Detour to the Brevort River, Lake Huron from the Thunder Bay River pier to Fort Gratiot Light, Lake Erie to the Celeron Island line and Lake Superior to the St. Marys River. Grand Traverse Bay, Stannard Rock, Big Reef and a 4.5-mile ring round Isle Royale are excluded. 15 in minimum; season and limit run by management unit. Nowhere else in the eight states.
Lake whitefish🚫 no-take
On Michigan's year-round spear list in all state waters except designated trout lakes and streams and the Michigan/Wisconsin boundary waters. Wisconsin treats it as a game fish and bans the spear on it in the outlying (Great Lakes) waters.
Cisco (lake herring)🚫 no-take
On Michigan's year-round spear list and a genuine Great Lakes target there. In Ohio the cisco (lake herring) is a state endangered species — possession is prohibited in every Ohio water.
Walleye🚫 no-take
Underwater spear only in the named 2026 Michigan waters (Lake Michigan to the 45th parallel, the Green Bay and north-shore strips, Huron, Erie, Superior; Grand Traverse Bay, Stannard Rock, Big Reef and the 4.5-mile ring round Isle Royale excluded): 15 in minimum, 5 a day. Lake St. Clair, the St. Clair River and the Detroit River are not in the row at all. Every other state on the lakes bans the spear on walleye outright.
Muskellunge (musky)🚫 no-take
Michigan only, and only by hand spear through the ice 1 December – 15 March: muskellunge is not on the 2026 underwater-spear list at all. On Lake Erie, Lake St. Clair, the Detroit River and the St. Clair River it is hook and line only, by name.
Smallmouth bass🚫 no-take
No Great Lakes state authorises a spear on black bass. Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana and Pennsylvania all publish enumerating lists and bass is on none of them; New York bans every spear in fresh water.

Law

•Michigan is the only jurisdiction in the region with a purpose-built underwater-spearfishing regime: a FREE annual underwater spearfishing licence, mandatory and separate from the fishing licence, resident and non-resident alike. From the 2026 season the monthly online effort-and-harvest report is ABOLISHED — the DNR dropped the reporting and kept the licence. Fishing licence: resident $26/yr, non-resident $76/yr, $10 daily.
•Michigan, gear and conduct: breath-hold ONLY — scuba and rebreathers are prohibited while underwater spearfishing; daylight only (banned from 30 min after sunset to 30 min before sunrise); a speargun may be fired only while submerged and must be tethered to a line no longer than 20 ft (6 m); bands off the spear and the safety on when moving between areas and entering or leaving the water; never within 150 ft (46 m) of a designated swimming area, boat dock, boat access site or power intake. New for 2026: the use of bait, attractants or decoys while underwater spearfishing is prohibited, and the diver must be fully submerged when taking a fish.
•Wisconsin is the only state here that names SCUBA as lawful for underwater spearfishing («by skin and scuba diving») — but on the outlying waters (the Great Lakes) no GAME FISH may be speared: panfish, white/yellow/rock bass, bullheads and rough fish only, sunrise to sunset. Licence: resident $20/yr, non-resident $55/yr.
•New York and Minnesota: there is NO Great Lakes spearfishing. New York — ECL 11-1301(1)(a)/(c): spear and speargun are lawful only in the marine and coastal district. Minnesota — the underwater harpoon gun is authorised for INLAND waters only, for common carp and native rough fish, sunrise to sunset (Minn. Stat. 97C.371, Minn. R. 6262.0600); Lake Superior is closed.
•Pennsylvania: 58 Pa. Code 63.5 makes every method unlawful unless specifically authorised; 63.8 authorises spears and gigs for snakehead, carp, suckers and catfish, and 63.8(c) forbids a mechanically propelled spear — so a speargun is unlawful everywhere in PA. Ohio: its «forage fish» class (thirteen rough species) may be taken by any method except a short list that does not include spears, so spearing them is lawful — but Ohio publishes no rule permitting a spear on any game fish. Indiana and Illinois: their spear paragraphs do NOT name Lake Michigan — status unconfirmed.
•Fresh water is not the sea: there is no tide here (the level moves with wind setup and seiche, and NOAA CO-OPS publishes no tide predictions for Great Lakes stations at all), and in winter the ice and 1–4 °C water are the season's real hazard. This page reads the water temperature from NOAA GLERL (GLSEA ACSPO) rather than from the marine model, which answers nothing on these lakes.

Safety protocol

Sets: watch the wave trains ≥15 min before entering; Hmax ≈ 2×Hs. Lake waves are short-period (NWS: roughly 3–4 s on average in summer) and steep, and they grow with wind strength, fetch and how long the wind has blown — a lull promises nothing here; 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 breakwall or a boulder revetment a modest rise in wave height can make the exit impossible — plan for not being able to climb out, and leave while the exit is still easy.
Structural current: near piers, breakwalls and river mouths currents can form and strengthen when waves and surf pick up (NWS describes structural and rip currents at exactly these features) — stay well clear of piers and breakwalls, especially the side the waves are hitting, and of river mouths and channel outlets: that is where the current runs strongest (NWS). If one catches you anyway, never swim against it.
Cold: wetsuit per the lake-temperature chip (GLERL surface — below the thermocline it is colder still); cold water shortens the safe time in the water — plan short sessions, wear a thicker suit than you think you need, and get out at the first steady shiver. Where the limit sits depends on your exposure protection, your workload and you (NOAA).
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 the Great Lakes, on sunny days with a light gradient wind, a lake breeze often sets in around midday and the chop can build quickly — plan to be out of the water by midday; when 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 Milwaukee: spots, seasons and rules

Updated 2026-09-04 · By Oleksandr, spearfisher

Spearfishing in Milwaukee is lawful under Wisconsin's Outlying Waters rule and closed to every game fish: panfish, white bass, yellow bass, rock bass, bullheads and the rough-fish list, taken while skin or scuba diving during the open rough-fish season, sunrise to sunset. Milwaukee itself is a base and a market — dive shops, charters and a NOAA gauge — rather than a single named site, and the diving that draws people here is wreck diving: the Prins Willem V in 21 m, the Edward E. Gillen in 23 m, the car ferry Milwaukee in 38 m, and the Appomattox in 7 m off Atwater Park.

TL;DR

Milwaukee is Wisconsin's largest lake port, and the same Outlying Waters rule applies: it is unlawful to spear any game fish. Panfish, white/yellow/rock bass, bullheads and rough fish only.

Wisconsin names skin and scuba diving as lawful spearing methods and includes spearguns in its definition of a spear — the most permissive gear position on the Great Lakes, attached to the narrowest species list.

The wreck diving is real: the Prins Willem V in 21 m is the city's signature site, the car ferry Milwaukee sits in 38 m with rail cars on deck, and the Appomattox lies in 7 m off Atwater Park.

Texas Rock off the South Shore is the only hard bottom a diver reaches from a Milwaukee beach; everything else is a boat dive.

What can you dive from Milwaukee, and how deep?

Honestly stated: no single dive site was pinned to Milwaukee itself in this research — the city works as a market and a base to set out from, and the sites below are within a short boat run. The legal column is identical on every row: no game fish by spear, panfish and rough fish only, sunrise to sunset. The schooner Lumberman, upright and intact in 18 m off Oak Creek, extends the list for a Milwaukee or Racine boat.

Spot	Type	Depth	Level	Access	Notes
Prins Willem V	Wreck	21 m	Intermediate boat dive · panfish and rough fish only	Boat	Dutch motor freighter of 1948 that struck a barge tow and sank in 1954, on her starboard side in 21 m — the city's signature wreck dive, buoyed in season. Heavy monofilament on the hull.
Milwaukee (car ferry)

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What can you dive from Milwaukee, and how deep?

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Windows, hours
and the day's trends.

A marine instrument,
go / no-go for solo hunting.

The forecast is the plan.
The call is on the rock.

Where to get in
off the rocks.

What's in season,
what the law says.