Can I spearfish inside St Joseph Bay?

No. Treat it as a no-spear preserve.

What is the main Port St. Joe style?

Boat diving open-Gulf wrecks and artificial reefs.

Which NOAA station should I use?

NOAA NDBC station 42039 is the listed reference.

Are powerheads legal in Florida?

No. FWC prohibits them for spearfishing.

Do reef fish need extra registration?

Yes. Use the free State Reef Fish Angler designation.

Port St. Joe spearfishing forecast — United States

Port St. Joe · United States

5.1

wave 0.9 m

visibility1m

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

Sources: NWS · NDBC · Open-Meteo · Copernicus — high confidence · data 17:22

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.

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 — 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.

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.

Google Play — QR code — point your camera

0 m

Surface

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

spearo.app

Small Craft Advisory · NWSupdated 17:22

Port St. Joe — solo, off the rocks

BORDERLINE

caution — solo off the rocks is risky, check on site · wave 0.9 m + swell period 5 s

wave 0.9 mwind 18, gusts 37 km/hvisibility ~1 mwindow 06:00–21:00

today, best window 06:00–09:00

fish · Visibility 1 m · Water 24.1°C

confidence medium · verdict for the selected day

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.

Sunday · today2026-10-25

07:49–19:00 · full moon

▼ 06:00▲ 21:00 · 0.4 m

Hours (06→20)

Day's trends

Tide0.12 m

Wave0.74 m

Wind13 km/h

Water24 °C

fish activity: moon overhead 00:30 · high · moonset 07:12 · moderate · moon underfoot 12:50 · high · moonrise 18:31 · moderate

Conditions window06:00–09:00

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

Hs 0.94 m · roughperiod 4.8 swind 18→37surge 0.1viz 1 m

0.94 mrough · up to ~1.88 · 118° at an angle

4.8 sswell moderate

18→37gusts 37 km/h

0.1weak surge

0.22m/s

1 mrecent swell

24.1°C5 mm + hood

▲21:00tide turn near

Atmosphere22 kmlandmarks visible

moderatemoonset

wave 0.9 m + swell period 5 s
steep wind-wave — choppy surface, careful on entry
first hours of the flood — fish moving in

confidence mediumtwilight

Open the seafloor map with entry points

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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.

Open the seafloor map

Air Force TowerPort St. Joe

no data

window: —
Seabed depth of the selected area: ≈18–19 m (bathymetry NOAA CUDEM, 3 m)

Tall tower with about 14 m of relief on a 15 m bottom — the top is shallow and works beautifully on breath-hold. Snapper, grouper and amberjack around it.

Google Maps

Barrier Dunes BargePort St. Joe

no data

Ultra · subscribers

window: —
Seabed depth of the selected area: ≈9.5–10 m (bathymetry NOAA CUDEM/CoNED, 3 m)

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

Open in the app

Charles Deaton Memorial ReefPort St. Joe

no data

window: —
Seabed depth of the selected area: ≈20–21 m (bathymetry NOAA CUDEM, 3 m)

MBARA association reef in 20 m, with snapper and grouper. WARNING: greater amberjack in the federal Gulf opens only around September and October — check the season before shooting.

Google Maps

Frank Pate ParkPort St. Joe

no data

window: —
Seabed depth of the selected area: ≈0.1–1.2 m (bathymetry NOAA CUDEM, 3 m)

Frank Pate Park: you go in from the shore, some 0.5 km from Port St. Joe. Rule 68B-20.003(2)(a): no spearfishing within 100 yards (91 m) of Florida public beaches. Coordinates of the entry: 29.810 N, 85.306 W. Depths reach about 1.0 m.

Google Maps

Highland View BeachPort St. Joe

no data

window: —
Seabed depth of the selected area: ≈0.2–2.6 m (bathymetry NOAA CUDEM, 3 m)

Shore access point Highland View Beach, roughly 2.7 km from Port St. Joe. Public beach: Florida rule 68B-20.003(2)(a) bans spearfishing within 100 yards (91 m) of it. Coordinates of the entry: 29.835 N, 85.317 W. Maximum depth is around 3 m.

Google Maps

Jetty ParkPort St. Joe

no data

window: —
Seabed depth of the selected area: ≈1.8–8.5 m (bathymetry NOAA CUDEM, 3 m)

Jetty Park gives shore access 1.1 km from Port St. Joe. Spearfishing-free zone: the first 100 yards (91 m) from this public beach (Florida 68B-20.003(2)(a)). Coordinates of the entry: 29.816 N, 85.312 W. Expect no more than about 8 m of water.

Google Maps

LST Port St. JoePort St. Joe

no data

window: —
Seabed depth of the selected area: ≈22–22 m (bathymetry NOAA CUDEM, 10 m)

Landing ship sunk off Cape San Blas in 25 m. A big hull with grouper and snapper; WARNING: a scuba dive, well offshore with no support nearby.

Google Maps

Marquardts BargePort St. Joe

no data

Pro · subscribers

window: —
Seabed depth of the selected area: ≈19–20 m (bathymetry NOAA CUDEM, 3 m)

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

Open in the app

Mexico Beach Barge (MBARA)Port St. Joe

no data

Pro · subscribers

window: —
Seabed depth of the selected area: ≈21–21 m (bathymetry NOAA CUDEM, 3 m)

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

Open in the app

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.

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».

connecting to the stream…

● LIVE↗

Veterans Park / St Joe Beach (Gulf County BOCC)YouTube live — Veterans Park / St Joe Beach (Gulf County BOCC). Embedded live stream; if the ID rotates it opens the source page. Read the water before you go.camera: youtube ↗

connecting to the stream…

● LIVE↗

Gulf County TDC — St Joseph Bay (GulfCoBOCC)YouTube live — Gulf County TDC — St Joseph Bay (GulfCoBOCC). Embedded live stream; if the ID rotates it opens the source page. Read the water before you go.camera: youtube ↗

What's in season,
what the law says.

In season now

sheepshead
Archosargus probatocephalus · 2–15 m · legal
Year-round across the façade. AL 12″ (30 cm) and 8/person, MS 14″ (36 cm) and 15, Louisiana neither a size nor a bag limit, TX 15″ (38 cm) and 5/day. Sheepshead is nongame in Texas, so gig, spear and speargun are lawful there.
cobia (ling)
Rachycentron canadum · 3–30 m · ⚠️ closed season/limit
In TEXAS cobia may NOT be taken by spear at all: it is on the game-fish list and 'game fish may be taken only by pole and line'; gig, spear and speargun are for nongame fish only. AL, MS and LA: year-round in state waters, min 36″ (91 cm), 1/person (MS 2), max 2/vessel.
gray (mangrove) snapper
Lutjanus griseus · 5–35 m · legal
The most reliable rig and jetty snapper from Alabama to Texas. Year-round in AL, MS and LA: min 12″ (30 cm), 10/person (in LA inside the 10-snapper aggregate). Texas lists no limit — unlisted species carry no bag or length limit there.
red grouper
Epinephelus morio · 15–50 m · ⚠️ closed season/limit
In Louisiana the rule is depth-keyed: year-round in state waters, but closed Feb 1–Mar 31 seaward of the 20-fathom (120 ft, ~37 m) line. Min 20″ (51 cm) in AL and MS, bag 2/person; in LA inside the 4-grouper aggregate. Texas lists no red grouper limit.
black drum
Pogonias cromis · 0–15 m · ⚠️ closed season/limit
A shallow, dependable jetty and marsh-edge target. Year-round in LA and TX; LA slot 16–27″ (41–69 cm), 5/day with max 1 over 27″; TX 14–30″ (36–76 cm), 5/day with max 1 over 52″. MS lists no limit. Nongame in Texas, so lawful to spear there — unlike its red drum cousin.
hogfish
Lachnolaimus maximus · 10–40 m · legal
This card is LOUISIANA-anchored, not façade-wide: only LA carries an explicit hogfish line — year-round in state waters, min 14″ (36 cm), 5/person/day. No AL or MS hogfish line was found; do not read it as a Gulf-wide allowance. Florida does carry a Gulf line: min 14″ fork length, 5/person/day, year-round — so the sixteen Florida cities on this façade read Florida's rule, not Louisiana's.
lionfish
Pterois volitans / P. miles · 1–60 m · invasive — target
Invasive: no season, size or bag limit. But the basis here is negative space — lionfish is not a listed species in MS Title 22 Part 3, and Texas states plainly there are no limits except as listed. No AL or LA lionfish line was found. Florida's licence exemption DOES apply to the sixteen Florida cities on this façade: no licence is needed when taking lionfish with a pole spear, Hawaiian sling, hand-held net or a lionfish-specific device.

Regulated — check your state

red snapper📋 season by state
Not merely 'typically May–Oct': TEXAS state waters are open ALL YEAR at 4 fish/day, min 15″ (38 cm). LA open from May 1 until further notice, 4/day, 16″. AL and MS set the season annually, 2/person, 16″ (41 cm). Red snapper is nongame in Texas, so spear and speargun are lawful gear. Florida sets its own Gulf state-waters season each year, separate from the federal one: min 16″ (41 cm), 2/person, and the free State Reef Fish Angler designation is required.
flounder📋 season by state
Three DIFFERENT autumn closures inside one façade — there is no single season: AL closed all November, LA Oct 15–Nov 30, TX Nov 1–Dec 14 (bag 0), MS year-round. Min AL 14″ (36 cm), MS 12″ (30 cm), LA none, TX 15″ (38 cm). Flounder is nongame in Texas, so gigging and spearing are the normal legal method there.
greater amberjack📋 season by state
The defining rig and wreck fish of the northern Gulf. Louisiana opens Sep 1 and closes Oct 14. AL/MS follow the federal season; Texas has no state closure. Min 34″ (86 cm), Texas 38″ (97 cm) — and it is nongame there, so fully spearable. Bag 1/person in all four states. Florida runs its own FWC Gulf season: min 34″ fork length, 1/person — check the current year's opening.
gray triggerfish📋 season by state
Texas is the genuine outlier: 20 a day against one a day in AL, MS and LA. Min AL/MS 15″ (38 cm), TX 16″ (41 cm); in LA it sits inside the 20-reef-fish aggregate. Louisiana closed Jan 1–end of February and Jun 1–Jul 31.
gag grouper📋 season by state
The practical spear season on the Louisiana shelf-edge banks is Sep 1–Dec 31 (to 23:59). AL and MS open; Texas has no state closure. Min 24″ (61 cm) in all four states, bag 2/person (in LA inside the 4-grouper aggregate). In Florida the Gulf gag season is set by FWC (in recent years Sep 1–Nov 10), min 24″, 2/person inside the 4-grouper aggregate — check the current year.

Law

✓Saltwater licence (+endorsement) per state: FL $17/$47, AL res $30, MS ~$13/$30, LA res $32, TX licence + saltwater endorsement.
✓Texas: spear only (sheepshead/flounder); gamefish (red drum/seatrout/cobia) pole-and-line only.
✓Red snapper: state-set season. Federal reef waters: spear + allowed outside the stressed area, descending device required.

⛔ 🚫 FLORIDA's full no-spear list (FWC, FAC 68B-20.005): snook, bonefish, tarpon, goliath and Nassau grouper, red drum, spotted seatrout, weakfish, pompano, African pompano, permit, tripletail, spiny lobster, blue crab and stone crab, all billfish, sharks, manta ray and spotted eagle ray, sturgeon — plus any species whose harvest is prohibited by law.
⛔ 🚫 Florida also bans spearing in fresh water, within 100 yards (91 m) of a public swimming beach, a commercial or public fishing pier or any part of a bridge from which public fishing is allowed, and within 100 ft (30 m) of the above-water part of a jetty; ornamental reef fish may not be speared. Federal Gulf waters follow the federal list instead.
⛔ 🚫 Goliath/Nassau grouper, Gulf sturgeon, sawfish, sea turtles, mammals and many sharks — take prohibited.
⛔ ⚠️ Texas & Alabama: gamefish (red drum/seatrout) pole-and-line only, NOT by spear. : banned in FL/TX, allowed in federal waters outside the stressed area.

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 Port St. Joe: spots, seasons and rules

Updated 2026-07-09 · By Oleksandr, spearfisher

Spearfishing in Port St. Joe belongs outside the bay. The draw is open-Gulf structure off Cape San Blas: a landing-ship wreck, a tall tower and MBARA reef material. These sites can hold snapper, grouper, hogfish, sheepshead, cobia and flounder when seasons allow. St Joseph Bay is noted as a no-spear preserve, so it is not a backup harvest area when the Gulf is rough.

TL;DR

Port St. Joe is an open-Gulf reef and wreck plan; St Joseph Bay is a no-spear preserve for harvest purposes.

The listed targets are LST Port St. Joe, Air Force Tower and Charles Deaton Memorial Reef off Cape San Blas.

Florida license, SRFS designation and FWC species prohibitions apply before any snapper, grouper or hogfish plan.

South-southwest energy from 160-250 degrees is the poor visibility window; light offshore wind is better.

Best spearfishing spots in Port St. Joe

Use these as boat sites only. The LST is the wreck identity dive, Air Force Tower is the tall-relief option, and Charles Deaton Memorial Reef is the MBARA reef check. If the Gulf is not clean enough for the first stop, the bay still stays out of the harvest plan.

Spot	Type	Depth	Level	Access	Notes
LST Port St. Joe	Landing-ship wreck	Offshore wreck structure	Intermediate to advanced	Boat access off Cape San Blas	A named wreck choice; confirm current, season and legal species before dropping.
Air Force Tower	Tower reef	About 45 ft of relief	Advanced boat dive	Boat access offshore	Tall relief can concentrate fish and current. Use settled weather and tight boat watch.
Charles Deaton Memorial Reef	MBARA artificial reef	Reef material	Intermediate boat dive	Boat access to the MBARA area	A practical reef for legal snapper and grouper checks after seasons are confirmed.

Surface

Windows, hours
and the day's trends.

Spots in United States

🇺🇸United States

Florida

Help us make it better

The water column

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

The seabed

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

Where to get in
off the rocks.

Surfacing

Look at the water
right now.

What's in season,
what the law says.

Spearfishing in Port St. Joe: spots, seasons and rules

TL;DR

Best spearfishing spots in Port St. Joe

Where should you not spearfish?

Alabama

Mississippi

Georgia

Louisiana

When is the Gulf window best?

What Florida rules matter?

How should the boat day be chosen?

FAQ

Sources

Nearby towns

Port St. Joe spearfishing forecast — wind, swell, visibility, tides & live cameras

Windows, hours and the day's trends.

Get the go / no-go verdict for Port St. Joe by email

Spots in United States

🇺🇸United States

Florida

Help us make it better

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.

Look at the water right now.

What's in season, what the law says.

TL;DR

Best spearfishing spots in Port St. Joe

Where should you not spearfish?

Alabama

Mississippi

Georgia

Louisiana

When is the Gulf window best?

What Florida rules matter?

How should the boat day be chosen?

FAQ

Sources

Nearby towns

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.

Look at the water
right now.

What's in season,
what the law says.