Prince Rupert spearfishing forecast — wind, swell, visibility, tides & live cameras

spearo.app / Canada / Prince Rupert
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◈Prince Rupert · Canada
2.6
wave 0.4 m
visibility~2m

Nottoday

Today — sit it out — wave, wind and visibility.

Sources: Open-Meteo · Copernicus — high confidence · data 08:18

Sources & confidence

Sources
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 zones

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.

Coming soon

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Spots in Canada

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Nearby towns

  • Ketchikan
  • Sitka
  • Port Hardy
  • Juneau
  • Campbell River

Salish Sea — Victoria, Gulf Islands & Strait of Georgia

  • Comox
  • Powell River
  • Sechelt
  • Nanaimo
  • Horseshoe Bay (Howe Sound)
  • Pender Island
  • Sooke
  • Victoria

West Coast of Vancouver Island

  • Tofino
  • Ucluelet

Gulf & Estuary of St. Lawrence

  • Les Escoumins
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spearo.app · a private marine instrument · Prince Rupert · a planner, not a safety guaranteePrivacy
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0 m

Surface

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

spearo.app
updated 08:18
Prince Rupert — solo, off the rocks
DON'T GO
don't go · current 0.31 m/s
wave 0.4 mwind 7 km/hvisibility ~2 m
today, best window 15:00–18:00
fish · Visibility 2 m · Water 11.1°C
confidence medium · verdict for the selected day
Best window · next 3 days

Next 3 days — not divable: wind up to 35 km/h

↓ low tide 08:36 · slack water ~07:51–09:21 bite times: 10:34–11:34 · 14:00–16:00

Tell me when it's on

Just your email — nothing else needed.

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.

Monday · today2026-10-12
08:04–18:49 · waxing crescent
▲ 03:00▼ 09:00▲ 15:00▼ 21:00mid-range tides · 5.6 m
Hours (06→20)
06
09
12
15
18
Day's trends
Tide-1.62 m
Wave0.26 m
Wind6 km/h
Water11 °C
fish activity: moon underfoot 02:40 · high · moonrise 11:04 · moderate · moon overhead 15:00 · high · moonset 18:53 · moderate
Conditions window15:00–18:00
don't go fish
Hs 0.38 m · calmperiod 8.8 swind 7→14surge 0.1viz 2 m
0.38 mcalm · up to ~0.76 · 276° at an angle
8.8 sswell moderate
7→14gusts 14 km/h
0.1weak surge
0.31m/s
2 mrecent swell
11.1°Cthicker suit + hood
▼21:00tide turn near
Atmosphere6 kmovercast
highmoon overhead
  • current 0.31 m/s
  • murky water (visibility ~2 m)
  • ebb — weaker inshore
confidence mediumtwilight
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 →
Digby Island west shorePrince Rupert
dangerous
Spearfishing while diving is legal in BC tidal waters for finfish other than salmon (BC Sport Fishing Regulations SOR/96-137, Sched. IV) with a Tidal Waters Sport Fishing Licence. No spearing salmon, octopus or shellfish (shrimp excepted), no lights to attract fish (s.10); area closures, RCAs and limits apply.
exposed head-on to the swell today
window
—

Reef, exposed kelp shore, 3–20 m, by boat. Spearing legal for finfish (not salmon) with a tidal licence. Coords approx.

Google Maps
Kinahan IslandsPrince Rupert
dangerous
Spearfishing while diving is legal in BC tidal waters for finfish other than salmon (BC Sport Fishing Regulations SOR/96-137, Sched. IV) with a Tidal Waters Sport Fishing Licence. No spearing salmon, octopus or shellfish (shrimp excepted), no lights to attract fish (s.10); area closures, RCAs and limits apply.

One morning glance — and you know.

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≈

Surfacing

Cameras, map and reference — to hand as you come up.

Live cameras, map & reference
Open the seafloor map →
Reference

What's in season,
what the law says.

In season now
  • no targets this month
Law

    In British Columbia spearfishing while diving is allowed for finfish except salmon, with a Tidal Waters Sport Fishing Licence; Rockfish Conservation Areas, Pacific Rim NPR and named DFO closures (e.g. Ogden Point, Race Rocks, Whytecliff) are closed. In Atlantic and Quebec tidal waters groundfish and mackerel may be taken only by angling or hand-line (AFR s.15(2)) — treat spearing as not permitted. Check current rules locally.

    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.
    Percé
  • Charlottetown
  • Bay of Fundy

    • Saint Andrews
    • Saint John
    • Digby

    Nova Scotia Atlantic coast

    • Yarmouth
    • Lunenburg
    • Halifax

    Newfoundland

    • Bonavista
    • St. John's

    spearo.app — All countries

    exposed head-on to the swell today
    window
    —
    Seabed depth of the selected area
    ≈31–39 m (bathymetry CHS NONNA-10, 11 m)

    Reef, island reefs, 3–20 m, by boat. Spearing legal for finfish (not salmon) with a tidal licence. Coords approx.

    Google Maps
    Lucy IslandsPrince Rupert
    dangerous
    Spearfishing while diving is legal in BC tidal waters for finfish other than salmon (BC Sport Fishing Regulations SOR/96-137, Sched. IV) with a Tidal Waters Sport Fishing Licence. No spearing salmon, octopus or shellfish (shrimp excepted), no lights to attract fish (s.10); area closures, RCAs and limits apply.
    exposed head-on to the swell today
    window
    —
    Seabed depth of the selected area
    ≥5.8 m (bathymetry CHS NONNA-10, 11 m)

    Reef, outer islands, 3–20 m, by boat. Spearing legal for finfish (not salmon) with a tidal licence. Coords approx.

    Google Maps
    Tugwell IslandPrince Rupert
    dangerous
    Spearfishing while diving is legal in BC tidal waters for finfish other than salmon (BC Sport Fishing Regulations SOR/96-137, Sched. IV) with a Tidal Waters Sport Fishing Licence. No spearing salmon, octopus or shellfish (shrimp excepted), no lights to attract fish (s.10); area closures, RCAs and limits apply.
    exposed head-on to the swell today
    window
    —
    Seabed depth of the selected area
    ≥17 m (bathymetry CHS NONNA-10, 11 m)

    Reef, island reef, 2–15 m, by boat. Spearing legal for finfish (not salmon) with a tidal licence. Coords approx.

    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.

    FAQ — spearfishing in Prince Rupert

    Where can I spearfish in Prince Rupert?

    Prince Rupert has rock entry points such as Digby Island west shore, Kinahan Islands and Lucy Islands. Canada's rainiest port on Chatham Sound near Alaska: big tides (5–7 m), cold green water, lingcod, rockfish and kelp greenling on the outer islands. Below you'll find each spot (access, shelter and hazards) and today's forecast.

    When is the best season in Prince Rupert?

    June–September; storms and cold in winter.

    How cold is the water in Prince Rupert?

    6–7 °C in winter, 11–13 °C in summer — a drysuit or 7–9 mm.

    Is Prince Rupert good for a beginner?

    Big tides (5–7 m), cold water and remoteness. A Tidal Waters licence is needed; never salmon; Rockfish Conservation Areas are closed to spearing.

    Do I need a licence in Prince Rupert?

    Prince Rupert: In British Columbia spearfishing while diving is allowed for finfish except salmon, with a Tidal Waters Sport Fishing Licence; Rockfish Conservation Areas, Pacific Rim NPR and named DFO closures (e.g. Ogden Point, Race Rocks, Whytecliff) are closed. In Atlantic and Quebec tidal waters groundfish and mackerel may be taken only by angling or hand-line (AFR s.15(2)) — treat spearing as not permitted. Check current rules locally.

    Data partners
    dive centres that send us real visibility readings
    Águas VivasMilfontes · Sagres