Do you need a CONAPESCA permit?

Yes. Mexico requires an individual recreational sport-fishing permit.

Is scuba spearfishing legal?

No. Spearfishing is apnea only.

Can you dive around sea lions?

Keep distance and do not disturb them. Do not shoot near animals.

What is the daily limit?

This guide uses the national five-fish daily limit.

Is San Pedro Nolasco shore access?

No. It is a boat run from San Carlos.

San Carlos spearfishing forecast — Mexico

San Carlos · Mexico

8.1

visibility: 4 m

visibility4m

Dive today.

Sources: NDBC · Open-Meteo · Copernicus · Sentinel-2 — high confidence · data 20:21

Sources & confidence

Sources: NDBC · Open-Meteo · Copernicus · Sentinel-2
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

updated 20:21

San Carlos — solo, off the rocks

Day is over

That is it for today — the day's windows have closed.

Tomorrow, best window 15:00–18:00

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

06:30–17:46 · full moon

▼ 02:00▲ 08:00▼ 14:00▲ 22:00 · 0.8 m

Hours (06→20)

Day's trends

Tide0.84 m

Wave0.34 m

Wind5 km/h

Water30 °C

fish activity: moonset 04:54 · moderate · moon underfoot 10:50 · high · moonrise 16:43 · moderate · moon overhead 23:20 · high

Open the seafloor map with entry points

More spots

Spots in Mexico

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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

Isla San Pedro NolascoSan Carlos

borderline

swell on the quarter today

window: —

Volcanic island 4.2 × 1 km some 28 km west of San Carlos, 1.5 h by boat from the marina: sheer walls, coves and outer pinnacles, 5–30 m, with about twelve named sites. A permanent colony of 400-plus sea lions; visibility often over 20 m.

Google Maps

Isla San Pedro Nolasco — El Cañón (N)San Carlos

borderline

swell on the quarter today

window: —

North tip of Nolasco: a wall and spur that pick up current, 8–30 m, advanced level. Schooling angelfish, barracuda and jacks, sponges and sea fans on the rock, black coral deeper down. Visibility is usually over 20 m.

Google Maps

Isla San Pedro Nolasco — Sea Lion Cove (S)San Carlos

borderline

swell on the quarter today

window: —

South point of the island: a deep drop-off plus a pinnacle outside it, strong current, experienced only, 5–25 m. Black-coral forests and schooling grouper nearby; sea lions are here year-round and will go for speared fish — plan for it.

Google Maps

Punta Doble / Catch-22 (San Carlos)San Carlos

borderline

swell on the quarter today

window: —

Punta Doble is the southern tip of a 926 m tongue of land that the Mexican Navy's sailing directions give as about 270 m wide and 59 to 89 m high, immediately west of the entrance to Puerto San Carlos. The pin sits in the water 150 m off the tip. WARNING: the directions note loose rocks all round it but publish neither a position nor a sounding for the place — the depth on record has no source behind it. Coords approximate.

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.

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↗

San Carlos — Bahía (Sonora)Live — San Carlos — Bahía (Sonora). webcamsdemexico network camera (YouTube-live); the videoId rotates, so the stream is re-scraped on the fly by our proxy. Read the water before you go.camera: webcamsdemexico ↗

What's in season,
what the law says.

In season now

dog snapper / pargo
Lutjanus novemfasciatus · 3–15 m · tide change — moving water · dusk/night
Hard-fighting reef snapper around rocky points & pinnacles; ambush on the tide change, best at dusk/night. Peaks in the warm months. Mexican rule sets no minimum size.
leopard grouper
Mycteroperca rosacea · 5–25 m · tide change — moving water · daytime
Leopard grouper on rocky reef, by day. Forms spawning aggregations in spring (Apr–Jun) — very vulnerable then, take sparingly. No minimum size in the rule.
California sheephead
Semicossyphus pulcher · 3–20 m · tide change — moving water · daytime
California sheephead on rocky reef, by day; resident, best in the warm months. Roots the bottom — approach slowly. No minimum size in the rule.
yellow snapper
Lutjanus argentiventris · 3–15 m · tide change — moving water · dusk/night
Yellow snapper by rocks & estuary edges; warm months, best at dusk/night on the tide change. No minimum size in the rule.

off season: yellowtail (Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May) · Pacific sierra (Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr) · white seabass (Mar Apr May Jun Jul)

Not a target — don't shoot

mahi-mahi / dorado⚠️ release / rod-only
⚠️ Reserved for rod-and-reel in the 50-mile belt — conservatively DON'T spear it (the exact DOF wording isn't quoted).
roosterfish⚠️ release / rod-only
⚠️ Reserved for rod-and-reel in the 50-mile belt — conservatively DON'T spear it (the exact DOF wording isn't quoted).
totoaba🚫 no-take
🚫 Totoaba — permanent no-take (moratorium since 1975, NOM-059 'P', CITES I). Do not take, release.

Law

✓Spearfishing needs an INDIVIDUAL permit of its own: «la pesca subacuática … requerirá de permiso individual» (, art. 4.3). /SADER issue it online through E5CINCO (day/week/month/year). You must carry the permit and show it whenever you are asked (art. 4.14). Apnea only — spearing on scuba is banned (art. 4.5).
✓One speargun per fisher — band, spring or pneumatic; hooks (ganchos), gaffs (fisgas) and light lures are prohibited (, art. 4.5). The spearfishing bag is 5 specimens per person per day, of any marine or freshwater fish (art. 4.9.4). You may not fish within 250 m of working commercial vessels and set gear, nor within 250 m of the shore of beaches used by bathers (art. 4.10).
✓Reserved to rod-and-reel sport fishing (do NOT spear, conservative rule): marlin, sailfish, swordfish, tarpon, roosterfish and dorado. Lobster, conch and octopus are outside sport fishing.
✓Grouper (mero) closed season to 31 Mar (Gulf/Yucatán focus). Marine ANPs (APFF Islas del Golfo — Espíritu Santo, Balandra) are no-take cores: do not shoot.
✓Only FISH may be taken. Crustaceans and molluscs are prohibited — with a single exception for squid; marine mammals, reptiles and amphibians are out too (, art. 4.2). Lobster, conch and octopus fall under that ban.
✓The catch belongs to the permit holder and MAY NOT be traded (, art. 4.11). Filleting ashore is not allowed — only aboard and only for eating during the trip (billfish excepted); gutting is fine (art. 4.12).
✓Nets, multi-hook longlines, explosives and toxic substances may not merely be used — they may not even be CARRIED on a sport-fishing vessel (, art. 4.16). Anchoring closer than 15 m to the perimeter of a coral reef is prohibited, and on the reef itself never.
✓The federal rules are a FLOOR, not a ceiling. You may not fish in closed zones and seasons, and in refuge zones, reserves and ANPs fishing «is permitted only on the terms and conditions laid down by the instruments applicable in that zone», plus the express authorisation of the Secretariat (, art. 4.10). So inside a protected area read its own Reglas Administrativas — they can ban the speargun outright.

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 San Carlos: spots, seasons and rules

Updated 2026-07-09 · By Oleksandr, spearfisher

Spearfishing in San Carlos Sonora is best treated as reef and boat logistics. Isla San Pedro Nolasco is the signature run: a rocky island with sea lions, 5-30 m depth and high-visibility potential. Punta Doble/Catch-22 is a 5-20 m rocky reef outside reserves. El Cañón reaches 8-30 m, while Sea Lion Cove is listed as legal but inside or near an ANP buffer, so verify zoning before loading a gun. National rules require a CONAPESCA/SADER permit, apnea only, one allowed speargun and five fish per day.

TL;DR

San Carlos is a Sea of Cortez reef base: San Pedro Nolasco, Punta Doble/Catch-22 and island reefs are the core options.

Sea lions are part of the San Pedro Nolasco plan; keep distance and do not disturb them.

Mexico requires a CONAPESCA/SADER permit, apnea only, one speargun and a five-fish daily limit.

Best spearfishing spots in San Carlos Sonora

Choose between the closer rocky reef and the island run. Around sea lions, keep distance and avoid interaction.

Spot	Type	Depth	Level	Access	Notes
Isla San Pedro Nolasco	Rocky island with sea lions	5-30 m	Intermediate; boat-based	Boat from San Carlos	The main reference. Confirm entry, pickup and behavior around sea lions before diving.
Punta Doble / Catch-22	Rocky reef	5-20 m	Intermediate	Confirm local access	Legal outside reserves, with cabrilla, pez fuerte, barracuda and grouper noted.
El Cañón, San Pedro Nolasco	Island reef	8-30 m	Upper intermediate	Boat, north side of the island	Medregal, cabrilla, wahoo and tuna are listed; use a visible float and clear pickup plan.

Surface

Windows, hours
and the day's trends.

Spots in Mexico

🇲🇽Mexico

Sea of Cortez

Baja Pacific

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 San Carlos: spots, seasons and rules

TL;DR

Best spearfishing spots in San Carlos Sonora

What conditions matter in San Carlos?

Pacific Mainland

Gulf of Mexico

FAQ

Sources

Nearby towns

San Carlos spearfishing forecast — wind, swell, visibility, tides & live cameras

Windows, hours and the day's trends.

Get the go / no-go verdict for San Carlos by email

Spots in Mexico

🇲🇽Mexico

Sea of Cortez

Baja Pacific

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 San Carlos Sonora

What conditions matter in San Carlos?

Pacific Mainland

Gulf of Mexico

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.