Is St. Joseph inside Michigan's spearfishing zone?

Yes, well inside it. Under the 2026 regulations this water is inside Michigan's Lake Michigan underwater-spear water — the MI/IN border north to the 45th parallel — so lake trout, northern pike and walleye are open here, on top of the year-round list.

Can you spearfish from shore at St. Joseph?

Yes — the North Pier is entered from Tiscornia Park, with armour stone and rubble in 3 to 8 m. Keep 150 feet clear of designated swimming areas, docks and boat access sites.

How far is St. Joseph from Chicago?

About two hours, which makes it a realistic day trip for the largest market in the Midwest — and the only such trip that reaches legal Great Lakes game-fish spearfishing.

Which Michigan waters are open to the underwater spear in 2026?

Michigan's 2026 underwater-spear waters are named lake by lake: Lake Michigan from the MI/IN border 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 at Alpena south to Fort Gratiot Light, Lake Erie to the Celeron Island line, and Lake Superior to the St. Marys River — with Grand Traverse Bay, Stannard Rock, Big Reef and the 4.5-mile ring round Isle Royale cut out of them. Under the 2026 regulations this water is inside Michigan's Lake Michigan underwater-spear water — the MI/IN border north to the 45th parallel — so lake trout, northern pike and walleye are open here, on top of the year-round list.

Can you scuba dive and spearfish in Michigan?

No. Artificial breathing devices such as scuba and rebreathers are prohibited while underwater spearfishing, and the diver must be fully submerged to fire a rubber- or spring-propelled spear. Michigan's underwater fishery is freedive only.

St. Joseph spearfishing forecast — United States

St. Joseph · United States

5.3

wave 0.2 m

visibility3m

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

Sources: NWS · GLERL · Open-Meteo — high confidence · data 00:21

Sources & confidence

Sources: NWS · GLERL · Open-Meteo
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.
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.

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

NWS no dataupdated 00:21

St. Joseph — solo, off the rocks

BORDERLINE

caution — solo off the rocks is risky, check on site · no data: current

wave 0.2 mwind 11 km/hvisibility ~3 mwindow 06:00–21:00

today, best window 06:00–09:00

fish · Visibility 3 m · Water 15.1°C

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.

Sunday · today2026-10-25

08:10–18:48 · full moon

Hours (06→20)

Day's trends

Tide— no data

Wave0.04 m

Wind9 km/h

Water15 °C

fish activity: moonset 07:35 · moderate · moon underfoot 13:00 · high · moonrise 18:14 · moderate · moon overhead 00:00 · high

Conditions window06:00–09:00

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

Hs 0.20 m · calmperiod 2.4 swind 11→21surge 0viz 3 m

0.20 mcalm · up to ~0.40 · 216° at an angle

2.4 sswell moderate

11→21gusts 21 km/h

0weak surge

—m/s

3 mrecent swell

15.1°Cthicker suit + hood

—

Atmosphere15 kmlandmarks visible

moderatemoonset

no data: current
dawn/dusk

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

HavanaSt. Joseph

borderline

⚠️ This point is inside the restricted zone “Lake Michigan — MI/IN border north to the 45th parallel · South West Michigan Preserve”: fishing there is regulated (season, gear, permit), not banned outright. Read the zone's rules before you go.

swell on the quarter today

window: —
Seabed depth of the selected area: ≥15 m (bathymetry USACE NCMP lake lidar, 3 m)

A 135 ft schooner that settled in 16 m in 1887 and has broken apart, leaving keelson, centreboard and hanging knees exposed. The clearest look at wooden ship construction on this coast; boat dive north of St. Joseph.

Google Maps

St. Joseph North PierSt. Joseph

borderline

swell on the quarter today

window: —
Seabed depth of the selected area: ≥4.3 m (bathymetry USACE NCMP lake lidar, 3 m)

The outer north pier and lighthouses at the St. Joseph River mouth, armour stone and rubble dropping into 3-8 m. Shore access from Tiscornia Park; the channel runs current and the pier is exposed to west swell. Inside the underwater-spear zone.

Google Maps

St. Joseph Outer BreakwaterSt. Joseph

borderline

6 m from the boundary of South West Michigan Preserve (restricted zone)

⚠️ This point is inside the restricted zone “Lake Michigan — MI/IN border north to the 45th parallel”: fishing there is regulated (season, gear, permit), not banned outright. Read the zone's rules before you go.

swell on the quarter today

window: —
Seabed depth of the selected area: ≈1.0–3.4 m (bathymetry USACE NCMP lake lidar, 3 m)

The detached breakwater arm south of the St. Joseph entrance, rubble slope into 3-9 m and the only hard bottom for kilometres in either direction. Boat or a long swim; surge builds quickly in any onshore wind.

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

Lake trout📋 season by state
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📋 season by state
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)📋 season by state
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📋 season by state
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.
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.
Muskellunge (musky)📋 season by state
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.
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.
Channel catfish📋 season by state
Michigan's year-round list and Pennsylvania's 58 Pa. Code 63.8 list both name catfish; Illinois names channel catfish expressly. Minnesota allows catfish by spear only from a dark house through the ice, never underwater.
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.
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

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.
Largemouth bass🚫 no-take
Same rule as the smallmouth: no Great Lakes state puts black bass on a spear list, and New York bans the spear in fresh water altogether.
Round goby (invasive)🚫 no-take
Illinois is the only one of the eight states that names the round goby as a lawful spear target, and it never names Lake Michigan among its spear waters; no live possession either. Michigan and Minnesota only ban possessing or transporting it alive — a ban is not a permission to shoot it. And the fish is too small to be a real target.
Sea lamprey (invasive)🚫 no-take
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.
Lake sturgeon (protected)🚫 no-take
Protected in all eight states — endangered or threatened, no open season, possession prohibited. Michigan's only spear season is an inland, pre-registered winter season on Black Lake; in New York even catch and release is illegal. Never a target on any Great Lake.
Chinook (king) salmon🚫 no-take
No Great Lakes state authorises a spear on salmon. Michigan's table lists only lake trout among the salmonids; the salmon stamps sold in Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana and Pennsylvania are for rod and line, not for a spear.
Coho (silver) salmon🚫 no-take
Same answer as the chinook: not on a single spear list in the eight states, and New York bans the spear in fresh water outright.

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 St. Joseph: spots, seasons and rules

Updated 2026-09-04 · By Oleksandr, spearfisher

St. Joseph anchors the southern end of the Southwest Michigan Underwater Preserve: dredged river mouths turned into harbours, and wrecks on the approaches. It is deep inside Michigan's Lake Michigan underwater-spear zone, so lake trout, northern pike and walleye are legal here as well as the year-round list. On a sand coast the piers do the work — the North Pier from Tiscornia Park and the detached outer breakwater are the only hard bottom for kilometres in either direction. About two hours from Chicago makes this a realistic day trip for the largest market in the Midwest, provided you carry the free underwater licence and dive it on a breath.

TL;DR

St. Joseph is the southern anchor of the Southwest Michigan Underwater Preserve and sits well inside Michigan's underwater-spear zone.

Lake trout, northern pike and walleye are legal by underwater spear here, on top of the year-round rough-fish and whitefish list.

Two piers and a detached breakwater are the only hard bottom for kilometres, and that is where the fish are.

About two hours from Chicago, freedive only, free underwater spearfishing licence with no monthly reporting since the 2026 season.

Top spots near St. Joseph and their depths

Depths are the ones published for each site; the level column is the dive, not a promise about the fish. On this coast the shallow structure is where a freediving hunter actually works — Michigan bans scuba for spearfishing, so anything under the thermocline is a dive to look at, not a place to hunt.

Spot	Type	Depth	Level	Access	Notes
St. Joseph North Pier	Jetty	3-8 m	Novice, shore dive	Shore access from Tiscornia Park	The outer north pier and its lighthouses at the St. Joseph River mouth, armour stone and rubble dropping into the sand. Channel current and west swell; inside the underwater-spear zone.
St. Joseph Outer Breakwater	Jetty	3-9 m	Intermediate, surge builds fast	Boat or a long swim south of the entrance	The detached breakwater arm, a rubble slope and the only hard bottom for kilometres in either direction — which is exactly why fish hold on it.

Surface

Windows, hours
and the day's trends.

Spots in United States

🇺🇸United States

Lake Michigan — East Shore

Lake Michigan — West Shore

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

What's in season,
what the law says.

Spearfishing in St. Joseph: spots, seasons and rules

TL;DR

Top spots near St. Joseph and their depths

Lake Erie

Lake St. Clair & connecting waters

Lake Huron

Is spearfishing allowed in St. Joseph, Michigan?

What is the water and the season like at St. Joseph?

What can you spear here, and what is off limits?

Do you need a licence to spearfish in Michigan?

Safety and gear at St. Joseph: what should you plan for?

FAQ

Sources

Nearby towns

St. Joseph spearfishing forecast — wind, swell, visibility & live cameras

Windows, hours and the day's trends.

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

Spots in United States

🇺🇸United States

Lake Michigan — East Shore

Lake Michigan — West Shore

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.

What's in season, what the law says.

TL;DR

Top spots near St. Joseph and their depths

Lake Erie

Lake St. Clair & connecting waters

Lake Huron

Is spearfishing allowed in St. Joseph, Michigan?

What is the water and the season like at St. Joseph?

What can you spear here, and what is off limits?

Do you need a licence to spearfish in Michigan?

Safety and gear at St. Joseph: what should you plan for?

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.

What's in season,
what the law says.