Today — right on the edge.
Sources & confidence
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.
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.
Safety gates
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
Leave your email — and the moment a window opens at Sturgeon Bay, we'll send the go / no-go verdict. Email is all we need.
What's missing? Tell us what you'd like to see — new spots, species, data or features. We read everything.
Wind, wave and the swell windows — when to go and the best hours.
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.
Visibility and what drives it — post-storm clearing, river plume, temperature and the thermocline.
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 spotsRelief and bottom type, tides, and the depths of each spot.
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.
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 mapA 202 ft schooner barge of 1889 abandoned in Sturgeon Bay, her lower hull lying in about 4 m of sheltered bay water. Snorkel or shallow scuba from a small boat; silt lifts easily. Wisconsin permits only panfish, white and rock bass, bullheads and rough fish by spear.
Google MapsA 282 ft wooden steamer that burned in 1896 off Whitefish Dunes; the bottom of the hull lies in 6 m of sand and is reachable by a long shore swim. Novice depth, exposed to east wind. Wisconsin allows panfish and rough fish by spear here, no trout or salmon.
Cameras, map and reference — to hand as you come up.
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».
buoy Rawley Point East, WI (269): 14.6° · wave 0.9 m/5 s · 42 min ago
Three stone-trade barges - Empire State, Oak Leaf and Ida Corning - scuttled side by side at Bullhead Point in about 2 m. Wade or kayak in; frames break the surface in low water. A National Register site: artefacts and structure are protected.
Google MapsWooden steamer of 1884 lying in about 3 m in Sturgeon Bay, listed on the National Register. Snorkel depth over a clean bay bottom, easy in any wind, best in late summer when the plankton clears. Rough fish and panfish only under Wisconsin's Outlying Waters rule.
Google MapsSteel package freighter of 1887 that sank in 1924 with a deck of new cars aboard, upright and largely intact in 61 m off the ship canal. Deep trimix boat dive, cold and dark year round; the automobiles are the draw. Artefact removal is prohibited.
Google MapsScow of 1860 sitting upright in 34 m in Whitefish Bay north of the canal, one of Door County's best-preserved deep wrecks. Boat dive, cold thermocline and low light; nitrox helps. No game fish may be taken by spear anywhere on this coast.
Google MapsSmall 1866 schooner abandoned in Sturgeon Bay, her 71 ft hull in about 2 m of protected water. A National Register wreck at snorkel depth, good for a first look at wooden ship construction. Bay traffic is heavy in summer - fly a diver-down flag.
Google MapsThe concrete and stone north pierhead where the ship canal opens into Lake Michigan, with rubble along its lake face in 3-8 m. Shore access, but commercial traffic uses the cut and current runs through it. Panfish and rough fish only by spear in Wisconsin.
Google MapsSOLO 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.
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.
Spearfishing at Sturgeon Bay is legal but game-fish-free. Sturgeon Bay is one of the waters Wisconsin names in its Outlying Waters definition, and for that class the rule reads: it is unlawful to spear any game fish, except that white bass, yellow bass, rock bass, panfish and bullheads may be speared while skin or scuba diving during the open rough-fish season. The rough-fish list — carp, invasive carps, freshwater drum, burbot, bowfin, gar, suckers, smelt, lamprey — is open. Sunrise to sunset. The diving is the reason to come: Door County's wreck density runs from 2 m to 61 m within reach of the ship canal.
Sturgeon Bay is the hub of the Wisconsin Sea Grant and Wisconsin Historical Society wreck database for Upper Lake Michigan, and the depth spread is unusually wide for one town. Legal status is identical everywhere: panfish, the three named basses, bullheads and rough fish by spear, no game fish. Several of these hulls — the Bullhead Point barges, the Joys, the Pride — are National Register sites, so structure and artefacts stay where they are. The Adriatic in about 4 m adds a sheltered snorkel option inside the bay.
| Spot | Type | Depth | Level | Access | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lakeland | Wreck | 61 m | Technical, decompression · dive only | Boat | Steel package freighter of 1887 that sank in 1924 with a deck of new cars aboard, upright and largely intact in 61 m off the ship canal. Cold and dark year round; artefact removal is prohibited. |
| Ocean Wave | Wreck | 34 m | Advanced boat dive · panfish and rough fish only | Boat | Scow of 1860 sitting upright in 34 m in Whitefish Bay north of the canal, one of Door County's best-preserved deep wrecks. Cold thermocline and low light; nitrox helps. |
| Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal North Pierhead | Jetty | 3-8 m | Shore access · panfish and rough fish only | Shore swim | The concrete and stone north pierhead where the canal opens into Lake Michigan, with rubble along its lake face in 3-8 m. Commercial traffic uses the cut and current runs through it. |
| Australasia | Wreck | 6 m | Beginner, snorkel or single tank · panfish and rough fish only | Shore swim | A 282 ft wooden steamer that burned in 1896 off Whitefish Dunes; the bottom of the hull lies in 6 m of sand within a long shore swim. Novice depth, exposed to east wind. |
| Bullhead Point Wrecks | Wreck | 2 m | Beginner, snorkel or single tank · panfish and rough fish only | Kayak or small boat | Three stone-trade barges — Empire State, Oak Leaf and Ida Corning — scuttled side by side in about 2 m. Frames break the surface in low water; a National Register site, so structure is protected. |
Yes, with a hard species ceiling. Wisconsin's Outlying Waters class is defined as Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, Green Bay, Sturgeon Bay, Sawyer's Harbor and the Fox River to the De Pere dam — Sturgeon Bay is named in the rule by name — and for all of it the DNR writes that it is unlawful to spear any game fish, except that white bass, yellow bass, rock bass, panfish and bullheads may be speared while skin diving or scuba diving during the open season for rough fish spearing. So a diver with a speargun is lawful here; a diver with a speargun and a walleye is not. Wisconsin defines spearing as a shaft with an attached barbed point, expressly including spearguns, so the whole rulebook applies to your gun.
Take: panfish (crappie, bluegill, perch, pumpkinseed), white bass, yellow bass, rock bass, bullheads, and the rough-fish list — all suckers, redhorse, buffalo and carpsuckers not listed as threatened or endangered, common carp, the four invasive carps, goldfish, freshwater drum, burbot, bowfin, gar, lamprey, alewife, gizzard shad, smelt and mooneye. The invasive carps and the sea lamprey sit inside that definition, so Wisconsin genuinely does let you shoot the invasives. Off limits: every game fish — lake trout, the salmon, walleye, northern pike, muskellunge, smallmouth and largemouth bass, lake whitefish. Lake sturgeon is never a spear target on this coast; Wisconsin's only sturgeon spearing is the inland Winnebago System fishery under a separate licence. The rough-fish season is continuous in the coastal counties.
The ship canal is the town's front door and the reference for most of the diving. Out through the cut the Lakeland lies upright in 61 m with a deck of new 1924 automobiles still aboard — a trimix dive and the region's signature deep wreck. North of the canal in Whitefish Bay the Ocean Wave, a scow of 1860, sits upright in 34 m. Shallower and easier: the Australasia in 6 m of sand off Whitefish Dunes, a long shore swim; the Adriatic in about 4 m of sheltered bay; the Joys in about 3 m; the Bullhead Point barges and the schooner Pride in about 2 m, wade or kayak access. The canal's own north pierhead gives 3-8 m of rubble along the lake face — but commercial traffic uses the cut and current runs through it, so it is a flag-and-plan site, not a casual swim.
Harbours and canals freeze from January to March while the middle of the lake usually stays open. The season runs June to October and the visibility is at its best from August to October, after the plankton has dropped. Expect a distinct thermocline through the summer: the surface warms, the water under it does not, and on the deep wrecks it is cold and dark year round. There is no tide here — the astronomical range on the Great Lakes is a few centimetres and NOAA publishes no predictions for these stations — so plan around wind and the seiche, not a tide table. The CO-OPS gauge 9087072 sits in the Sturgeon Bay Canal itself, half a kilometre from the forecast point.
A Wisconsin fishing licence covers spearing: resident annual $20, non-resident annual $55, non-resident 1-day $15, 4-day $29, 15-day $33. No spearing-specific licence is needed underwater, but non-residents under 16 do need a licence to spear even though they do not to fish with hook and line. Hours are sunrise to sunset. Gear: a drysuit or thick semi-dry with hood and gloves, since the thermocline is the real temperature, plus a dive flag — Door County boat traffic in summer is heavy and the canal is a working waterway. Note the 200-foot spear-possession buffer Wisconsin puts around any dam, lock or fishway on inland and boundary waters, and remember that there is no open spearing season at all on Wisconsin-Michigan boundary waters.
Yes, but no game fish. Sturgeon Bay is named in Wisconsin's Outlying Waters definition; only panfish, white/yellow/rock bass, bullheads and rough fish may be speared, skin or scuba, in the open rough-fish season.
No. Both are game fish, and it is unlawful to spear any game fish in Outlying Waters.
Yes. The rule names skin diving and scuba diving for the panfish and bass group, which makes Wisconsin the only Great Lakes state to do so.
61 m, upright and largely intact off the ship canal, with a deck of new 1924 cars aboard. A technical trimix dive.
The Bullhead Point wrecks and the schooner Pride, both in about 2 m — wade or kayak access, and National Register sites.
August to October, after the plankton drop. The season runs June to October; harbours and canals freeze January to March.
No. A Wisconsin fishing licence is enough — $20 resident, $55 non-resident annually, or $15 for a non-resident day.
No. Spearing hours are sunrise to sunset on this coast.
