Today — sit it out — wind and visibility.
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
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.
Leave your email — and the moment a window opens at Toledo, 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.
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 mapCarland Beach: lake shore, 7.1 km from Toledo. From here you swim out into Lake Erie. Restricted Lake Erie — MI/OH border north to the Celeron Island line is about 770 m away. Check the state's current spearing rules before you dive.
Google MapsThe full spot briefing is part of the subscription: entry, bottom, hazards, tide window.
Open in the appCullen Park Boat Launch: lake shore, 7.9 km from Toledo. Access type in the OpenStreetMap data: boat ramp. From here you swim out into Lake Erie. No depth figure is on record for this spot yet. Check the state's current spearing rules before you dive.
Google MapsShore access to the lake at Erie Beach, 1.6 km out of Toledo. Mapped by OpenStreetMap as a beach. The shore here faces Lake Erie. The pin sits at 41.686 N / 83.377 W on the chart. Check the state's current spearing rules before you dive.
Google MapsLakeside access at Lamb Beach, roughly 4.4 km from Toledo. The shore here faces Lake Erie. Marker position: 41.700° N, 83.326° W. Fresh water floats you less, so trim your weights. State fishing rules set species and seasons for spearing; check them first.
Google MapsShallow reef off Locust Point in about 3 m of water. Hard rock in an otherwise soft, muddy stretch of the western basin; the shallowest and warmest of the Toledo group, and the first to silt out.
Google MapsRuined lighthouse island on the Ohio-Michigan line in Maumee Bay, under 1.5 m of water with cut stone and crib remains around it. Turbid western-basin water, warm early, and the only hard structure near Toledo.
Google MapsThe full spot briefing is part of the subscription: entry, bottom, hazards, tide window.
Open in the appSOLO 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.
Cameras, map and reference — to hand as you come up.
Toledo sits on the western basin of Lake Erie — the warmest and murkiest water in the lake. Spearfishing here is a forage-fish fishery: Ohio's rule defines forage fish as freshwater drum, common carp, grass carp in waters not stocked for vegetation control, bighead, silver and black carp, quillback, suckers, bowfin, gar, buffalo, gizzard shad and goldfish, and says these may be taken by any method except a list of prohibited means that does not include spears. Game fish, walleye included, are treated as closed. The reefs off Locust Point, Crane and West Sister are shallow, hard-bottomed and exposed.
The western basin is shallow everywhere: nothing on this list is deeper than about 7 m, and the shallowest sits under 1.5 m of water. Hard bottom is the scarce resource in an otherwise soft, muddy basin, which is why these named reefs matter. Legal status is identical on every row: forage fish by any method including a spear, game fish treated as closed pending the unread Ohio Administrative Code.
| Spot | Type | Depth | Level | Access | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Turtle Island | Structure | 0.5-1.5 m | Snorkel to single tank · forage fish only, game fish closed | Boat | Ruined lighthouse island on the Ohio-Michigan line in Maumee Bay, under 1.5 m of water with cut stone and crib remains around it. The only hard structure near Toledo. |
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.
| West Sister Reef |
| Reef |
| 4-7 m |
| Snorkel to single tank · forage fish only, game fish closed |
| Boat |
| Reef off West Sister Island and, at about 7 m, the deepest of the Toledo-side reefs. The island itself is federal wilderness where landing is prohibited, but the water is open. Long run, boat only. |
| Crane Reef | Reef | 3-6 m | Snorkel to single tank · forage fish only, game fish closed | Boat | Limestone reef in the open western basin, about 6 m. One of the walleye spawning reefs of the Ohio shore; hard bottom, no shelter, and visibility that collapses after any wind over 15 knots. |
| Locust Reef | Reef | 1.5-3 m | Snorkel to single tank · forage fish only, game fish closed | Boat | Shallow reef off Locust Point in about 3 m — hard rock in an otherwise soft, muddy stretch of the western basin. The shallowest and warmest of the Toledo group, and the first to silt out. |
For forage fish, yes — read off a class definition rather than a spearfishing rule. The Ohio Division of Wildlife defines forage fish as freshwater drum (sheepshead), common carp, grass carp in waters not stocked by the Division for vegetation control as indicated by signs, bighead carp, silver carp, black carp, quillback, suckers, bowfin, gar, buffalo, gizzard shad and goldfish, and then says these species may be taken by any method except by means of explosives, poisons, firearms, electricity, chemicals, nets other than cast nets, seines, traps, or by snagging within 1,000 feet downstream of a posted dam. Spears, gigs and bows are absent from that exception list, so forage fish may be speared in Ohio, Lake Erie included. Freshwater drum in particular is a real target on the western basin reefs.
Ohio publishes no statewide sentence saying game fish may be taken only by angling. The nearest thing is the Pymatuning entry, which reads that fish may be taken only by angling except carp and suckers which may be taken with longbow and arrow, or spears — but Pymatuning is a border lake, not Lake Erie. That is the shape of Ohio's default, and it is evidence rather than the rule. Ohio Administrative Code 1501:31-13 would settle it and could not be opened: codes.ohio.gov refused every connection from this research. So the claim "game fish may not be speared in Ohio" ships unverified, and the honest instruction is to treat walleye, yellow perch, the bass and the salmonids as closed to the spear and to confirm with ODNR before planning otherwise.
First: all fish may be taken by hand in Ohio except bullheads, catfish, trout and salmon species statewide, and walleye and sauger in the Maumee and Sandusky rivers. Hand-taking of most fish being lawful is unusual and directly relevant to a freediver — but it does not extend to a spear, and the species carve-outs are exactly the ones a Toledo diver would meet. Second, an identification problem with teeth: three gars are Ohio state endangered — alligator, shortnose and spotted — while "gar" as a category is a forage fish. You must identify the gar before you shoot it. Ohio's endangered list also carries lake sturgeon, shovelnose sturgeon, cisco (lake herring), longnose sucker and goldeye, all with possession prohibited in all Ohio waters.
This is the shallowest of the Great Lakes and it behaves like it. Ice cover on Erie often reaches 90-100 % in February. The season runs May to October and this water warms first — up to 22-24 °C in August, the warmest anywhere on the lakes. The cost is visibility: the western basin is the murkiest water in Erie, the Maumee plume runs into it, and the Crane Reef entry gives the practical threshold — visibility collapses after any wind over 15 knots. Locust Reef, the shallowest and warmest of the group, is also the first to silt out. There is no tide; the astronomical range on the Great Lakes is a few centimetres and NOAA publishes no predictions for these stations. The CO-OPS gauge 9063085 sits in Toledo, about 8 km from the forecast point.
Ohio licence fees from the 2025-26 digest, effective through 28 February 2026 and worth re-verifying before you travel: resident 1-year $25.00, non-resident 1-year $50.96, non-resident 3-day $25.00, 1-day $14.00. The 2026-27 digest was not posted when this research was done. Two closures matter on this stretch. West Sister Island is federal wilderness where landing is prohibited, though the water around the reef is open. And the Camp Perry / Erie Ordnance Depot danger zone at Lacarne is defined in 33 CFR 334.850, with a polygon printed in the act — note that the printed longitude for Danger Area I is an obvious transposition and the polygon vertices are authoritative. Gear: a wetsuit is enough in August in this basin, but bring a flag, and expect low visibility, boat traffic and no shelter on the open reefs.
For forage fish, yes: drum, carp, the Asian carps, quillback, suckers, bowfin, gar, buffalo, gizzard shad and goldfish may be taken by any method, and spears are not on Ohio's list of prohibited means.
Treat it as closed. Ohio publishes no rule allowing game fish by spear, and the code section that would settle it, OAC 1501:31-13, could not be read. Confirm with ODNR.
Identify first. Alligator, shortnose and spotted gar are Ohio state endangered even though "gar" is a forage-fish category.
Yes, all fish except bullheads, catfish, trout and salmon statewide, and walleye and sauger in the Maumee and Sandusky rivers. That permission does not extend to a spear.
It is the murkiest in the lake. Visibility collapses after any wind over 15 knots, and Locust Reef is the first of the group to silt out.
Up to 22-24 °C in August — the warmest water on the Great Lakes. Ice cover often reaches 90-100 % in February.
No. The island is federal wilderness and landing is prohibited, but the water over the reef is open.
From the 2025-26 digest: resident 1-year $25.00, non-resident 1-year $50.96, non-resident 3-day $25.00, 1-day $14.00. Re-verify — the 2026-27 digest was not yet posted.
buoy Toledo Water Intake Buoy, Oregon, OH: 15.1° · wave 0.3 m/3 s · 38 min ago
