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The full spot briefing is part of the subscription: entry, bottom, hazards, tide window.
Today — right on the edge — wave, wind and noticeable surge.
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 Tutukākā, we'll send the go / no-go verdict. Email is all we need.
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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 mapThe full spot briefing is part of the subscription: entry, bottom, hazards, tide window.
Cameras, map and reference — to hand as you come up.
Rules as of now — 25.10.2026 17:30 (Pacific/Auckland)
All 201 spots → · Region: Northland · spearo.app — All countries
transparency nearby ~8 m · satellite, 2 days agosatellite estimate · may differ right at the shore
The full spot briefing is part of the subscription: entry, bottom, hazards, tide window.
Open in the appIsland at the mouth of Tutukākā Harbour, walkable at low tide; kingfish and snapper in strong tidal flow.
Google MapsWhite-sand bay with rocky headlands north of Tutukākā; snapper, kingfish and cray in clear water.
Google MapsThe full spot briefing is part of the subscription: entry, bottom, hazards, tide window.
Open in the appThe full spot briefing is part of the subscription: entry, bottom, hazards, tide window.
Open in the appSurf-and-reef bay on the Tutukākā coast; rocky ends hold snapper, butterfish and crayfish.
Google MapsThe full spot briefing is part of the subscription: entry, bottom, hazards, tide window.
Open in the appNative-bush-backed bay next to Matapouri; boulder reef with kingfish current lines and cray.
Google MapsSheltered bay with rocky ends and an easy shore entry; a rāhui closure runs to 2028 and shuts a NAMED list of species — lobster and garfish among them — so check the MPI list before you take anything.
Google MapsThe full spot briefing is part of the subscription: entry, bottom, hazards, tide window.
Open in the appSandy bay between reefy headlands; easy shore entry for snapper and kahawai.
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.
Rules change and are regional. Before heading out, check with MPI (regional fishing rules / the NZ Fishing Rules app), DOC (marine reserves) and local notices (rāhui/mātaitai).
Spearfishing at Tutukākā works because the coast faces east into clean Northland water and the harbour keeps a fallback for the days it does not. New Zealand has no recreational sea-fishing licence, but MPI Auckland and Kermadec rules still run the day: a combined daily limit of 20 finfish, snapper at 7 per day and 30 cm on the SNA 1 east coast, and kingfish at 3 per day and 75 cm. The Poor Knights Islands Marine Reserve that Tutukākā launches for is no-take for every method, spearfishing included. MPI lists Pārengarenga Harbour to Cape Rodney as closed to spiny rock lobster from 1 April 2026, and the Rehuotane Ki Tai closure bans pāua and packhorse rock lobster from 26 June 2026 to 25 June 2028.
The coast faces east, so the useful marks split between open rock for settled spells and harbour bays for the rest. Depths below are the ranges given for each mark, not a target depth, and none of these entries clears you of a boundary or closure check.
| Spot | Type | Depth | Level | Access | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Middle Gable | Steep stone point on Tutukākā Head | 5–14 m | Experienced, settled spells only | Entry off a rock shelf; dangerous with swell | The middle of the three gables, with the best visibility in the district on a south-westerly at around 8–12 m. Depth builds quickly off the stone, so treat it as a settled-forecast dive rather than a default. |
| Church Bay (Tutukākā) | Harbour bay with rock and weed edges | 3–9 m | Intermediate | Inside Tutukākā Harbour, out of the ocean swell | This is the mark that still works in a big north-easterly. The bay is shallow with mud across the middle, so the structure worth diving is the rock and weed along the edges. |
| Kowharewa Bay | Half-sheltered bay with reef points | 3–9 m | Intermediate | South of the harbour | Sheltered from the north and open to the south-east, so it reads off the wind sector rather than the calendar. The reef points hold the ground and flat sand sits between them. |
| Whau Point (Whangaumu South) | Rock point with a boulder base | 4–12 m | Intermediate to experienced | Rock point on the south side of Whangaumu Bay | Depth comes close to shore here and there is current off the tip, so stay on the float. The point shelters its southern side, which makes it a fair call in a northerly swell. |
No. MPI states that you do not need a licence to fish in the sea around New Zealand, and spearfishing is a lawful recreational method — MPI's gear page names rubber-powered spearguns and slings plus compressed-gas pneumatic spearguns. What controls the day is the Auckland and Kermadec area table: a combined daily bag limit of 20 finfish per fisher, plus up to 50 baitfish and 6 freshwater eels on top. Three things cannot be speared anywhere in the country: crayfish, salmon and trout.
No. The Poor Knights Islands Marine Reserve is one of the ten marine reserves MPI lists as closed to all fishing in this region, and DOC describes marine reserves as complete no-take areas where no fishing of any kind is allowed. Whangārei Harbour Marine Reserve carries the same status. Areas protected under the Conservation Act 1987 are also off-limits to spearfishing, so the Poor Knights trip out of Tutukākā is a look-only dive.
Snapper is the anchor: 7 per day at a 30 cm minimum on the SNA 1 east coast, which is the tighter of the two Auckland settings. Kingfish run 3 per day at 75 cm, and length is measured from the tip of the nose to the middle ray of the tail rather than to the fork — measuring to the fork over-reads a forked tail, so a legal-looking kingfish can still be undersized. Trevally has a 25 cm minimum and red moki a 40 cm minimum, both with no separate daily limit — the combined 20 is what stops you. Kahawai and John Dory carry no minimum length but still count against that 20. DOC's advice to spearfishers is blunt on one point: do not spear any grouper you cannot positively identify, because spotted black grouper is absolutely protected.
Divers take crayfish by hand. Regulation 29(2) prohibits using a spear to take rock lobster or possessing any that have been speared, so a speared cray is an offence in itself. On top of that, MPI lists Pārengarenga Harbour to Cape Rodney as closed to spiny rock lobster from 1 April 2026 and Cape Rodney to Port Jackson from 1 April 2025, and the Rehuotane Ki Tai closure bans packhorse rock lobster from 26 June 2026 to 25 June 2028; telson clipping is required for spiny rock lobster taken between Te Arai Point and Cape Runaway. The Rehuotane Ki Tai closure also bans pāua from 26 June 2026 to 25 June 2028; outside the Rehuotane Ki Tai closure blackfoot pāua is 10 per day at a 125 mm minimum and yellowfoot pāua a separate 10 per day at an 80 mm minimum, free-diving only — underwater breathing apparatus is banned nationwide for taking or possessing pāua, and you may not even have one in the vehicle or on the boat. Kina sits at 150 per fisher per day in FMA 1.
Work the wind sector first. The coast opens to the east, so a north-east through south-east flow is what puts the outer gables and the beach reefs into surf, and Church Bay or Kowharewa Bay inside the harbour become the fallback. Middle Gable is the south-westerly call. No local webcam is supplied for this coast, so wind direction, swell and recent weather are the read. Closures matter as much as the forecast: the Rehuotane Ki Tai closure (MPI notice 1999) runs from 26 June 2026 to 25 June 2028 over Tutukākā Harbour, Ngunguru Bay and the Ngunguru and Horahora rivers, out to about 3 nautical miles between Middle Gable and Paparoa, so all four marks in the table and Whangaumu Bay sit inside it; it bans taking pāua, packhorse rock lobster, garfish, mussel, crab, octopus, sea snail and other listed species, so check MPI's closure list before taking anything, and check again before each trip because these notices change several times a year.
No. There is no recreational sea-fishing licence in New Zealand, but MPI Auckland and Kermadec rules, reserve boundaries and local closures still apply.
No. The Poor Knights Islands Marine Reserve is a total no-take area, closed to all fishing including spearfishing.
MPI lists SNA 1 east coast snapper at 7 per day with a 30 cm minimum, inside the combined 20-finfish daily limit.
No. Spearing a rock lobster, or possessing a speared one, is an offence. MPI also lists Pārengarenga Harbour to Cape Rodney as closed to spiny rock lobster from 1 April 2026.
Only in part: Whangaumu Bay lies inside the Rehuotane Ki Tai closure, which runs from 26 June 2026 to 25 June 2028 and bans taking pāua, packhorse rock lobster, garfish, mussel and other listed species. Check MPI's closure list before taking anything.
No. Underwater breathing apparatus is prohibited nationwide for taking or possessing pāua; free-diving only. The Rehuotane Ki Tai closure also bans pāua from 26 June 2026 to 25 June 2028.
Church Bay inside Tutukākā Harbour is the described fallback, out of the ocean swell and shallow at 3–9 m.