Florida

Caspersen Beach (Venice)

The self-styled Shark Tooth Capital of the World. A long, dark-sand beach where the Hawthorn and Peace River formations are eroded constantly offshore - every wave delivers fresh teeth.

⚠ Partial inputs

today

Good

1.1ft swing · neap tide · low 12:13 PM · post-storm · 4.9ft swell · 2.85" recent rain · +18 event boost

Today at a glance

Updated 2026-07-20T21:56:53.488Z

Solid hunting day. Best window opens around the 12:13 PM low (0.7 ft). Moderate S winds (13 mph); seas 5 ft+ — murky and choppy.

Heads up: 5 ft seas — visibility will be poor; consider another day.

Next 3 days: Next few days look steady — all good-range. Pick whatever fits your schedule.

Best Window Today

12:13 PM

Plan around the good low-tide window. 1.1ft swing · neap tide · low 12:13 PM · post-storm · 4.9ft swell · 2.85" recent rain · +18 event boost.

Hunt score

Good

Astronomical low

0.7 ft

12:13 PM

Predicted real low

0.8 ft

Near NOAA prediction

Low-window wind

2 mph

Light — negligible effect

Tides: NOAA Venice Inlet, FL (station 8725889)

Best window this week

Sun, Jul 26 · 6:45 PM

2.3ft swing · low 6:45 PM · ~0.4ft below predicted (offshore wind) · +18 event boost

Score

Good

Confidence: Partial — noaa tide station, on-site outcomes. Hover the badge above for the input-by-input breakdown.

Tonight's moon

First quarter

44% illuminated

Sunrise 10:48 AM · Sunset 12:25 AM

Wind right now

13 mph from S

Gusts 26 mph · best from W

Wind is cross-shore — neutral effect on tide level.

Past 7 days

Compare model output to your actual visits.

Next 7 days

Plan a trip →

▼ means the forecast wind will likely push the real low below NOAA's prediction (more beach to hunt). ▲ means it will likely sit above the prediction (less beach). Rough rule: ~0.04 ft per mph of sustained wind during the low-tide window.

Tide times: NOAA CO-OPS station 8725889 (Venice Inlet, FL) — local time, MLLW datum. Click to verify on NOAA. Cards show LOWS only (best for hunting); highs are visible on the tide curve below.

🌤️ Weather & Wave Forecast

Impact on visibility and stir-up over the next 5 days.

Onshore Wind: Pushes water in (tide sits higher) and stirs up the bottom. Good for "new" teeth, bad for visibility.

Offshore Wind: Water blown out (tide sits lower). Maximum beach exposure for hunting the low tide line.

Why today scores 57

The Hunt Score blends tide range, lunar phase, daylight timing, recent stir, wind setup, and surf.

Wave height 4.9 ft

Best low

12:13 PM at 0.7 ft

Predicted real low

0.8 ft

Wind deviation

Less beach by 0.1 ft

Explain this scoreShow breakdown ▾

💡

Analysis

Solid. Reliable productivity expected.

Tide range

9.4 / 50

Today's swing is 1.1 ft (saturates at 6 ft = 50 pts).

Spring tide

2.4 / 15

Within ±2 days of a new or full moon = wider swing.

Daylight timing

15.0 / 15

Low in daylight = you can actually hunt.

Recent stir

0.0 / 10

Past 72h onshore wind churn (only counts hours that already happened).

Wind setup at low

-0.6 / 10

Forecast wind piles 0.1 ft of water around the low.

Surf bonus

5.0 / 5

1–4 ft of recent surf = clean sorting; >7 ft = unfishable.

Recent rainfall

3.0 / 3

Past 48h rain flushes creek/inlet material onto the strand. ≥0.5" = +3.

Storm multipliermultiplier

1.15×

Peak gust 28 mph triggers post-storm boost.

Event boostadded

+18

Manual + auto events (storms, drought, beach renourishment).

Why not higher? The biggest unused headroom today is tide range (+40.6 pts available). A day with that maxed out would score around 98.

Show the math

components: 9.4 + 2.4 + 15.0 + 0.0 + -0.6 + 5.0 + 3.0 = 34.2 × storm multiplier 1.15 = 39.3 + event boost +18 = 57.3 final = 57

What's NOT in this score

We are deliberate about which factors to include. These are not currently in the model:

Hunt pressure. A “hunts this week” chip is shown on each location page for transparency, but it does not change the score yet. We need more outcomes per site before a penalty would be statistically meaningful.
Wave period / swell direction. We use wave height only. Long-period groundswell sorts material differently than short wind chop, but Open-Meteo doesn't expose period reliably.
Barometric pressure trend. Falling pressure = approaching storm = building stir. Currently we wait for the wind to actually arrive.
Water temperature, clarity, salinity. Affects comfort but not (directly) what teeth wash up.
Weekday vs weekend. A 70 on Tuesday is often better in practice than a 70 on Saturday because of crowds, but we don't adjust for that.
Beach renourishment. Fresh sand buries everything. We capture this only when an admin logs a manual event — there's no auto-detection.

If you think we should add one of these, log a hunt with notes — every rated outcome helps us decide which signals actually predict tooth count.

Hunt Score

Sum of components × 1.15 + 18 event boost, clamped 0–100.

Score model 2026.04.29 · how this is calculated

Hunted here today?

Rate this hunt

We predicted 57. Tell us how it actually went — your rating calibrates the model.

model 2026.04.29

Phoning NOAA for the tide chart…

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Event timeline

🌊

Southeast Drought Watch 2026

active

NOAA predicting strong drought conditions across Florida and Georgia through summer 2026.

2026-06-01 – 2026-09-15

- Low water = exposed creek beds and river gravel bars

- Dry river sections reveal buried banks

+12 pts

Geology

FormationsPeace River Formation, Hawthorn Group

EpochsMiocene, Pliocene, Pleistocene

Age~10-2 million years

Star speciesOtodus megalodon

Technique

Sift the wet shell hash at the swash line with a 'Florida snow shovel' (long-handled basket sifter), or wade waist-deep and scoop the dark gravel pockets.

Access

Free public parking at Caspersen Beach Park. Restrooms, boardwalk. Rental sifters at nearby Venice Beach shops.

🗺 Open in Google Maps 🧭 Open in Apple Maps

Legality & ethics

Surface collecting on the beach is unrestricted. Submerged-bottom collecting (boat/scuba) requires a Florida Fossil Permit (~$5/yr).

Hazards