Can you fish at Aldinga Beach?

Not on the reef frontage. A marine park sanctuary zone runs to the median high water mark from Zephyr Terrace south to Thomas Street, about 2.3 km apart, and takes in the reef off that frontage, and no fishing or removal of any marine organism is allowed there. The legal fishing is the drive-on sand south of Thomas Street toward Sellicks. The beach north of the reef is not a fallback either. The Aldinga Reef Aquatic Reserve prohibited fishing and collecting from Thomas Street all the way north to Seaborne Avenue at Port Willunga, and whether it survives as a separate instrument is unsettled, so treat that frontage as shut. Swimming, snorkelling, diving, boating and walking the exposed reef at low water are all still permitted in the closed section.

Can you drive on Aldinga Beach right now?

Not south of the access ramp. Vehicles are banned from that stretch every year from 1 May to 30 September to protect the pebble banks, a restriction in place since 2004 and signposted, with a $312.50 fine. The closure runs to and including 30 September, so access returns on 1 October 2026. The published closure is south of the access ramp, though the council's own beach-access list also describes Aldinga Beach as closed to vehicles during the winter closure, so check the signs at the ramp before driving on between May and September. Outside the closure, access runs 5.30am to 11.59pm at 10 km/h and costs $12 unless you hold a free City of Onkaparinga resident permit.

What can you catch at Aldinga Beach?

Australian salmon are the reliable fish from about April to September, taken on salted pilchards or sauries soaked in a gutter or on 20 to 60 g metal lures walked along the sand. Yelloweye mullet run the same cool months, and the regional calendar adds flathead from April to August. Garfish and southern calamari are closed in the Gulf St Vincent zone until further notice, and snapper is closed until at least 30 June 2027.

What hooks can you use at Aldinga Beach?

Aldinga is inside the Adelaide metropolitan shark fishing area. From 5am to 9pm daily, from mean high water springs out to 500 m seaward, wire traces, monofilament traces over 1 mm, hooks longer than 56 mm or with a gape over 23 mm, and hooks ganged by threading the point of one through the eye of another are all prohibited. That rules out the standard ganged pilchard rig during the day, so run single hooks inside those dimensions.

Is Aldinga Beach patrolled?

Yes, from October to April on weekends and public holidays, with daily patrols during the peak summer school holidays. Outside those dates and hours there is no patrol, which covers most of the salmon season. Keep clear of the cliffs, stay on hard sand if you have driven on, and watch the incoming tide.

Bite Compass

Bite Forecast

Aldinga Beach (south of the reef reserve)

Sun 06 Sep 2026 · Australia/Adelaide

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6 Sep

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Today Tomorrow Sat 5 Sep

📍 Aldinga Beach (south of the reef reserve)

last quarter · 33%

Weather: Sunny Wind: W 285° · 14 km/h Swell: 1.1 m @ 10 s W Water: 14.5 °C Pressure: 1023.2 hPa → steady

★★★☆☆

Medium Fish Activity

▸ Why this score?

At the day's peak · 6:30 pm

Solunar Major window

Time of day Dusk

Tide Moving

Wind SW 6 km/h

Moon last quarter all day

Water temp 14.5 °C all day

Learn how the score works →

Activity Forecast

Feeding Windows

Best times to fish based on activity score.

Peak

6:00 pm → 8:30 pm

2h 30m

Good

6:00 am → 8:00 am

First light

6:04 am

Last light

6:25 pm

Sunrise

6:29 am

Sunset

6:00 pm

Moonrise

2:55 am

Moonset

12:19 pm

High tide

7:20 am

Low tide

10:18 pm

Hourly Wind

High Bite Hours Highlighted

12am

☀️

12°

↙︎

244°

16 km/h

1am

☀️

12°

↙︎

240°

15 km/h

2am

☀️

12°

↙︎

239°

13 km/h

3am

☀️

11°

↙︎

237°

12 km/h

4am

☀️

11°

↙︎

229°

9 km/h

5am

☀️

11°

↙︎

220°

7 km/h

6am

☀️

10°

↙︎

211°

6 km/h

7am

☁️

11°

↙︎

212°

7 km/h

8am

☀️

13°

↙︎

243°

5 km/h

9am

☀️

14°

←︎

250°

8 km/h

10am

☀️

15°

←︎

277°

11 km/h

11am

☀️

15°

←︎

288°

14 km/h

12pm

☀️

14°

←︎

285°

14 km/h

1pm

☀️

15°

←︎

284°

13 km/h

2pm

☀️

15°

←︎

276°

13 km/h

3pm

☀️

14°

←︎

267°

12 km/h

4pm

☀️

14°

←︎

264°

11 km/h

5pm

☀️

13°

←︎

256°

8 km/h

6pm

☀️

12°

↙︎

245°

6 km/h

7pm

☁️

12°

↙︎

231°

7 km/h

8pm

☁️

12°

↙︎

223°

9 km/h

9pm

☁️

12°

↙︎

211°

10 km/h

10pm

☁️

12°

↙︎

206°

13 km/h

11pm

☁️

12°

↙︎

207°

11 km/h

Hourly Swell

Easing 1.1 → 0.8 m W

12am

1.1 m

@ 10 s

←︎

Moderate

ground

1am

1.1 m

@ 11 s

←︎

Moderate

ground

2am

1.1 m

@ 11 s

←︎

Moderate

ground

3am

1.2 m

@ 10 s

←︎

Moderate

ground

4am

1.2 m

@ 10 s

←︎

Moderate

5am

1.2 m

@ 9 s

←︎

Moderate

6am

1.2 m

@ 9 s

←︎

Moderate

7am

1.2 m

@ 9 s

←︎

Moderate

8am

1.2 m

@ 9 s

←︎

Moderate

9am

1.2 m

@ 10 s

←︎

Moderate

10am

1.1 m

@ 10 s

←︎

Moderate

11am

1.1 m

@ 10 s

←︎

Moderate

12pm

1.1 m

@ 10 s

←︎

Moderate

1pm

1.0 m

@ 10 s

←︎

Moderate

2pm

1.0 m

@ 10 s

←︎

Moderate

3pm

1.0 m

@ 10 s

←︎

Slight

4pm

1.0 m

@ 10 s

←︎

Slight

5pm

0.9 m

@ 10 s

←︎

Slight

6pm

0.9 m

@ 10 s

←︎

Slight

7pm

0.9 m

@ 10 s

←︎

Slight

8pm

0.9 m

@ 10 s

←︎

Slight

9pm

0.8 m

@ 10 s

←︎

Slight

10pm

0.8 m

@ 10 s

←︎

Slight

11pm

0.8 m

@ 9 s

←︎

Slight

Water Temp (°C)

→ steady around 14.5°

Thu

3 Sep

14.3°

Fri

4 Sep

14.4°

Sat

5 Sep

14.3°

Sun

6 Sep

14.5°

Mon

7 Sep

14.4°

Tue

8 Sep

14.5°

Wed

9 Sep

14.4°

Thu

10 Sep

14.8°

Fri

11 Sep

14.8°

Sat

12 Sep

14.8°

Wind Map

Wind data (text)

Now: 14 km/h W (285°).

Wind map data: ECMWF HRES (operational), updated every 6 hours. Not for navigation.

Feeding Windows

Best times to fish based on activity score.

Peak

6:00 pm → 8:30 pm

2h 30m

Good

6:00 am → 8:00 am

First light

6:04 am

Last light

6:25 pm

Sunrise

6:29 am

Sunset

6:00 pm

Moonrise

2:55 am

Moonset

12:19 pm

High tide

7:20 am

Low tide

10:18 pm

Nearby spots

Species at this spot

Australian Salmon
Yelloweye Mullet
Black Bream
Snook
Garfish · closed