Coffin Bay Town Jetty

Coffin Bay is the oyster town on the postcard, and its fishing platform is the working end of that industry: the old timber town wharf on the point just east of the yacht club. The maps say jetty, the locals say wharf, and it is the same cluster of old timber either way. The draw is the water more than the structure — Coffin Bay is a near-landlocked estuary of gin-clear shallows over sand and seagrass, sheltered enough to fish when the open coast is a mess. Whiting, garfish, tommies, silver trevally and salmon trout work the weed edges within casting range, blue swimmers walk into drop nets through the warm months, and each spring the famous Kellidie Bay kingfish run brings genuinely big fish into the estuary next door. One thing to know before you rig up: on PIRSA's zone map Coffin Bay sits inside the Spencer Gulf fishing zone, which extends west around the bottom of the Eyre Peninsula — so the gulf closures follow you here. The fish don't know it. The fisheries officers do.

This is light-tackle fishing in some of the clearest water in the state. Fresh bait beats everything — local cockles, gents, fish flesh — and a long, fine fluorocarbon leader buys bites that heavy gear never sees. A steady berley trail on a warm-month morning brings garfish and tommy ruff to a pencil float off the wharf, and whiting fall to cockle or gents cast onto the sand patches between the weed, though the wharf whiting run small and the better fish come off the Ledge — the rock ledge over the main channel off Kellidie Bay Road a few minutes from town, where the local method is to cast into the channel and then leave the rod alone. Salmon trout are the guaranteed fish all year on small metals and soft plastics, and drop nets produce blue swimmers through the warm half. Bring more bait than you think you need; the rays and crabs levy a toll on anything left sitting on the bottom.

King George whiting are the name fish and bite year-round, with winter arguably the pick; the wharf fish are mostly modest and the bigger whiting hold in the channels. This far west the minimum size is 30 cm rather than the 32 cm gulf visitors know, and the Spencer Gulf bag of 10 applies. Garfish are open at 23 cm with a bag of 30 — the zone quirk working in your favour for once — and tommy ruff (bag 40) come to the same berley. Silver trevally are one of the wharf's more reliable fish at 24 cm and a bag of 20, salmon trout are the banker for the kids (21 cm minimum, mostly juveniles inside the bay), snook show at dawn and dusk (45 cm, bag 20), and flathead pick up whiting baits through the warmer months at 30 cm and a bag of 10. Blue swimmer crabs run the warm half of the year — 11 cm across the carapace, bag of 20, berried females straight back. Southern calamari were a staple here, but because Coffin Bay is Spencer Gulf zone water they have been closed to all targeting, take and possession since 1 May 2026, until further notice. Snapper are closed until 30 June 2027, catch-and-release included. In spring the odd rat kingfish turns up off the wharf while its 15 to 25 kg relatives run into Kellidie Bay.

Fresh bait and light leaders are the whole game — the water is clear enough that the fish inspect your knots. Berley turns a quiet morning into a busy one for gar and tommies. Do not set up on the yacht club's floating pontoon, however inviting it looks: fishing from it is banned under club rules, and the newest, most comfortable structure on the foreshore is the one you cannot fish from. The other line not to cross is invisible — the Kellidie Bay Sanctuary Zone starts about 1.5 km east of town, fishing and berleying inside it are banned with fines from $315 plus a levy (2019 figures), and rangers run extra patrols during the spring kingfish season. Leave the squid jigs in the car; the calamari closure bans targeting, not just keeping. The Oyster Walk runs the length of the Esplanade past the wharf, so you will share the precinct with oyster-tour tourists standing in the bay in waders holding wine glasses, which is exactly as Coffin Bay as it sounds.

The wharf is off the Esplanade at the point east of the yacht club, with parking at the point and a flat walk onto the deck. Public toilets are about 70 m away, the town boat ramp 750 m north-west has the fish cleaning station and bins, and the Coffin Bay Caravan Park is roughly 460 m along the shore; the hotel, the oyster bars and the general store are all within a kilometre. It is a working wharf for the oyster industry, so expect commercial boats and give way at the landing. Coffin Bay is 44 km west of Port Lincoln on sealed road the whole way.

The bay is a near-landlocked estuary, which makes this one of the most weatherproof platforms on the Eyre Peninsula — days that blow out the surf coast are merely breezy here. The flip side is clarity: flat, bright middays in gin-clear water are the hardest fishing of the week, and dawn, dusk and a bit of ripple on the surface are worth more than any forecast. A moving tide sliding along the weed edges beats slack water, warm-month mornings with berley are the gar and tommy sessions, and winter brings the better whiting and the salmon trout schools. No night lighting has been verified on the wharf, so plan around first and last light rather than after dark.

The wharf is a working structure — oyster-industry boats come and go, so keep gear clear of the landing and give way. The water is shallow and clear enough to tempt kids over the edge; watch them near the sides, and mind the rays cruising the shallows for your bait. Anyone launching a kayak or dinghy and heading east needs the Kellidie Bay Sanctuary Zone boundary marked — it starts about 1.5 km from town and no fishing or berleying is allowed inside it. Summer sun on an unshaded deck, no verified lighting after dark, and the usual splinters of an old timber wharf round out the list.

King George whiting (mostly smaller fish, 30 cm minimum out here), garfish, tommy ruff, silver trevally, salmon trout, flathead and blue swimmer crabs, with snook at dawn and dusk and the odd rat kingfish in spring. Southern calamari are closed because Coffin Bay sits in the Spencer Gulf fishing zone, and snapper are closed until 30 June 2027.

Not legally. Coffin Bay is inside the Spencer Gulf fishing zone on PIRSA's map, and southern calamari have been closed to all targeting, take and possession in that zone since 1 May 2026, with no end date published. The closure bans targeting, so the jigs stay in the car.

The old town wharf on the point just east of the yacht club — locals call it the town jetty or the wharf interchangeably. Fishing is banned from the yacht club's floating pontoon under club rules, and there is a small fishing platform at Crinolin Point at the north-west end of the Esplanade if you want a change of scenery.

Yes. The wharf itself is fine, but the Kellidie Bay Sanctuary Zone starts about 1.5 km east of town and bans all fishing and berleying, with fines from $315 plus a levy (2019 figures). It matters most to kayak and dinghy anglers heading east, and patrols increase during the spring kingfish run.

No. South Australia has no general recreational fishing licence. Size, bag and closure rules still apply, and because Coffin Bay is in the Spencer Gulf zone they are the gulf rules — the free SA Fishing app has the current version.