Elliston Jetty

Only about 113 metres of Elliston Jetty is open. The District Council of Elliston reopened that much of it on 26 September 2025 after an initial engineering assessment, said further sections would follow as engineers cleared them, and eleven months later has announced nothing more. Treat this as a quarter-length jetty and do not plan a trip around the famous deep end. What you are standing on is still worth the drive: heritage listed, the oldest screw-pylon jetty in South Australia, timber decked and lit at night, sitting central in a Waterloo Bay only about 2 km wide. The council's own description of it is the best line anyone has written about a fishing jetty — its sole use now is fishing and photography. And here is the part that matters in 2026: Elliston is on the West Coast, north of the 34°S line that caps the Spencer Gulf zone, so southern calamari and garfish are both still open here while every gulf jetty in the state is shut out of the squid. That makes this one of the few legal squid jetties left in South Australia, on a quarter of a deck.

Work the inner deck from dusk into the evening and again early in the morning, which is the stated best window here for gar, tommy ruff and big squid. Tommies are the constant — the council claims that even in the worst weather you will find someone pulling reliable catches of them off this jetty, and tommies never needed the deep end anyway. Garfish come to a float over steady berley on the calm mornings, and the squid come to a jig worked slowly in clear water under the lights. The bay does the rest: Waterloo Bay is rated the easiest land-based King George whiting fishing on the Eyre Peninsula, on nothing more than a simple whiting rig baited with cockles or fresh squid, fished from the beach. In a howling northerly, walk the stretch from the jetty to Milligans and fish just inside the seaweed line. At Wellington Point on the bay's south side, fish with the wind behind you and a float to keep the bait off the reef base, and pick your footing carefully — the council says so itself.

Tommy ruff carry the deck: no minimum size, a bag of 40, and reliable in weather that shuts down everything else. Southern calamari are open on this coast with no size limit and a bag of 15 per person and 45 per boat, combined with cuttlefish — the gulf closures of 1 May 2026 do not reach the West Coast zone. Garfish are 23 cm with a bag of 30. King George whiting are 30 cm here rather than the 32 cm the gulfs use, since the size splits at the 136°E meridian and Elliston sits well west of it, with a bag of 10 and a boat limit of 30. Trevally are 24 cm and a bag of 20, snook 45 cm and 20, salmon 21 cm with a bag of 20 up to 35 cm and 10 above it, and mullet 21 cm and 60. Snapper are the one thing the West Coast does not get a pass on: the closure runs to at least 30 June 2027 in this zone as well, and the local name for what you would catch here anyway is rugger snapper, which is a polite word for undersized. Western blue groper are legal here, on a 60 to 100 cm slot with a bag of 1 and a boat limit of 3. Their permanent no-take closure covers both gulfs, Investigator Strait, Backstairs Passage and the waters north of a line from West Bay to Cape Carnot, and the nearest edge of it is about 160 km to the south-south-east, off the bottom of the peninsula. They are slow growing and a reef holds few of them, so putting one back is a decision worth making rather than a rule to obey.

The visitor information centre at 21 Beach Terrace sells a complete local fishing guide for $2.20. Fish the changes of light; dusk into the evening and the first of the morning are the stated windows for the jetty, and the water on this coast is often clear enough that presenting well matters more than casting far. Milligans is the protected option when there is big swell and a northerly. Boords Beach is the easy, calm one for teaching kids. If the closed section frustrates you, Locks Well is 18 km south with 283 steps and one of the country's most renowned salmon beaches at the bottom of them. Elliston hosted the Australian Salmon Fishing Championship in 2022 and 2023 and still runs a long-standing annual fishing competition, so the town takes its fishing seriously.

The jetty runs off the Elliston foreshore, free, with parking on the beachfront and a short flat walk to the deck — of which only the inner 113 metres or so is open, with exclusion zones possibly still in place beyond. Obey the barriers, because they are engineering advice rather than decoration. The town has a caravan park, a visitor information centre at 21 Beach Terrace and normal town services. Boats launch off the relatively hard sand beach with care, there is a concrete ramp north of nearby Cape Finniss for the run out to the Waldegrave Islands, and another ramp at Anxious Bay. Toilets, cleaning tables, rails and mobility access on the jetty itself are not documented anywhere, so plan around the town rather than the structure. The jetty is lit at night, which is one of the few facilities that is confirmed.

Waterloo Bay is a small, isolated bay about 2 km wide on an exposed west coast, so swell and southerlies are the governing variables rather than gulf chop. Dusk into the evening and the early morning are the stated best windows on the jetty. A howling northerly is still fishable from the beach between the jetty and Milligans, and the limestone cliffs south of Anxious Bay Corner shelter you from a southerly. Water here is often clear, which favours night fishing, lighter line and careful presentation — and clear water after a calm spell is exactly what the squid want. The nearest sanctuary zone is about 24 km west-south-west and the Investigator Marine Park boundary starts 3.8 km south, so the bay itself is open water with no zoning to trip over.

The structure is the hazard. Roughly three quarters of this jetty is closed pending engineering clearance, and exclusion zones may remain in place. The District Council of Elliston began a coastal hazard assessment covering Elliston, Venus Bay and Port Kenny on 11 December 2025, so expect further works on this coast. The rock ledges at Wellington Point need sure footing and the council says as much in its own advice. Talia Beach, 40 km north, is not the place for inexperienced fishers — strong swells and deep channels close to the sand — and Talia Caves has undercut cliffs and fragile rock with a monument to the people this coast has taken. Offshore fishing out here only works in ideal weather. Spearfishing is banned within 100 m of any jetty in South Australia.

Only in part. About 113 metres of the 427-metre jetty reopened on 26 September 2025 after an initial engineering assessment, the council said further sections would open as engineers cleared them, and nothing further has been announced in the eleven months since. Exclusion zones may still be in place — obey the barriers, and do not plan on reaching the old deep end.

Yes, and that is unusual right now. Elliston is in the West Coast fishing zone, north of the 34°S line that caps the Spencer Gulf zone, so the total calamari closure that shut both gulfs on 1 May 2026 does not apply here. The bag is 15 per person and 45 per boat, combined with cuttlefish, with no minimum size. Clear water after calm weather and the hours around dusk are when they come on.

30 cm, not the 32 cm that applies in the gulfs. The size splits at the 136°E meridian and Elliston sits at about 134°53'E, well west of it. The bag is 10 per person and 30 per boat, and there is no whiting spawning closure in force anywhere in the state today.

Waterloo Bay is rated the easiest land-based King George whiting fishing on the Eyre Peninsula — fish just inside the seaweed line with cockles on the stretch from the jetty to Milligans, which works even in a howling northerly. Wellington Point on the bay's south side suits a float fished off the reef base, Boords Beach is the calm one for kids, and Locks Well 18 km south is the salmon beach.

No source reached gives a construction year. It was built by the early settlers to service the wool and grain trade and is the oldest screw-pylon jetty in South Australia, heritage listed, timber decked and lit at night. The full structure is 427 metres. The council's own description is that its sole use now is fishing and photography, and at present only about 113 metres of it is open to either.