What can you catch off Henley Beach Jetty?

Tommy ruff (Australian herring) and yelloweye mullet are the year-round mainstays, with yellowfin whiting in the summer shallows and blue swimmer crabs from October to April. Off the end on warm nights you can pick up gummy sharks, the occasional school mulloway and various rays. Garfish and southern calamari are part of the usual mix but are both closed to recreational fishing in Gulf St Vincent from 1 May 2026 with no end date published.

Do I need a fishing licence to fish Henley Beach Jetty?

No. South Australia does not require a general recreational fishing licence, so you can fish the jetty without paperwork. You still have to follow PIRSA bag and size limits, which change by species and zone — King George whiting, for example, is 32cm with a daily bag of 5 per person in the Gulf St Vincent and Kangaroo Island zone.

Can you catch snapper at Henley Beach Jetty?

Not legally right now. Snapper fishing is closed across Gulf St Vincent, Spencer Gulf and the West Coast until 30 June 2027, and the closure covers catch-and-release as well as taking fish. Big snapper were historically caught off the jetty end in rough weather, but they are off the menu until the closure lifts.

When is the best time to fish Henley Beach Jetty?

Warm, still summer evenings into the night are the prime window — that is when the tommy ruff switch on, especially with a berley trail going — garfish and squid would too, but both are closed in Gulf St Vincent. The run-in tide around dusk and the low-light hours are most productive. A strong westerly sea breeze brings chop and weed and tends to blow the float fishing out.

Is Henley Beach Jetty good for kids and crabbing?

Yes on both counts. The deck is flat, wide and railed with toilets, cafes and shade at Henley Square, which makes it one of the more family-friendly metro jetties. Blue swimmer crabs run from October to April — most crabbers work the shallows off the beach end with rakes or drop nets, keeping only crabs of 11cm or more across the spine base.

Bite Compass

Bite Forecast

Henley Beach Jetty

Sat 05 Sep 2026 · Australia/Adelaide

←

5 Sep

tap to pick date

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Today Tomorrow Sat 5 Sep

📍 Henley Beach Jetty

last quarter · 43%

Weather: Sunny Wind: S 185° · 14 km/h Swell: 0.5 m @ 10 s SW Water: 14.8 °C Pressure: 1019.2 hPa → steady

★★★★☆

High Fish Activity

▸ Why this score?

At the day's peak · 6:30 pm

Solunar Major window

Time of day Dusk

Tide Moving

Wind SE 15 km/h

Moon last quarter all day

Water temp 14.8 °C all day

Learn how the score works →

Activity Forecast

Feeding Windows

Best times to fish based on activity score.

Peak

5:30 pm → 8:00 pm

2h 30m

Good

5:30 am → 8:00 am

2h 30m

First light

6:05 am

Last light

6:24 pm

Sunrise

6:30 am

Sunset

5:59 pm

Moonrise

1:50 am

Moonset

11:15 am

High tide

7:00 am

Low tide

1:50 pm

High tide

5:40 pm

Hourly Wind

High Bite Hours Highlighted

12am

☁️

13°

↘︎

152°

8 km/h

1am

☁️

13°

↓︎

164°

9 km/h

2am

☁️

13°

↓︎

172°

10 km/h

3am

☁️

13°

↓︎

177°

12 km/h

4am

☁️

13°

↓︎

182°

12 km/h

5am

☁️

14°

↓︎

187°

13 km/h

6am

☁️

14°

↓︎

192°

14 km/h

7am

☁️

15°

↓︎

196°

14 km/h

8am

☁️

15°

↓︎

199°

14 km/h

9am

☀️

15°

↓︎

199°

14 km/h

10am

☀️

16°

↓︎

196°

14 km/h

11am

☀️

16°

↓︎

192°

14 km/h

12pm

☀️

16°

↓︎

185°

14 km/h

1pm

☀️

17°

↓︎

178°

14 km/h

2pm

☀️

17°

↓︎

170°

14 km/h

3pm

☀️

16°

↓︎

163°

14 km/h

4pm

☀️

16°

↘︎

154°

14 km/h

5pm

☀️

15°

↘︎

145°

14 km/h

6pm

☀️

14°

↘︎

136°

15 km/h

7pm

☁️

12°

↘︎

128°

16 km/h

8pm

☁️

11°

↘︎

121°

17 km/h

9pm

☁️

11°

↘︎

115°

17 km/h

10pm

☁️

10°

→︎

110°

17 km/h

11pm

☁️

10°

→︎

105°

16 km/h

Hourly Swell

Steady ~0.6 m SW

12am

0.6 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Slight

1am

0.6 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Slight

2am

0.6 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Slight

3am

0.6 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Slight

4am

0.6 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Slight

5am

0.6 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Slight

6am

0.6 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Slight

7am

0.6 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Slight

8am

0.5 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Slight

9am

0.5 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Slight

10am

0.5 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Slight

11am

0.5 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Slight

12pm

0.5 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Slight

1pm

0.5 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Slight

2pm

0.5 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Slight

3pm

0.5 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Slight

4pm

0.5 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Slight

5pm

0.5 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Slight

ground

6pm

0.5 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Slight

ground

7pm

0.5 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Slight

8pm

0.5 m

@ 6 s

↙︎

Slight

chop

9pm

0.5 m

@ 4 s

↙︎

Slight

chop

10pm

0.6 m

@ 4 s

↙︎

Slight

chop

11pm

0.6 m

@ 4 s

↙︎

Slight

chop

Water Temp (°C)

→ steady around 14.8°

Wed

2 Sep

14.7°

Thu

3 Sep

14.7°

Fri

4 Sep

14.8°

Sat

5 Sep

14.8°

Sun

6 Sep

14.8°

Mon

7 Sep

—

Tue

8 Sep

—

Wed

9 Sep

—

Thu

10 Sep

—

Fri

11 Sep

—

Wind Map

Wind data (text)

Now: 14 km/h S (185°).

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

Feeding Windows

Best times to fish based on activity score.

Peak

5:30 pm → 8:00 pm

2h 30m

Good

5:30 am → 8:00 am

2h 30m

First light

6:05 am

Last light

6:24 pm

Sunrise

6:30 am

Sunset

5:59 pm

Moonrise

1:50 am

Moonset

11:15 am

High tide

7:00 am

Low tide

1:50 pm

High tide

5:40 pm

Nearby spots

Species at this spot

Australian Herring
Yelloweye Mullet
Yellowfin Whiting (Sand Whiting)
Australian Salmon
Gummy Shark
Mulloway (Jewfish)
Garfish · closed
Southern Calamari (Squid) · closed