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 29 Aug 2026 · Australia/Adelaide

←

29 Aug

Today

tap to pick date

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Today Tomorrow Sat 5 Sep

📍 Henley Beach Jetty

full · 99%

Weather: Sunny Wind: SE 117° · 1 km/h Swell: 0.5 m @ 11 s SW Water: 14.6 °C Pressure: 1031.7 hPa

★★☆☆☆

Low Fish Activity

▸ Why this score?

At the day's peak · 6:30 pm

Solunar Minor window

Time of day Dusk

Tide Strong flow

Wind SE 12 km/h

Moon full all day

Water temp 14.6 °C all day

Learn how the score works →

Activity Forecast

Now

Feeding Windows

Best times to fish based on activity score.

Peak

6:00 pm → 7:30 pm

1h 30m

First light

6:14 am

Last light

6:20 pm

Sunrise

6:39 am

Sunset

5:54 pm

Moonrise

7:04 pm

Moonset

6:59 am

High tide

4:12 am

Low tide

10:11 am

High tide

4:14 pm

Hourly Wind

High Bite Hours Highlighted

12am

☀️

10°

↘︎

135°

2 km/h

Now

☀️

9°

↘︎

121°

1 km/h

2am

☀️

9°

↘︎

117°

1 km/h

3am

☀️

8°

↘︎

135°

1 km/h

4am

☀️

8°

↘︎

117°

1 km/h

5am

☀️

8°

→︎

97°

1 km/h

6am

☀️

8°

→︎

90°

2 km/h

7am

☀️

9°

→︎

103°

2 km/h

8am

☀️

12°

←︎

270°

0 km/h

9am

☀️

15°

←︎

283°

3 km/h

10am

☀️

16°

←︎

281°

5 km/h

11am

☀️

17°

←︎

279°

7 km/h

12pm

☀️

17°

←︎

272°

9 km/h

1pm

☀️

18°

←︎

264°

11 km/h

2pm

☀️

18°

←︎

258°

10 km/h

3pm

☀️

18°

↙︎

246°

9 km/h

4pm

☀️

18°

↙︎

217°

7 km/h

5pm

☀️

18°

↓︎

172°

9 km/h

6pm

☀️

16°

↘︎

147°

12 km/h

7pm

☀️

14°

↘︎

146°

10 km/h

8pm

☀️

13°

↘︎

141°

9 km/h

9pm

☀️

11°

↘︎

145°

7 km/h

10pm

☀️

10°

↘︎

146°

5 km/h

11pm

☀️

9°

↘︎

142°

6 km/h

Hourly Swell

Steady ~0.3 m SW

12am

0.5 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Calm

ground

Now

0.5 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Calm

ground

2am

0.5 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Calm

ground

3am

0.5 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Calm

ground

4am

0.4 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Calm

ground

5am

0.4 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Calm

ground

6am

0.4 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Calm

ground

7am

0.4 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Calm

ground

8am

0.4 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Calm

ground

9am

0.4 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Calm

ground

10am

0.4 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Calm

ground

11am

0.4 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Calm

ground

12pm

0.4 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Calm

ground

1pm

0.4 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Calm

ground

2pm

0.4 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Calm

ground

3pm

0.4 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Calm

ground

4pm

0.4 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Calm

ground

5pm

0.3 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Calm

6pm

0.3 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Calm

7pm

0.3 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Calm

8pm

0.3 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Calm

9pm

0.3 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Calm

10pm

0.3 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Calm

11pm

0.3 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Calm

Water Temp (°C)

→ steady around 14.6°

Wed

26 Aug

14.3°

Thu

27 Aug

14.3°

Fri

28 Aug

14.5°

Sat

29 Aug

14.6°

Sun

30 Aug

14.7°

Mon

31 Aug

14.8°

Tue

1 Sep

14.6°

Wed

2 Sep

14.7°

Thu

3 Sep

14.7°

Fri

4 Sep

14.8°

Wind Map

Wind data (text)

Now: 1 km/h SE (117°).

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 → 7:30 pm

1h 30m

First light

6:14 am

Last light

6:20 pm

Sunrise

6:39 am

Sunset

5:54 pm

Moonrise

7:04 pm

Moonset

6:59 am

High tide

4:12 am

Low tide

10:11 am

High tide

4:14 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