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 are the prime window — the tommy ruff switch on around dusk and locals fish on into the night, 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 10 Oct 2026 · Australia/Adelaide

Forecast updated 5:18am ACDT

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10 Oct

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Today Tomorrow Sat 17 Oct

📍 Henley Beach Jetty

new · 2%

Weather: Unavailable Swell: 0.8 m @ 5 s W Water: 16.9 °C Faces west · Offshore: NE, E, SE · Onshore: SW, W, NW

★★★☆☆

Medium Fish Activity

▸ Why this score?

At the day's peak · 6:30 am

Solunar Minor window

Time of day Dawn

Tide Strong flow

Moon new all day

Water temp 16.9 °C all day

Learn how the score works →

Activity Forecast

Day timeline

Major Minor Tide Twilight

First light 6:15 am Last light 7:51 pm

High 4:07 am Low 10:30 am High 4:20 pm Low 10:30 pm

Drag or use arrow keys to explore

Feeding Windows

Best times to fish based on activity score.

Peak

6:00 am → 7:30 am

1h 30m

Good

7:00 pm → 8:30 pm

1h 30m

Good

10:00 am → 11:30 am

1h 30m

Good

12:00 am → 1:00 am

First light

6:15 am

Last light

7:51 pm

Sunrise

6:40 am

Sunset

7:26 pm

Moonrise

6:07 am

Moonset

7:06 pm

High tide

4:07 am

Low tide

10:30 am

High tide

4:20 pm

Low tide

10:30 pm

Hourly Swell

Steady ~0.6 m SW

12am

0.5 m

@ 5 s

↙︎

Slight

chop

1am

0.5 m

@ 5 s

↙︎

Slight

chop

2am

0.5 m

@ 5 s

↙︎

Slight

chop

3am

0.5 m

@ 6 s

↙︎

Slight

chop

4am

Calm

5am

0.6 m

@ 6 s

↙︎

Slight

chop

6am

0.8 m

@ 6 s

↙︎

Slight

chop

7am

0.9 m

@ 5 s

↙︎

Slight

chop

8am

0.9 m

@ 5 s

↙︎

Slight

chop

9am

0.9 m

@ 6 s

↙︎

Slight

chop

10am

1.0 m

@ 6 s

↙︎

Slight

chop

11am

0.9 m

@ 5 s

↙︎

Slight

chop

12pm

0.8 m

@ 5 s

←︎

Slight

chop

1pm

0.8 m

@ 4 s

←︎

Slight

chop

2pm

0.7 m

@ 4 s

←︎

Slight

chop

3pm

0.7 m

@ 4 s

←︎

Slight

chop

4pm

0.7 m

@ 4 s

←︎

Slight

chop

5pm

0.6 m

@ 4 s

←︎

Slight

chop

6pm

0.6 m

@ 4 s

←︎

Slight

chop

7pm

0.6 m

@ 4 s

←︎

Slight

chop

8pm

0.6 m

@ 6 s

↙︎

Slight

chop

9pm

0.6 m

@ 8 s

↙︎

Slight

10pm

0.6 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Slight

11pm

0.6 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Slight

ground

Water Temp (°C)

→ steady around 16.9°

Wed

7 Oct

—

Thu

8 Oct

17.0°

Fri

9 Oct

17.0°

Sat

10 Oct

16.9°

Sun

11 Oct

17.0°

Mon

12 Oct

17.2°

Tue

13 Oct

17.0°

Wed

14 Oct

17.0°

Thu

15 Oct

17.0°

Fri

16 Oct

17.2°

Wind Map

Wind data (text)

Current wind summary unavailable — see the wind chart above the map.

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 am → 7:30 am

1h 30m

Good

7:00 pm → 8:30 pm

1h 30m

Good

10:00 am → 11:30 am

1h 30m

Good

12:00 am → 1:00 am

First light

6:15 am

Last light

7:51 pm

Sunrise

6:40 am

Sunset

7:26 pm

Moonrise

6:07 am

Moonset

7:06 pm

High tide

4:07 am

Low tide

10:30 am

High tide

4:20 pm

Low tide

10:30 pm

Nearby spots

Species at this spot