How many steps are there at Locks Well?

283, on a 120-metre timber staircase that drops 60 metres from the clifftop car park to the beach. The descent is easy and the climb back with a bag of salmon is the part everyone remembers. There is a viewing platform about 20 steps down and a lookout at the lower car park for anyone not making the trip.

What can you catch at Locks Well?

Australian salmon of 3 to 5 kg, caught year round on bait and lure, with the winter run from June to August the serious window. Big tommy ruff share the gutters, mullet run through autumn, and the occasional mulloway or tailor pushes through — fish past the 82 cm mulloway minimum are reported through these gutters alongside Talia Beach and Fowlers Bay.

Can you swim at Locks Well?

No. It is described as too dangerous to swim, and the deep gutters and moving water that make it one of Australia's best salmon beaches are exactly why. Fish it, do not swim it, and stay well up the sand when the sets come through.

Do you need a 4WD to get to Locks Well?

No. The road in is sealed, there is a car park at the clifftop and a lower car park with amenities and a lookout, which makes this one of the few easily reached surf beaches on the west coast. The only access problem is the staircase, and no vehicle helps with that.

What are the fishing rules at Locks Well?

Locks Well is in the West Coast fishing zone, north of the 34°S line, so the gulf calamari and garfish closures do not apply and King George whiting are 30 cm rather than 32 cm. Salmon are 21 cm with a bag of 20 for fish to 35 cm and 10 above it, tommy ruff have no size limit and a bag of 40, and mulloway are 82 cm with a bag of 2. Snapper stay closed until 30 June 2027, and pipis are shut statewide from 1 June to 31 October and are bait-only year round.

Bite Compass

Bite Forecast

Locks Well Beach (Elliston)

Sat 17 Oct 2026 · Australia/Adelaide

Forecast updated Sat 17 Oct, 10:36pm ACDT

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17 Oct

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Today Tomorrow Sat 24 Oct

📍 Locks Well Beach (Elliston)

first quarter · 32%

Weather: Sunny Wind: E 85° · 17 km/h Swell: 0.8 m @ 11 s SW Water: 17.1 °C Pressure: 1019.8 hPa ↓ falling Faces south-west · Offshore: N, NE, E · Onshore: S, SW, W · Forecast wind: offshore

★★★★☆

High Fish Activity

▸ Why this score?

At the day's peak · 6:30 am

Solunar Major window

Time of day Dawn

Tide Moving

Wind NE 14 km/h

Moon first quarter all day

Water temp 17.1 °C all day

Learn how the score works →

Activity Forecast

Day Timeline

Major Minor Tide Twilight

First light 6:21 am Last light 8:09 pm

High 3:20 am Low 9:30 am High 2:15 pm Low 8:26 pm

Drag or use arrow keys to explore

Feeding Windows

Best times to fish based on activity score.

Peak

5:30 am → 8:00 am

2h 30m

Good

6:00 pm → 9:00 pm

Good

10:30 am → 11:30 am

Good

3:30 am → 4:00 am

30m

First light

6:21 am

Last light

8:09 pm

Sunrise

6:46 am

Sunset

7:44 pm

Moonrise

10:54 am

Moonset

1:13 am

High tide

3:20 am

Low tide

9:30 am

High tide

2:15 pm

Low tide

8:26 pm

Hourly Wind

High Bite Hours Highlighted

12am

☀️

18°

→︎

87°

19 km/h

1am

☀️

18°

→︎

82°

19 km/h

2am

☀️

17°

→︎

77°

18 km/h

3am

☀️

16°

→︎

73°

17 km/h

4am

☀️

15°

↗︎

65°

16 km/h

5am

☀️

15°

↗︎

64°

15 km/h

6am

☀️

14°

↗︎

61°

14 km/h

7am

☀️

14°

↗︎

60°

15 km/h

8am

☀️

17°

↗︎

57°

14 km/h

9am

☀️

21°

↗︎

49°

13 km/h

10am

☀️

25°

↗︎

44°

13 km/h

11am

☀️

28°

↗︎

28°

12 km/h

12pm

☀️

29°

↗︎

23°

6 km/h

1pm

☀️

29°

↙︎

211°

4 km/h

2pm

☀️

27°

↙︎

212°

16 km/h

3pm

☀️

26°

↙︎

212°

19 km/h

4pm

☀️

25°

↓︎

198°

17 km/h

5pm

☀️

25°

↓︎

185°

15 km/h

6pm

☀️

24°

↓︎

183°

17 km/h

7pm

☀️

21°

↓︎

167°

20 km/h

8pm

☀️

22°

↘︎

125°

16 km/h

9pm

☀️

22°

→︎

103°

18 km/h

10pm

☀️

21°

→︎

95°

19 km/h

11pm

☀️

20°

→︎

85°

17 km/h

Hourly Swell

Steady ~0.8 m SW

12am

0.7 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Slight

1am

0.7 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Slight

2am

0.7 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Slight

3am

0.7 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Slight

4am

0.7 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Slight

5am

0.7 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Slight

6am

0.6 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Slight

7am

0.6 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Slight

8am

0.6 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Slight

9am

0.7 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Slight

ground

10am

0.7 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Slight

ground

11am

0.7 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Slight

ground

12pm

0.7 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Slight

ground

1pm

0.8 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Slight

ground

2pm

0.7 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Slight

ground

3pm

0.7 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Slight

ground

4pm

0.7 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Slight

5pm

0.7 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Slight

6pm

0.6 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Slight

7pm

0.6 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Slight

8pm

0.7 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Slight

9pm

0.7 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Slight

ground

10pm

0.8 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Slight

ground

11pm

0.8 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Slight

ground

Water Temp (°C)

↗ warming — up 0.4° over the last 3 days

Wed

14 Oct

16.7°

Thu

15 Oct

16.9°

Fri

16 Oct

17.0°

Sat

17 Oct

17.1°

Sun

18 Oct

17.3°

Mon

19 Oct

17.2°

Tue

20 Oct

17.2°

Wed

21 Oct

17.3°

Thu

22 Oct

17.6°

Fri

23 Oct

17.5°

Wind Map

Wind data (text)

Now: 17 km/h E (85°).

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 am → 8:00 am

2h 30m

Good

6:00 pm → 9:00 pm

Good

10:30 am → 11:30 am

Good

3:30 am → 4:00 am

30m

First light

6:21 am

Last light

8:09 pm

Sunrise

6:46 am

Sunset

7:44 pm

Moonrise

10:54 am

Moonset

1:13 am

High tide

3:20 am

Low tide

9:30 am

High tide

2:15 pm

Low tide

8:26 pm

Nearby Spots

Elliston Jetty 17.7 km

Species at This Spot