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)

Tue 20 Oct 2026 · Australia/Adelaide

Forecast updated 10:44pm ACDT

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20 Oct

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📍 Locks Well Beach (Elliston)

first quarter · 64%

Weather: Cloudy Wind: SW 203° · 17 km/h Swell: 1.7 m @ 9 s SW Water: 17.2 °C Pressure: 1019.4 hPa → steady Faces south-west · Offshore: N, NE, E · Onshore: S, SW, W · Forecast wind: onshore

★★★☆☆

Medium Fish Activity

▸ Why this score?

At the day's peak · 8:30 pm

Solunar Major window

Time of day Dusk

Tide Slack

Wind S 17 km/h

Moon first quarter all day

Water temp 17.2 °C all day

Learn how the score works →

Activity Forecast

Day Timeline

Major Minor Tide Twilight

First light 6:17 am Last light 8:12 pm

High 3:30 am Low 8:30 am High 11:30 am Low 6:30 pm

Drag or use arrow keys to explore

Feeding Windows

Best times to fish based on activity score.

Peak

7:30 pm → 10:00 pm

2h 30m

Good

8:30 am → 9:30 am

Good

6:00 am → 7:00 am

Good

3:30 am → 4:00 am

30m

First light

6:17 am

Last light

8:12 pm

Sunrise

6:42 am

Sunset

7:47 pm

Moonrise

1:49 pm

Moonset

3:13 am

High tide

3:30 am

Low tide

8:30 am

High tide

11:30 am

Low tide

6:30 pm

Hourly Wind

High Bite Hours Highlighted

12am

☁️

16°

↓︎

202°

17 km/h

1am

☁️

16°

↓︎

201°

18 km/h

2am

☁️

16°

↓︎

192°

18 km/h

3am

☁️

16°

↓︎

184°

17 km/h

4am

☁️

16°

↓︎

187°

17 km/h

5am

☁️

15°

↓︎

190°

16 km/h

6am

☁️

15°

↓︎

183°

15 km/h

7am

☁️

15°

↓︎

179°

15 km/h

8am

☁️

16°

↓︎

171°

15 km/h

9am

☁️

18°

↓︎

175°

13 km/h

10am

☁️

19°

↓︎

187°

13 km/h

11am

☁️

19°

↓︎

198°

15 km/h

12pm

☁️

18°

↙︎

203°

17 km/h

1pm

☁️

19°

↙︎

206°

17 km/h

2pm

☁️

18°

↙︎

204°

19 km/h

3pm

☁️

18°

↙︎

203°

20 km/h

4pm

☁️

17°

↓︎

196°

21 km/h

5pm

☁️

17°

↓︎

194°

21 km/h

6pm

☁️

16°

↓︎

189°

21 km/h

7pm

☁️

15°

↓︎

187°

20 km/h

8pm

☁️

15°

↓︎

176°

17 km/h

9pm

☀️

15°

↓︎

167°

17 km/h

10pm

☀️

14°

↓︎

163°

14 km/h

11pm

☀️

14°

↘︎

155°

13 km/h

Hourly Swell

Steady ~1.6 m SW

12am

1.7 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Moderate

ground

1am

1.6 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Moderate

ground

2am

1.6 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Moderate

ground

3am

1.6 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Moderate

ground

4am

1.6 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Moderate

ground

5am

1.6 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Moderate

ground

6am

1.6 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Moderate

ground

7am

1.6 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Moderate

ground

8am

1.6 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Moderate

ground

9am

1.7 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Moderate

10am

1.7 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Moderate

11am

1.7 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Moderate

12pm

1.7 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Moderate

1pm

1.7 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Moderate

2pm

1.7 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Moderate

3pm

1.7 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Moderate

4pm

1.7 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Moderate

5pm

1.7 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Moderate

6pm

1.7 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Moderate

7pm

1.6 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Moderate

8pm

1.6 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Moderate

9pm

1.6 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Moderate

10pm

1.6 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Moderate

11pm

1.6 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Moderate

Wind Map

Wind data (text)

Now: 17 km/h SW (203°).

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

Feeding Windows

Best times to fish based on activity score.

Peak

7:30 pm → 10:00 pm

2h 30m

Good

8:30 am → 9:30 am

Good

6:00 am → 7:00 am

Good

3:30 am → 4:00 am

30m

First light

6:17 am

Last light

8:12 pm

Sunrise

6:42 am

Sunset

7:47 pm

Moonrise

1:49 pm

Moonset

3:13 am

High tide

3:30 am

Low tide

8:30 am

High tide

11:30 am

Low tide

6:30 pm

Nearby Spots

Elliston Jetty 17.7 km

Species at This Spot