Myponga Reservoir

Myponga is a 250-hectare freshwater impoundment on the Myponga River, dammed between 1958 and 1962 and opened to recreational fishing in 2019 after decades behind locked gates. It is one of the Fleurieu's few honest freshwater fisheries, and the drawcard is redfin - the introduced perch that pests up most of southern Australia thrives here among the drowned timber and submerged points. Stocking has added native muscle on top: roughly 32,000 Murray cod and 30,000 each of golden and silver perch went in during early 2020, so the same cast that finds a school of reddies might just as easily come up tight on a cod. The shoreline is a mix of weed beds, flooded creek gullies and steep banks dropping into deeper water, and the southern arm carries the structure worth working. It fishes like a clean, quiet reservoir should - no surf, no tide, just timber, water and the long patience of impoundment fishing.

Locals read Myponga as a structure game rather than a tide game, because there is no tide to read. Redfin school tight to drowned timber, weed edges and the old creek channels, so the productive water is found by covering ground - working the southern shoreline tracks, fan-casting each likely point, and moving on the moment a school goes quiet. Soft plastics and blades hopped slowly along the bottom do the bulk of the damage, with the bites coming on the drop more often than the retrieve; when a school is located the action can be fast, then it shuts off and you walk to the next point. Kayak anglers have the edge, carrying in from the Eatts Street car park to reach the deeper snaggier water and to drop blades and ice jigs vertically over fish marked on the sounder. Golden perch and cod come to bigger lures worked tight to the heaviest timber, usually in the warmer months. The reserve gates open at 7:30am and shut at 5pm in standard time (8pm during daylight saving), so a true dawn or last-light session is not on offer here — the first hour after opening and the last hour before closing are what you get.

Redfin are the everyday catch and the reason most people buy the permit - they school in numbers and respond all year, with the warmer months from October through April the most consistent. Golden perch are the prize among the stocked natives, fishing best across the warm half of the year when the water lifts past the low twenties and the fish move onto timber to feed. Murray cod are present from that 2020 stocking and turn up on bigger lures worked in close to the heaviest structure, though every cod must go straight back. Silver perch were stocked in the same numbers as the goldens and may be kept when you're fishing a reservoir — 33cm minimum and a bag of 2 per person, the same as golden perch — even though they are off-limits in most other South Australian fresh water. The honest summary is that Myponga is a redfin water first and a native-fishing prospect second - the goldens and cod are a bonus that rewards anglers willing to throw larger lures at structure and accept blank sessions between them.

Buy the SA Water reservoir fishing permit before you arrive - it is sold online by SA Water as a 3-day, 10-day or annual pass at $12, $24 and $39.75 respectively, with concession rates, and you must carry the permit plus photo ID while you fish. Children under 16 don't need their own permit if they are with a permit-holder; one adult permit covers up to five accompanied minors. Redfin are a declared noxious pest in South Australia and must not be returned to the water, so anything that is not going home alive is best dispatched and binned or kept for the pan; they are fine eating. Keep a tape and a measure handy because golden perch and silver perch are both 33cm minimum with a daily bag of 2, Murray cod are release-only, and a ranger who finds an undersized golden in the bag will not be charmed by the view. Fish can't be cleaned anywhere on the reserve, and no part of a fish - alive or dead - may be left behind, so any redfin you dispatch goes home with you. Cover water rather than camping on one bank - Myponga rewards mobility, and the angler who walks three points usually beats the one who sits on one. Carry pliers, a net and a soft mat for clean releases of the natives, and clean your kayak at home, not at the ramp.

Myponga Reservoir Reserve sits on the Fleurieu Peninsula about an hour south of Adelaide, open 7:30am to 5:00pm in standard time and 7:30am to 8:00pm during daylight saving, and closed on total fire ban days and for operational activity - so dawn and dusk sessions are off the table. The reserve has about 10.5km of unsealed shared-use trail: an easy 3.3km south-eastern loop that suits families and prams, and a Grade 3 western loop of about 3km with short steep, uneven sections. Kayakers park at the Eatts Street car park (room for about 50 cars) and carry roughly 180m to the all-access launch at Pink Gum Hub - though SA Water currently has that accessible launch out of service, so you may be launching off a bank that is steep, slippery and muddy at low storage levels. The marked paddle trail runs about 8km return. Public toilets are on Hansen Street. Dogs are not permitted anywhere in the reserve, accredited assistance dogs excepted. It is genuinely kid-friendly for a fishing spot - flat graded paths, picnic settings overlooking the water and easy redfin to keep small attention spans busy - provided an adult keeps them back from the steeper banks and out of the water, since swimming and immersion are banned in the drinking supply.

There is no swell and no tide here - the variable that makes or breaks a session is wind, because the open reservoir basin builds a chop quickly and an exposed shoreline becomes hard to fish accurately once it does. Calm mornings before the sea breeze fills in are the prime window, and a glassed-off first hour after the gates open, over flooded timber, is about as good as Myponga gets. Kayakers in particular should check the Bureau forecast and get off the water before any afternoon blow, keeping left off the launch to skirt the reed beds. Water clarity is generally good after the treatment upgrades, and the fish push shallower as the water warms through spring and summer. After heavy winter rain the inflow can colour the upper arm, which can switch the redfin on or push them deeper depending on the day. SA Water currently warns that low storage levels have left parts of the shoreline steep, slippery or set in deep sucking mud, so pick your bank carefully and bring a trolley if you're dragging a kayak to the water. The dam wall is fenced off behind a boom and warning buoys, and the northern shore is private - stay on the marked southern side.

Myponga is a calm inland reservoir, so the risks are the quiet freshwater kind rather than swell and rips. Swimming and body immersion are strictly banned because it is a drinking-water supply - you may wade no deeper than knee height only to land or release a fish, and never to cast. An approved lifejacket of Level 50/50S or higher must be worn at all times on the water, and the open basin can build a sharp chop with little warning, so kayakers should watch the forecast and get off before any afternoon wind. The steeper southern banks are slippery and undercut in places, and a misstep with a child nearby is the real everyday hazard. The fenced dam wall behind its boom and warning buoys is off-limits, as is the private northern shore. Standard sun and dehydration apply on exposed bank - there is no shade on the open points - and total fire ban days close the reserve entirely. There are no sharks here; this is freshwater.

There is no general recreational fishing licence in South Australia, so you don't need a state fishing licence. You do need a SA Water reservoir fishing permit to fish Myponga - buy it online from SA Water as a 3-day, 10-day or annual pass at $12, $24 and $39.75 respectively, with concession rates, and carry the permit plus photo ID while you fish. Children under 16 are covered by an accompanying adult's permit, up to five minors per permit.

Redfin perch are the everyday catch and the main drawcard. The reservoir was also stocked in 2020 with Murray cod, golden perch and silver perch, so all four are present. Golden perch and silver perch are both 33cm minimum with a daily bag of 2 when you're fishing a reservoir, Murray cod are release-only, and redfin - as a declared pest - must not be returned to the water.

Yes, though only under paddle power - no motors of any kind, electric included, no sails and no uncertified inflatables. Kayaks and canoes carry about 180m from the Eatts Street car park to the Pink Gum Hub launch, which SA Water currently lists as out of service, so expect a bank launch. A lifejacket of Level 50/50S or higher must be worn at all times on the water. Stand-up paddleboards aren't allowed, you can't go beyond the dam-wall boom, and swimming is banned because it's a drinking-water supply.

Yes - it opened for shoreline fishing in 2019 and for on-water kayak access in 2021. The reserve is open 7:30am to 5:00pm in standard time and 7:30am to 8:00pm during daylight saving, closes on total fire ban days and for operational activity, and dogs are not permitted apart from accredited assistance dogs. You'll need a reservoir fishing permit before you cast.

Yes. Redfin perch are a declared noxious pest in South Australia and must not be returned to the water. Anything you catch should be dispatched and taken home or kept for the table - they're good eating - rather than released.