Do you need a fishing licence to fish Horseshoe Bay jetty at Port Elliot?

No. South Australia does not require a general recreational fishing licence, so you can fish the jetty and rocks without paying a fee. You still have to follow the state bag, boat and size limits — King George whiting, for example, are 32cm with a bag of 10 here, because the reduced gulf bag of 5 stops at the Fleurieu tip — and the SA Fishing app is the easiest way to check the current rules before you head out.

What fish can you catch at Horseshoe Bay Port Elliot?

The bay is best known for salmon trout (Australian salmon) and tommy ruff (Australian herring), with garfish, southern calamari (squid) and yelloweye mullet all on the cards. Silver trevally and the odd snook show up in the warmer months. A berley trail of bread and pollard fished into dawn or dusk is the standard approach for most of them.

Is Horseshoe Bay a good spot to take kids fishing?

Yes — it's one of the more family-friendly spots on the Fleurieu. The bay is sheltered and calm, there's a playground, toilets, showers and a cafe metres from the sand, and the short low jetty is an easy walk from the car park. Herring and garfish keep young anglers busy, and the same berley trail that pulls them in is simple enough for a first-timer to run.

When is the best time to fish Horseshoe Bay Port Elliot?

Autumn into the cooler months is the peak, when salmon trout school into the bay and the herring and garfish fish well on a berley trail. Across the year, the run-up tide into dawn or dusk out-fishes the middle of the day. Pick settled weather after a swell has dropped if you're chasing squid, since they need clear water.

Can you catch snapper at Horseshoe Bay or anywhere near Port Elliot?

Yes. The snapper closure covers the West Coast, Spencer Gulf and Gulf St Vincent / Kangaroo Island zones, and Horseshoe Bay is not in any of them — the gulf zone's eastern boundary runs south from the southern tip of the Fleurieu Peninsula, just east of Cape Jervis, so Encounter Bay sits in the South East Fishing Zone. Snapper here is 38cm minimum, with a daily bag of 5 and a boat limit of 15, and every fish kept must be reported via the SA Fishing app or Fishwatch (1800 065 522). Check the current PIRSA rules before you go, because the boundary matters more than the postcode.

Bite Compass

Bite Forecast

Horseshoe Bay Jetty (Port Elliot)

Sat 17 Oct 2026 · Australia/Adelaide

Forecast updated 6:59am ACDT

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17 Oct

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Today Tomorrow Sat 17 Oct

📍 Horseshoe Bay Jetty (Port Elliot)

first quarter · 32%

Weather: Sunny Wind: E 71° · 15 km/h Swell: 0.4 m @ 8 s SW Water: 16.4 °C Pressure: 1022.9 hPa ↓ falling Faces south-east · Offshore: W, NW, N · Onshore: E, SE, S · Forecast wind: cross-shore

★★★★☆

High Fish Activity

▸ Why this score?

At the day's peak · 6:00 am

Solunar Major window

Time of day Dawn

Tide Moving

Wind NE 11 km/h

Moon first quarter all day

Water temp 16.4 °C all day

Learn how the score works →

Activity Forecast

Day Timeline

Major Minor Tide Twilight

First light 6:04 am Last light 7:57 pm

High 3:15 am Low 9:30 am High 2:10 pm Low 7:40 pm

Drag or use arrow keys to explore

Feeding Windows

Best times to fish based on activity score.

Peak

5:30 am → 7:30 am

Good

5:30 pm → 9:00 pm

3h 30m

First light

6:04 am

Last light

7:57 pm

Sunrise

6:30 am

Sunset

7:31 pm

Moonrise

10:32 am

Moonset

1:04 am

High tide

3:15 am

Low tide

9:30 am

High tide

2:10 pm

Low tide

7:40 pm

Hourly Wind

High Bite Hours Highlighted

12am

☀️

13°

↗︎

37°

7 km/h

1am

☀️

14°

↗︎

46°

11 km/h

2am

☀️

13°

↗︎

41°

11 km/h

3am

☀️

13°

↗︎

37°

12 km/h

4am

☀️

13°

↗︎

34°

11 km/h

5am

☀️

13°

↗︎

33°

11 km/h

6am

☀️

12°

↗︎

36°

11 km/h

7am

☀️

13°

↗︎

40°

13 km/h

8am

☀️

15°

↗︎

52°

13 km/h

9am

☀️

17°

↗︎

62°

15 km/h

10am

☀️

18°

↗︎

58°

16 km/h

11am

☀️

20°

↗︎

64°

16 km/h

12pm

☀️

21°

→︎

71°

15 km/h

1pm

☀️

22°

→︎

78°

15 km/h

2pm

☀️

22°

→︎

85°

15 km/h

3pm

☀️

23°

→︎

91°

16 km/h

4pm

☀️

22°

→︎

97°

16 km/h

5pm

☀️

21°

→︎

107°

14 km/h

6pm

☀️

19°

↘︎

118°

13 km/h

7pm

☀️

17°

↘︎

126°

11 km/h

8pm

☀️

16°

↘︎

121°

8 km/h

9pm

☀️

16°

→︎

88°

4 km/h

10pm

☀️

16°

↗︎

38°

5 km/h

11pm

☀️

16°

↗︎

32°

9 km/h

Hourly Swell

Steady ~0.4 m SW

12am

0.6 m

@ 8 s

↙︎

Slight

1am

0.6 m

@ 8 s

↙︎

Slight

2am

0.6 m

@ 8 s

↙︎

Slight

3am

0.6 m

@ 8 s

↙︎

Slight

4am

0.6 m

@ 8 s

↙︎

Slight

5am

0.6 m

@ 8 s

↙︎

Slight

6am

0.6 m

@ 8 s

↙︎

Slight

7am

0.5 m

@ 8 s

↙︎

Slight

8am

0.5 m

@ 8 s

↙︎

Slight

9am

0.5 m

@ 8 s

↙︎

Slight

10am

0.5 m

@ 8 s

↙︎

Calm

11am

0.5 m

@ 8 s

↙︎

Calm

chop

12pm

0.4 m

@ 8 s

↙︎

Calm

chop

1pm

0.4 m

@ 8 s

↙︎

Calm

chop

2pm

0.4 m

@ 8 s

↙︎

Calm

chop

3pm

0.4 m

@ 8 s

↙︎

Calm

4pm

0.4 m

@ 8 s

↙︎

Calm

5pm

0.4 m

@ 8 s

↙︎

Calm

6pm

0.4 m

@ 8 s

↙︎

Calm

7pm

0.4 m

@ 8 s

↙︎

Calm

8pm

0.4 m

@ 8 s

↙︎

Calm

9pm

0.4 m

@ 8 s

↙︎

Calm

10pm

0.4 m

@ 8 s

↙︎

Calm

11pm

0.4 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Calm

Water Temp (°C)

↗ warming — up 0.6° over the last 3 days

Wed

14 Oct

15.8°

Thu

15 Oct

15.9°

Fri

16 Oct

16.1°

Sat

17 Oct

16.4°

Sun

18 Oct

16.9°

Mon

19 Oct

17.2°

Tue

20 Oct

17.1°

Wed

21 Oct

18.3°

Thu

22 Oct

17.8°

Fri

23 Oct

17.4°

Wind Map

Wind data (text)

Now: 15 km/h E (71°).

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 → 7:30 am

Good

5:30 pm → 9:00 pm

3h 30m

First light

6:04 am

Last light

7:57 pm

Sunrise

6:30 am

Sunset

7:31 pm

Moonrise

10:32 am

Moonset

1:04 am

High tide

3:15 am

Low tide

9:30 am

High tide

2:10 pm

Low tide

7:40 pm

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