Port Neill Jetty

Port Neill's jetty went up in 1912 to ship wheat, wool and barley off the eastern Eyre Peninsula, and the commerce left decades ago — the deck now exists for fishing, swimming and walking, which is a fair description of the whole town. It stands in Mottled Cove, the sheltered exception on a coast that the prevailing south-easterly chops to pieces, and boats launch here on days when the towns either side are unfishable. That shelter is the reason to drive the 85 km up from Port Lincoln. The deck has four staples — calamari, garfish, tommies and a few snook on lures — and the Spencer Gulf calamari closure that began on 1 May 2026 has taken the first of them off the table until further notice. An artificial reef off the town holds fish, the bay is clean sand used for swimming and snorkelling, and the general store sells the only fuel between here and the next towns. Fewer than 200 people live here, which is either the drawback or the entire point.

Work the deck for the three staples still open to you. Tommies stack up under the jetty from dusk on small baits or a bait jig, and they are the dependable fish here day or night. Garfish want the standard gulf drill of a pencil float, a long-shank hook and steady berley on a calm, clear morning. Snook take metal slugs and soft plastics worked off the end through the warm months, best in the last hour of light. King George whiting are the district's headline target, but the grounds sit in about 10 m of water off marks called The Uncles and Cox's, so from the deck they are a bonus rather than a plan. The beach program is a separate trip: yellowfin whiting spread through Cox's, Burns, Carrow Wells and Cowleys through the warmer months, small salmon around a kilo show at Carrow Wells, and flathead sit near the rocks on the southern beaches on paddle-tail soft plastics. Calamari, the deck's missing staple, is closed until further notice.

Tommy ruff carry this jetty: no minimum size, a bag of 40, and best from December to May. Garfish are legal on this side of the state, because Port Neill sits in the Spencer Gulf zone and the closure that shut the Gulf St Vincent gar does not reach here — the minimum is 23 cm and the bag is 30. Snook are 45 cm with a bag of 20 in this zone. King George whiting are 32 cm here, since the size splits at the 136°E meridian and Port Neill sits at about 136°21'E, with a Spencer Gulf bag of 10. Salmon are 21 cm minimum, with a bag of 20 for fish between 21 and 35 cm and 10 for anything longer; yellowfin whiting off the beaches are 24 cm and a bag of 20, flathead 30 cm and 10, and mullet 21 cm and 60. Southern calamari, the jetty's old headline species, has been closed to targeting, take and possession across Spencer Gulf since 1 May 2026 with no end date published. Snapper are closed in every zone but the South East until at least 30 June 2027, and the rebuilding plan makes any reopening criteria-based rather than a date on a calendar.

Ring ahead before a long drive. The jetty reopened on 28 October 2023 after a remediation that found rotting bearers, corroded connections and white ants. The council put in $1.35 million, expected another $750,000 to finish, and on 27 June 2025 handed the lease back to the State Government — a lot of moving parts for a deck nobody has published a condition report on since. Fish the last of the light, because tommies and snook both switch on at dusk and the bay is calmest then. Carry a headlamp, since no source documents lighting out here. Cockles are the best whiting bait going, but they are shut statewide from 1 June to 31 October and have been bait-only since 16 April 2026, so this is a buy-them season rather than a collect-them one. When the calamari closure eventually lifts, clear water after a calm spell is squid time here — until then there is nothing legal to jig for, and fisheries officers still call in on small towns.

The jetty runs off the foreshore in the middle of town, free to fish, with parking a short walk away and the Port Neill Cabin and Caravan Park effectively at its base — self-contained cabins, bunkhouses, powered and unpowered sites and a boat ramp of its own. The general store sells fuel, which matters more than it sounds on this coast. An all-weather dual-lane boat ramp sits south of the shacks. Port Lincoln is about 85 km south for anything the store does not stock. Public toilets, lighting, cleaning tables and mobility access on the jetty itself are not documented anywhere, so treat them as absent until you see them and use the caravan park as the practical answer. The bay is clean, shallow sand used for swimming and snorkelling, which makes this a reasonable stop with kids even when the fishing is slow.

The prevailing wind here is an onshore south-easterly that chops Spencer Gulf into something not worth fishing, and Mottled Cove is the exception — that is the entire reason boats launch here when the coast either side is blown out. Clear water after a calm spell is what the gar want, and what the calamari will want again one day; a blow that dirties the bay usually kills the deck session and switches the beaches on instead. Spencer Gulf runs semi-diurnal tides with a fortnightly dodge, and on those days the water goes nowhere and the fish generally agree, so plan around a running tide at dawn or dusk. Winter brings the whiting closer. Summer is snook, beach whiting and holiday traffic.

The structure is the hazard worth naming. In 2023 this deck was found to have rotting bearers, corrosion in critical connections and white ant damage; it was rebuilt to a point, still needed about $750,000 more, and the District Council of Tumby Bay handed the lease back to the State Government on 27 June 2025. Obey every barrier and any signposted restriction, and do not assume a section is sound because nobody has fenced it yet. There is no documented lighting, so a night session runs on a headlamp you brought. The cove is sheltered but the open gulf past it is not, and the south-easterly gets up quickly. Spearfishing is banned within 100 m of any jetty in South Australia, and that includes this one.

Tommy ruff (Australian herring) year-round, garfish on calm clear mornings, snook on lures off the end through the warm months, and King George whiting in the cooler months — though the better whiting ground is a boat ride out in about 10 m. Southern calamari was the fourth staple and has been closed across Spencer Gulf since 1 May 2026. Yellowfin whiting, small salmon and flathead come off the beaches south of town rather than the deck.

It reopened on 28 October 2023 after remediation and no closure has been announced since, but the council's jetty page has not been updated past 31 May 2024 and the lease returned to the State Government on 27 June 2025. No dated condition statement has been published since. Obey any barriers on the deck and ring the caravan park or the general store before a long drive.

Not at present. Targeting, taking and possessing southern calamari has been banned across Spencer Gulf and Gulf St Vincent since 1 May 2026, with no end date published. Garfish are the opposite story — they stayed open on the Spencer Gulf side at 23 cm with a bag of 30.

32 cm. The size splits at the 136°E meridian, 32 cm east of it and 30 cm west, and Port Neill sits at about 136°21'E. The Spencer Gulf bag is 10 per person and 30 per boat. There is no whiting spawning closure in force anywhere today; the 2026 one was lifted on 6 July 2026 and the next runs 1 March to 30 June 2027 over mapped waters south-east of here.

No. South Australia has no general recreational fishing licence, and the only permits are for certain reservoirs. Size, bag and closure rules still apply and they change between zones — Port Neill is Spencer Gulf, so King George whiting is 32 cm and calamari is closed. The free SA Fishing app carries the current rules.