Sellicks Beach

Sellicks is where metropolitan Adelaide stops — the last suburb before the Fleurieu proper, 53 km by road from the city centre, a long strip of hard flat sand under cliffs at the southern end of Aldinga Bay. It is a drive-on beach with a longer motoring history than most roads: organised motorcycle racing ran on this sand as early as 1917, annual summer speed trials continued until 1953, re-enactments followed in 1986 and 1992, and annual racing resumed in 2017 after a twenty-year gap. The Kaurna name is Witawali, and the freshwater spring here is said to have been created by the tears of Tjilbruke, marked by a plaque on the Dreaming Track at the end of Francis Street since 1986. For an angler the appeal is simple: you can park a car at the waterline and fish the winter salmon run off the sand, and unlike Aldinga a few kilometres north, no seasonal vehicle closure applies here. It is also thoroughly exposed to the wind, which is why kiteboarders, windsurfers and paragliders love it and why a surf rod sometimes stays in the car. The sanctuary zone that shuts the Aldinga reef frontage lies 5.1 km north of here, so Sellicks itself is open water.

Winter fishing, done two ways. The documented method is to soak salted pilchards in a gutter from about April to September, which is what the metro reports describe on this beach in July and again in September 2026, with fish from around a kilo up to 3 kg. The active alternative is to walk the beach with a spin rod and 20 to 60 g metal lures, covering ground until the dark mass of a school shows in a wave face. Driving on lets you leapfrog a kilometre at a time rather than committing to one patch of sand, which is the real reason the locals bother with the ramp fee. When the salmon go quiet, the regional mullet rig is beach worms, prawns or cockles on size 8 baitholders fished on a paternoster. There is a beach launch at the end of Sellicks Beach Road that the regional tourism body rates for reaching deeper water and King George whiting. That is a boat fishery worked off this beach rather than anything you can reach with a cast from the sand, and it is a sand launch rather than a harbour ramp.

Australian salmon are the fish with actual evidence behind them here, named in dated metro reports through the winter of 2026 at a kilo and better, and up to 3 kg along this coast. The minimum size is 21 cm with a bag of 20 for fish between 21 and 35 cm, dropping to 10 for anything bigger. King George whiting are the reason the beach launch exists, at 32 cm minimum and a Gulf St Vincent bag of 5, and they are a boat catch from here rather than a shore one. Yelloweye mullet fill the cooler months at 21 cm and a bag of 30, and flathead appear on the regional calendar from April to August at 30 cm and a bag of 5. Those last two rest on a regional species calendar rather than a report from this beach, so treat them as the pattern of the coast rather than a guarantee. What is not on offer in this zone: southern calamari and southern garfish are closed to recreational fishers in Gulf St Vincent until further notice, and snapper is closed until at least 30 June 2027, catch and release included.

Check the wind before anything else, because this is a beach that kiteboarders choose, and a blown-out sea breeze ends the casting and makes the beach launch miserable. A moving tide matters more than the size of it in a gulf with a modest range, and the gulf's dodge tides around the neaps are the ones to skip. Salmon are a cool-season fish here, so April to September is the window and midsummer is for swimming. Drive on if you can, because covering ground is how salmon get found, but stay on the hard sand and keep an eye on the tide, since the local speciality is a bogged car on a rising one. The vehicle rules are the council's, not the beach's: 5.30am to 11.59pm, 10 km/h, and $12 at the ramp unless you hold a free resident permit. The council ties the offence to the monitored season, wording it as driving without a permit or payment at times when the ramps are monitored, which runs December to March.

Sellicks Beach Road runs west off Main South Road to the foreshore, where there is free public car parking at the beach end and further car parks mid-beach toward Silver Sands and to the south. Vehicle access is permitted 5.30am to 11.59pm at 10 km/h through approved ramp entries, on hard sand only, and the Aldinga winter closure does not apply here — Sellicks stays open to vehicles all year. It costs $12 at the ramp, or nothing with a free City of Onkaparinga resident permit issued one per household; ramps are monitored from December to March and unauthorised entry then costs $312.50. The upper foreshore, the vegetation, the pebble banks, the dunes and hooded plover breeding sites are all off limits to vehicles, and dogs go on-leash between 10am and 8pm through daylight saving. The suburb has a post office, a deli and a wholesale nursery, with supermarkets, a bakery, chemists and fuel a few minutes north at Aldinga Beach, and tackle from Christies Beach or Seaford. No source consulted records toilets, showers or playgrounds here, and none describes accessibility — though driving onto the sand does put a car at the water's edge. Sellicks is not patrolled by Surf Life Saving.

Wind decides the day here more than anything else. An open Aldinga Bay beach that attracts kiteboarders, windsurfers and paragliders is, by definition, one the sea breeze hits hard, and the difference between a good session and a wasted drive sits entirely in the wind forecast. Gulf St Vincent tides are modest, with the gulf's dodge tides leaving the water nearly stationary for a day or two around the neaps, so a running tide is worth planning for. Winter is the productive half of the year — salmon April to September, mullet March to September, flathead April to August on the regional calendar — while summer moves the species list offshore to the boats. Gutters and banks along this beach are not documented in any source consulted, so walk the sand at low water and fish the deeper water you can see rather than the deeper water you hoped for. Rain and onshore weather bring colour into the shallows.

The council names Sellicks specifically in its advice to keep clear of the cliffs on this coast, and that advice is worth taking literally. Stay on the hard sand and keep an eye on the flood tide. The beach is a road in law, with road rules, other drivers and people fishing, swimming and walking on the same sand, so reversing near children is a real risk rather than a theoretical one. Sellicks is not patrolled by Surf Life Saving, and the nearest patrolled beaches are Aldinga Beach, Moana, Port Noarlunga, South Port and Christies Beach from October to April. Wind exposure is a hazard as much as an inconvenience on a beach that paragliders choose, so check the forecast before committing to a long walk south. Driving without a permit or payment while the ramps are monitored costs $312.50.

Yes, all year. Vehicle access runs 5.30am to 11.59pm at 10 km/h through approved ramp entries, on hard sand only. It costs $12 at the ramp or nothing with a free City of Onkaparinga resident permit, ramps are monitored from December to March, and unauthorised entry then costs $312.50. The 1 May to 30 September winter closure applies to Aldinga Beach south of its ramp, not to Sellicks.

Australian salmon are the drawcard from about April to September, taken on salted pilchards soaked in a gutter or 20 to 60 g metal lures walked along the sand, with fish from a kilo up to 3 kg along this coast. Yelloweye mullet run the same months and the regional calendar adds flathead from April to August. King George whiting are a boat catch launched off the beach rather than a shore one.

There is a beach launch at the end of Sellicks Beach Road that the regional tourism body rates for reaching deeper water and King George whiting. Treat it as a sand launch rather than a harbour ramp — no source describes lanes, pontoons or a trailer park, and the beach is exposed to the sea breeze.

Sellicks lies inside the Adelaide metropolitan shark fishing area. From 5am to 9pm daily, out to 500 m seaward of mean high water springs, wire traces are banned, and so are monofilament traces over 1 mm, hooks longer than 56 mm or with a gape over 23 mm, and hooks ganged by threading the point of one through the eye of another. Use single hooks inside those dimensions. Southern calamari and garfish are closed in the Gulf St Vincent zone, and snapper is closed until at least 30 June 2027.

No. The patrolled beaches on this coast are Aldinga Beach, Moana, Port Noarlunga, South Port and Christies Beach, from October to April. Sellicks is not on that list, so swim and fish accordingly, keep clear of the cliffs and watch the tide if you have driven onto the sand.