What fish can you catch at Semaphore Jetty?

The mainstays are yellowfin whiting in the summer gutters, tommy ruff under the lights after dark, and yelloweye mullet and small salmon year-round. Garfish and southern calamari belong on that list in a normal season but are both closed to recreational fishing in Gulf St Vincent from 1 May 2026. Blue swimmer crabs come into drop nets through summer, and night anglers occasionally pick up school mulloway, gummy sharks and rays.

Do I need a fishing licence to fish Semaphore Jetty?

No. South Australia does not require a general recreational fishing licence, so you can fish the jetty without one. You still have to follow PIRSA size, bag and boat limits and any closures — southern calamari and southern garfish are both shut in Gulf St Vincent, and snapper is shut across the gulf zones until 30 June 2027.

Can you catch squid and garfish at Semaphore right now?

No. Under the algal-bloom recovery measures, southern calamari has been closed to all recreational and charter targeting, take and possession across Gulf St Vincent, Spencer Gulf and the Kangaroo Island zone since 1 May 2026, and southern garfish closed to recreational fishing in Gulf St Vincent on the same date; PIRSA has published no end date for either. King George whiting are under an annual spawning closure in both gulfs from 1 March to 30 June, so they are open again as of 1 July.

Can you catch snapper at Semaphore Jetty?

No. Snapper fishing is closed across Gulf St Vincent — including all metro waters — for both take and catch-and-release until 30 June 2027. Snapper is only open in the South East Fishing Zone, east of the gulf boundary at the southern tip of the Fleurieu Peninsula. They were historically caught off the jetty, but you cannot legally target them here now.

When is the best time to fish Semaphore Jetty?

Summer, roughly November to March, is the peak — yellowfin whiting run the inshore gutters on a rising tide and the crabs are in the nets. For garfish and tommy ruff, an after-dark session under the jetty lights works all year. Mornings and the calm window after the afternoon sea breeze drops are the most comfortable times on the exposed deck.

Bite Compass

Bite Forecast

Semaphore Jetty

Sat 05 Sep 2026 · Australia/Adelaide

←

5 Sep

tap to pick date

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Today Tomorrow Sat 5 Sep

📍 Semaphore Jetty

last quarter · 43%

Weather: Sunny Wind: S 185° · 14 km/h Swell: 0.5 m @ 10 s SW Water: 14.9 °C Pressure: 1019.2 hPa → steady

★★★★☆

High Fish Activity

▸ Why this score?

At the day's peak · 6:30 pm

Solunar Major window

Time of day Dusk

Tide Moving

Wind SE 15 km/h

Moon last quarter all day

Water temp 14.9 °C all day

Learn how the score works →

Activity Forecast

Feeding Windows

Best times to fish based on activity score.

Peak

5:30 pm → 8:00 pm

2h 30m

Good

5:30 am → 8:00 am

2h 30m

First light

6:05 am

Last light

6:25 pm

Sunrise

6:30 am

Sunset

6:00 pm

Moonrise

1:49 am

Moonset

11:15 am

High tide

7:00 am

Low tide

1:45 pm

High tide

5:45 pm

Hourly Wind

High Bite Hours Highlighted

12am

☁️

13°

↘︎

152°

8 km/h

1am

☁️

13°

↓︎

164°

9 km/h

2am

☁️

13°

↓︎

172°

10 km/h

3am

☁️

13°

↓︎

177°

12 km/h

4am

☁️

14°

↓︎

182°

12 km/h

5am

☁️

14°

↓︎

187°

13 km/h

6am

☁️

14°

↓︎

192°

14 km/h

7am

☁️

15°

↓︎

196°

14 km/h

8am

☁️

15°

↓︎

199°

14 km/h

9am

☀️

15°

↓︎

199°

14 km/h

10am

☀️

16°

↓︎

196°

14 km/h

11am

☀️

16°

↓︎

192°

14 km/h

12pm

☀️

16°

↓︎

185°

14 km/h

1pm

☀️

17°

↓︎

178°

14 km/h

2pm

☀️

17°

↓︎

170°

14 km/h

3pm

☀️

16°

↓︎

163°

14 km/h

4pm

☀️

16°

↘︎

154°

14 km/h

5pm

☀️

15°

↘︎

145°

14 km/h

6pm

☀️

14°

↘︎

136°

15 km/h

7pm

☁️

12°

↘︎

128°

16 km/h

8pm

☁️

11°

↘︎

121°

17 km/h

9pm

☁️

11°

↘︎

115°

17 km/h

10pm

☁️

11°

→︎

110°

17 km/h

11pm

☁️

10°

→︎

105°

16 km/h

Hourly Swell

Steady ~0.5 m SW

12am

0.5 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Calm

ground

1am

0.5 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Calm

ground

2am

0.5 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Slight

3am

0.5 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Slight

4am

0.5 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Slight

5am

0.5 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Calm

6am

0.5 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Calm

7am

0.5 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Calm

8am

0.5 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Calm

9am

0.5 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Calm

10am

0.5 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Calm

ground

11am

0.5 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Calm

ground

12pm

0.5 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Calm

ground

1pm

0.5 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Calm

2pm

0.5 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Calm

3pm

0.5 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Calm

4pm

0.4 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Calm

ground

5pm

0.4 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Calm

ground

6pm

0.4 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Calm

ground

7pm

0.4 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Calm

8pm

0.4 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Calm

9pm

0.4 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Calm

10pm

0.5 m

@ 7 s

↙︎

Calm

chop

11pm

0.5 m

@ 6 s

↙︎

Slight

chop

Water Temp (°C)

→ steady around 14.9°

Wed

2 Sep

14.8°

Thu

3 Sep

14.9°

Fri

4 Sep

14.9°

Sat

5 Sep

14.9°

Sun

6 Sep

14.9°

Mon

7 Sep

—

Tue

8 Sep

—

Wed

9 Sep

—

Thu

10 Sep

—

Fri

11 Sep

—

Wind Map

Wind data (text)

Now: 14 km/h S (185°).

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 pm → 8:00 pm

2h 30m

Good

5:30 am → 8:00 am

2h 30m

First light

6:05 am

Last light

6:25 pm

Sunrise

6:30 am

Sunset

6:00 pm

Moonrise

1:49 am

Moonset

11:15 am

High tide

7:00 am

Low tide

1:45 pm

High tide

5:45 pm

Nearby spots

Species at this spot

Yellowfin Whiting (Sand Whiting)
Australian Herring
Yelloweye Mullet
Australian Salmon
Black Bream
Mulloway (Jewfish)
Garfish · closed
Southern Calamari (Squid) · closed