Southend Jetty (Rivoli Bay)

Southend is what Beachport would be if you removed the tourists — the same bay, the same fish, a fraction of the foot traffic, and a jetty that exists to service crayboats rather than to be photographed. It was built in 1958, extended to its current L-shape in 1968 to put vessels over deeper water, and measures about 224 metres of deck including the bend. It has just come through a $3.8 million remediation: three ageing landing platforms replaced in steel and fibre-reinforced polymer, eight new structural piles, 40 cross-brace brackets, 44 metres of new decking and new fender extensions on the lower landings, with access to the jetty and its landings kept open throughout the works. That money went here for a reason — this is a working commercial port for one of the largest rock lobster fleets on the Limestone Coast, a fishery worth around $120 million and more than a thousand jobs. Recreational anglers are welcome and the region's own fishing guides name it, but the deck is shared, not private. It also sits in the South East zone, so squid, garfish and snapper are all legal here while most of the state waits.

Fish an hour either side of the tide, which is this region's own stated rule rather than a general platitude. The local two-rod convention is specific and worth copying: run a float on one rod and fish the other on the bottom, which also happens to be the legal maximum of two rods per person. Small size 10 long-shank hooks and small baits are the constant; the bait itself is a lottery, and the local wisdom is that they take cockles one day, cray tail the next and prawn after that. Squid come off the deck on the calm clear evenings and garfish respond to berley and a pencil float, with night dabbing near the jetty a long-standing local habit. The surf beaches running around Rivoli Bay are the other half of the fishery: mulloway want deeper gutters, a rising tide, an overcast sky and murky water, ideally two to four days either side of a full moon. Flathead bite an hour either side of low tide and on a rising moon and tide. And the sleeper option is the Southend Drain, where cockles fished in estuary water take bream and mullet with no boat, no swell and no four-wheel drive involved.

The jetty list is salmon, garfish, tommies, flathead, whiting, mullet, trevally and squid, with barracouta and the odd port jackson shark to keep things interesting. Australian salmon are 21 cm minimum, bag 20 for fish of 21 to 35 cm and 10 for anything larger. King George whiting run 32 cm with a bag of 10 and a boat limit of 30, best October to May on a filling tide. Southern calamari carry no size limit and a bag of 15, and garfish are 23 cm with a bag of 30 — both open here, unlike the gulfs. Tommy ruff have no size limit and a bag of 40, mullet are 21 cm and 60, flathead 30 cm and 10, and silver trevally 24 cm and 20. Mulloway from the surf are 82 cm with a bag of 2, and gummy sharks 45 cm with a bag of 2 counted across all sharks, rays and skates. Snapper are open in this zone at 38 cm, bag 5 and boat limit 15, mostly from the reefs offshore, and every keeper must be reported through the SA Fishing app. Bream out of the Southend Drain are 30 cm with a bag of 10.

Time a visit to the cray season if you like the theatre — the boats steam in through the October-to-May harvest and the deck gets busy with tenders berthing on the lower landings. April school holidays bring the Rivoli Bay Jetties Junior Fishing Competition, a week of fishing for five to seventeen year-olds with casting and rigging workshops, which is a rarer thing than it should be. Rivoli Bay has Beachport at one end and Southend at the other and they shelter from different winds, so when one is blown out the drive to the other is 20 minutes rather than a wasted day. Buy boat ramp permits at the Beachport Visitor Information Centre, Jarmos Petrol Station or through EasyPark before you get to the water. Crays are protected inside the Rivoli Bay rock lobster fishing restriction area, which hugs the Beachport headland from Glen Point south past Cape Martin to Penguin Island — line fishing there is unaffected, and the southern zone season is shut until October anyway. Lake George just inland is the only water left in South Australia where a recreational mesh net registration can still be applied for or renewed, which is a piece of trivia that occasionally wins an argument.

Free, with a sealed carpark and public toilets right at the jetty abutment, which is about as short a walk as jetty fishing offers. A second toilet block with cold showers sits about 900 metres east along the foreshore, and five stone groynes run along that foreshore as shore protection that doubles as casting platforms. Canunda National Park's bush camping starts immediately south of town, putting you on the sand for the night sessions. Bait and tackle mean a drive: Beachport is about 20 kilometres north and Mount Gambier is the nearest full tackle shop. The Southend boat ramp is exposed and permits come from Beachport, not from a machine at the ramp. The deck is flat with parking and toilets at the landward end, which suggests it suits a pram or a wheelchair, but no source documents accessibility, handrails or lighting — plan for none of them after dark.

Rivoli Bay is a broad bay with Beachport at the northern end and Southend at the southern, and the two ends shelter from different winds, so a forecast that ruins one often leaves the other workable. Jetty fishing follows the hour either side of the tide; beach fishing is best when dawn or dusk lands on a high tide. Snapper and whiting favour a filling tide from October to May, snapper preferring the high, while flathead switch on an hour either side of low. Offshore, the local rule is blunter — no run, no fun if there is no tide. The Bonney Upwelling underpins the whole system, pushing nutrient-rich water along this coast and feeding everything from the bait schools to the lobster fishery. Water here is often very clear, which favours squid and lure work.

This is a working commercial wharf through the rock lobster season and tender vessels berth on the lower landings, so give them room and expect to move. The boat ramp is exposed and this bay does not forgive a wind change. Rock fishing along this coast carries the region's own blunt warning: large waves, unsafe cliffs, and no rubber waders, because waders fill with water. Rivoli Bay's outer reefs demand extreme care from anyone in a boat — Ringwood Reef alone is nearly two kilometres long, six kilometres off Beachport, and De Mole breaks in the same fashion. The surf beaches south of town are remote and four-wheel-drive only, backing onto Canunda National Park. The Canunda sanctuary zone is no-take and its nearest corner sits about five kilometres south down the coast, so know where you are before you cast. Spearfishing is banned within 100 metres of any jetty in South Australia.

Yes. It has just come through a $3.8 million remediation — three new landing platforms in steel and fibre-reinforced polymer, eight new piles, 40 cross-brace brackets and 44 metres of new decking — and access to the jetty and landings was maintained throughout the works. It is a working commercial rock lobster port, so expect to share the deck with tender vessels through the October-to-May season.

Salmon, garfish, tommy ruff, King George whiting, flathead, mullet, silver trevally and squid are the everyday jetty list, with barracouta and port jackson sharks turning up as well. Mulloway and gummy sharks come from the surf beaches in summer, and the Southend Drain a short drive away fishes for bream and mullet on cockles.

Yes. Southend is in the South East zone, so the total southern calamari closure that has shut both gulfs since 1 May 2026 does not apply here. Calamari carry no size limit and a bag of 15 per person, counted together with cuttlefish. Calm, clear evenings are the pick.

Yes. The South East is the only zone in South Australia with an open snapper fishery while the rest of the state is closed until at least 30 June 2027. The minimum is 38 cm, bag 5, boat limit 15, and every snapper kept must be reported through the free SA Fishing app. Most of them come from the reefs offshore rather than off the deck.

At the Beachport Visitor Information Centre, Jarmos Petrol Station, or online through EasyPark. Buy it before you arrive. The Southend ramp is exposed, so check the wind as carefully as the permit.