Victor Harbor Causeway & Screwpile Jetty (Granite Island)

The 620-metre causeway and the stubby Screwpile Jetty off Granite Island are Victor Harbor's signature land-based water, and they fish as two different spots. The causeway runs over shallow seagrass and weedbeds that hold southern calamari, garfish, snook and tommy ruff within a short cast. Walk it to the end, push past to the Screwpile, and the ground falls away into deep water that has thrown up mulloway, silver trevally, salmon and assorted sharks over the years. It is the rare spot where a kid can flick a float for tommies in the afternoon and a night angler can soak a livie for a metre-plus mulloway off the same structure after dark. The causeway itself was rebuilt and reopened to pedestrians in December 2021, so the deck underfoot is newer than most SA jetties even if the fishing reputation is a century old.

Locals fish the two zones differently. Along the causeway and over the inshore weed, a float rig set shallow is the standard for calamari, garfish and tommies — go too deep over the weedbeds and you spend the session pulling cabbage off your hooks. Squid jigs worked off the side at dawn and dusk account for most of the calamari, and a steady berley trail of pollard and tuna oil pulls garfish and tommies into range. Out at the Screwpile, the deeper water rewards a heavier approach: bottom-fished baits on running sinker rigs for trevally and gummies, and at night a live salmon trout, tommy or mullet pinned out over the edge for mulloway, ideally worked into a big high tide around dusk or dawn. The light change is the prime time at both ends — first and last light do far more work than the middle of the day.

Day to day the causeway turns over southern calamari, garfish, tommy ruff (the local name for Australian herring) and snook, with snook firing through the cooler months from autumn into spring. Australian salmon and salmon trout run the warmer inshore water and are most reliable April through September. The Screwpile is where the surprises live: silver trevally and sweep off the rock wall, gummy sharks and the odd seven-gill on bottom baits, and mulloway through the warmer months — November to April is the better window — most often hooked at night on live or fresh baits. Barracouta and bigger sharks turn up for anglers who fish late and fish heavy. Snapper has historically been a Screwpile catch and it is still legal here — Victor Harbor sits in the South East Fishing Zone, outside the gulf snapper closure.

Bring a trolley. It is a genuine 600-metre-plus walk to the Screwpile and serious anglers cart rods, bait, berley and a chair rather than make three trips. Space at the Screwpile is tight and it is first-in, best-dressed for the prime corners, so the dawn crowd gets the picks. Keep clear of the horse-drawn tram line and let the tram pass — it shares the causeway. Fish the weed shallow with floats and you will lose far less tackle than the visitors grinding sinkers through the cabbage. If the Screwpile is blown out or packed, the nearby Bluff (Rosetta Head) jetty offers better wind protection for squid and tommies.

Park at the council car park at the mainland end of the causeway off the foreshore — there is accessible parking near the causeway entrance. From there it is a flat, sealed 620-metre walk across to Granite Island, roughly 15 minutes on foot, or you can buy a ticket and take the horse-drawn tram across. The new causeway deck is wide and level, which makes it more pram- and wheelchair-friendly than most jetties, and there are accessible toilets on the island. Bait and tackle are a few minutes away in town at Tonkins, BCF and service stations. You can fish from the jetty or the causeway, but not from the breakwater — that section is signed no-fishing under Granite Island Recreation Park rules. For families it is about as easy as land-based SA fishing gets along the causeway — flat walking, floats over the weed, and tommies and gar to keep small hands busy — though the Screwpile end is deeper, more exposed and better left to older kids under close watch.

The causeway and inshore weed fish best in light winds and calm water, when floats sit still and calamari can see a jig. Encounter Bay is open ocean, so a building southerly or south-westerly puts swell and chop through and the Screwpile end becomes unpleasant and, in a real swell, unsafe near the rock wall. Dawn and dusk around a high tide are the prime windows for most species, and the bigger night tides are when mulloway anglers commit. After a blow the water dirties and the inshore fishing slows for a day or two; a settled high-pressure spell with light morning winds is the one to pick.

This is exposed open-ocean water, not a sheltered gulf jetty, so the everyday risks are real. The rock wall by the Screwpile should not be fished in a swell — waves break over the top and have washed gear and people. The jetty deck gets slippery with weed, fish slime and spray, and the deeper end stands high over cold water; there are no rails to lean on in places, so mind your footing at night. Fierce sun and wind exposure across the open causeway catch people out — carry water, a hat and a windproof layer. The water off the Screwpile is genuinely deep and cold, and great white sharks are present in Encounter Bay; that is a consideration for anyone in the water, not for land-based anglers, but it is a reason to fish from the deck rather than wade or swim near the structure. Watch the horse-drawn tram on the causeway, and keep berley and bait scraps tidy.

No. South Australia does not require a general recreational fishing licence, so you can fish the causeway and Screwpile Jetty without paying for one. You still must follow PIRSA bag limits, size limits and any current closures, which do change — check pir.sa.gov.au or the SA Fishing app before you go.

Yes. The causeway over the weedbeds has long been one of Victor Harbor's best land-based calamari spots, fished with jigs and floats at dawn and dusk, and there is nothing ambiguous about its status: the southern calamari closure applies to the Spencer Gulf and Gulf St Vincent / Kangaroo Island zones only, and Victor Harbor sits east of that zone's boundary at the Fleurieu tip, in the South East Fishing Zone. Squid off the causeway and the Screwpile are not affected. Normal size and bag limits still apply.

Yes — the Screwpile borders deep water and has a long history of mulloway, most often taken at night on live or fresh baits like salmon trout, tommy or mullet, worked into a big high tide around dusk or dawn. November to April is the better window. Bring heavy gear, a drop net and a head torch, and watch your footing on the dark deck.

Yes. Snapper is open at Victor Harbor. The total closure covers the West Coast, Spencer Gulf and Gulf St Vincent / Kangaroo Island zones, whose eastern boundary runs south from the southern tip of the Fleurieu Peninsula to Cape St Albans on Kangaroo Island — everything east of that, including Encounter Bay, is the South East Fishing Zone, where snapper is open at 38cm, with a bag of 5 and a boat limit of 15.

The causeway to Granite Island is about 620 metres, roughly a 15-minute flat walk, and the Screwpile is just past the island end of it. It is far enough that most regulars use a trolley for their gear, or you can take the horse-drawn tram across and walk the last stretch.