What fish can you catch at Waitpinga Beach?

Australian salmon are the main draw, best from about April to September, with yellow-eye mullet a reliable year-round catch in the same gutters. The occasional mulloway and shark, including gummies, come on after dark through the warmer months. Pitching cockles or salted pilchards into the first and second gutters, or spinning a metal slice across a rip, are the standard methods.

Do I need a fishing licence to fish Waitpinga Beach?

No. South Australia does not require a general recreational fishing licence, so you can fish Waitpinga without paying a fee. You do need to follow PIRSA size and bag limits, and note that the gulf algal-bloom closures do not reach here — Waitpinga is east of the Fleurieu-tip boundary, in the South East Fishing Zone, where snapper, squid and garfish all remain open.

Is Waitpinga Beach safe to fish?

It is safe to fish from the sand with sensible caution, but it is an exposed, unpatrolled Southern Ocean beach with strong rips and a real shark presence, so it is not a beach to swim or wade at. Watch the swell before setting up low on the beach, keep well back when sets build, and fish with someone else around dawn, dusk and after dark.

When is the best time to fish Waitpinga for salmon?

The cooler half of the year, roughly April through September, when bigger schools push into the gutters. A late incoming tide into dawn or dusk is the prime window, and a moderate breaking swell often fishes better than a flat, glassy sea because the salmon feel less exposed.

How do you get to Waitpinga Beach and is there parking?

Head south from Victor Harbor on Waitpinga Road into Newland Head Conservation Park; the beach carpark is a short drive past the campground turn-off. There is an accessible toilet at the carpark and boardwalk access to the sand at both ends of the beach. From the campground itself it is about a 750m, 20-minute boardwalk walk over the dunes with some steep sections.

Bite Compass

Bite Forecast

Waitpinga Beach

Wed 02 Sep 2026 · Australia/Adelaide

←

2 Sep

tap to pick date

→

Today Tomorrow Sat 5 Sep

📍 Waitpinga Beach

waning gibbous · 74%

Weather: Rainy Wind: W 283° · 16 km/h Swell: 2.0 m @ 9 s SW Water: 14.5 °C Pressure: 1018.2 hPa ↓ falling

★★☆☆☆

Low Fish Activity

▸ Why this score?

At the day's peak · 6:30 am

Solunar Between windows

Time of day Dawn

Tide Moving

Wind W 9 km/h

Moon waning gibbous all day

Water temp 14.5 °C all day

Learn how the score works →

Activity Forecast

Feeding Windows

Best times to fish based on activity score.

Peak

6:00 am → 7:30 am

1h 30m

Good

6:00 pm → 7:00 pm

First light

6:09 am

Last light

6:22 pm

Sunrise

6:34 am

Sunset

5:57 pm

Moonrise

11:31 pm

Moonset

8:50 am

High tide

1:50 am

Low tide

8:30 am

High tide

1:10 pm

Low tide

7:56 pm

Hourly Wind

High Bite Hours Highlighted

12am

☁️

11°

↙︎

237°

15 km/h

1am

☁️

11°

↙︎

243°

14 km/h

2am

☁️

11°

←︎

251°

12 km/h

3am

☁️

11°

←︎

258°

11 km/h

4am

☁️

10°

←︎

268°

10 km/h

5am

☁️

10°

←︎

280°

9 km/h

6am

☁️

10°

←︎

286°

9 km/h

7am

☁️

11°

←︎

280°

10 km/h

8am

☁️

12°

←︎

271°

12 km/h

9am

☁️

13°

←︎

267°

14 km/h

10am

🌧️

13°

←︎

271°

15 km/h

11am

🌧️

13°

←︎

277°

15 km/h

12pm

🌧️

13°

←︎

283°

16 km/h

1pm

☁️

13°

←︎

288°

16 km/h

2pm

☁️

13°

↖︎

293°

16 km/h

3pm

☁️

13°

↖︎

296°

17 km/h

4pm

☁️

14°

←︎

287°

19 km/h

5pm

☁️

14°

←︎

289°

19 km/h

6pm

☁️

13°

←︎

291°

18 km/h

7pm

☁️

13°

↖︎

293°

18 km/h

8pm

☁️

13°

↖︎

295°

17 km/h

9pm

☁️

12°

↖︎

297°

17 km/h

10pm

🌧️

12°

↖︎

299°

17 km/h

11pm

🌧️

12°

↖︎

301°

18 km/h

Hourly Swell

Building 0.9 → 2.0 m SW

12am

0.9 m

@ 5 s

↙︎

Slight

chop

1am

0.9 m

@ 6 s

↙︎

Slight

chop

2am

0.8 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Slight

3am

0.8 m

@ 11 s

↙︎

Slight

ground

4am

1.1 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Moderate

ground

5am

1.4 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Moderate

6am

1.7 m

@ 8 s

↙︎

Moderate

chop

7am

1.7 m

@ 8 s

↙︎

Moderate

chop

8am

1.8 m

@ 8 s

↙︎

Moderate

9am

1.8 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Moderate

10am

1.9 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Moderate

11am

1.9 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Moderate

12pm

2.0 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Moderate

1pm

2.0 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Solid

2pm

2.0 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Solid

3pm

2.1 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Solid

4pm

2.1 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Solid

5pm

2.1 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Solid

6pm

2.1 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Solid

7pm

2.1 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Solid

8pm

2.1 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Solid

9pm

2.0 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Solid

10pm

2.0 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Solid

11pm

2.0 m

@ 10 s

↙︎

Moderate

Water Temp (°C)

→ steady around 14.5°

Sun

30 Aug

14.6°

Mon

31 Aug

14.6°

Tue

1 Sep

14.6°

Wed

2 Sep

14.5°

Thu

3 Sep

14.5°

Fri

4 Sep

14.5°

Sat

5 Sep

14.6°

Sun

6 Sep

14.5°

Mon

7 Sep

—

Tue

8 Sep

—

Wind Map

Wind data (text)

Now: 16 km/h W (283°).

Wind map data: ECMWF HRES (operational), updated every 6 hours. Not for navigation.

Feeding Windows

Best times to fish based on activity score.

Peak

6:00 am → 7:30 am

1h 30m

Good

6:00 pm → 7:00 pm

First light

6:09 am

Last light

6:22 pm

Sunrise

6:34 am

Sunset

5:57 pm

Moonrise

11:31 pm

Moonset

8:50 am

High tide

1:50 am

Low tide

8:30 am

High tide

1:10 pm

Low tide

7:56 pm

Nearby spots

Species at this spot

Australian Salmon
Yelloweye Mullet
Mulloway (Jewfish)
Gummy Shark