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 squid and garfish remain open and snapper is legal with mandatory catch reporting via the SA Fishing app.

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

Sat 17 Oct 2026 · Australia/Adelaide

Forecast updated 12:32am ACDT

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17 Oct

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Today Tomorrow Sat 17 Oct

📍 Waitpinga Beach

first quarter · 32%

Weather: Sunny Wind: E 94° · 13 km/h Swell: 0.5 m @ 8 s S Water: 16.3 °C Pressure: 1023.2 hPa → steady Faces south-east · Offshore: W, NW, N · Onshore: E, SE, S · Forecast wind: onshore

★★★★☆

High Fish Activity

▸ Why this score?

At the day's peak · 6:30 am

Solunar Major window

Time of day Dawn

Tide Moving

Wind NE 14 km/h

Moon first quarter all day

Water temp 16.3 °C all day

Learn how the score works →

Activity Forecast

Day timeline

Major Minor Tide Twilight

First light 6:04 am Last light 7:58 pm

High 3:18 am Low 10:30 am High 2:30 pm Low 7:42 pm

Drag or use arrow keys to explore

Feeding Windows

Best times to fish based on activity score.

Peak

5:30 am → 7:30 am

Good

5:30 pm → 9:00 pm

3h 30m

First light

6:04 am

Last light

7:58 pm

Sunrise

6:30 am

Sunset

7:32 pm

Moonrise

10:33 am

Moonset

1:05 am

High tide

3:18 am

Low tide

10:30 am

High tide

2:30 pm

Low tide

7:42 pm

Hourly Wind

High Bite Hours Highlighted

12am

☀️

15°

↗︎

46°

12 km/h

1am

☀️

15°

↗︎

49°

16 km/h

2am

☀️

15°

↗︎

47°

17 km/h

3am

☀️

15°

↗︎

43°

17 km/h

4am

☀️

15°

↗︎

41°

17 km/h

5am

☀️

14°

↗︎

40°

16 km/h

6am

☀️

14°

↗︎

41°

14 km/h

7am

☀️

14°

↗︎

44°

13 km/h

8am

☀️

16°

↗︎

50°

12 km/h

9am

☀️

18°

↗︎

60°

12 km/h

10am

☀️

19°

→︎

70°

12 km/h

11am

☀️

20°

→︎

82°

13 km/h

12pm

☀️

21°

→︎

94°

13 km/h

1pm

☀️

21°

→︎

103°

14 km/h

2pm

☀️

21°

→︎

111°

13 km/h

3pm

☀️

21°

↘︎

119°

12 km/h

4pm

☀️

20°

↘︎

126°

10 km/h

5pm

☀️

19°

↘︎

128°

8 km/h

6pm

☀️

17°

↘︎

125°

6 km/h

7pm

☀️

16°

↘︎

117°

4 km/h

8pm

☀️

15°

→︎

96°

3 km/h

9pm

☀️

15°

→︎

72°

3 km/h

10pm

☀️

15°

↗︎

54°

5 km/h

11pm

☀️

15°

↗︎

45°

7 km/h

Hourly Swell

Steady ~0.3 m SW

12am

0.6 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Slight

1am

0.6 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Slight

2am

0.6 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Slight

3am

0.6 m

@ 8 s

↙︎

Slight

4am

0.6 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Slight

5am

0.6 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Slight

6am

0.6 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Slight

chop

7am

0.5 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Slight

chop

8am

0.5 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Slight

chop

9am

0.5 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Slight

chop

10am

0.5 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Calm

chop

11am

0.5 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Calm

chop

12pm

0.5 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Calm

chop

1pm

0.4 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Calm

chop

2pm

0.4 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Calm

chop

3pm

0.4 m

@ 8 s

↓︎

Calm

chop

4pm

0.4 m

@ 8 s

↙︎

Calm

chop

5pm

0.4 m

@ 8 s

↙︎

Calm

6pm

0.4 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Calm

7pm

0.3 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Calm

8pm

0.3 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Calm

9pm

0.3 m

@ 9 s

↙︎

Calm

10pm

0.3 m

@ 8 s

↙︎

Calm

11pm

0.3 m

@ 8 s

↙︎

Calm

Water Temp (°C)

↗ warming — up 0.5° over the last 3 days

Wed

14 Oct

15.8°

Thu

15 Oct

15.8°

Fri

16 Oct

16.0°

Sat

17 Oct

16.3°

Sun

18 Oct

16.8°

Mon

19 Oct

17.4°

Tue

20 Oct

16.9°

Wed

21 Oct

16.6°

Thu

22 Oct

—

Fri

23 Oct

—

Wind Map

Wind data (text)

Now: 13 km/h E (94°).

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 am → 7:30 am

Good

5:30 pm → 9:00 pm

3h 30m

First light

6:04 am

Last light

7:58 pm

Sunrise

6:30 am

Sunset

7:32 pm

Moonrise

10:33 am

Moonset

1:05 am

High tide

3:18 am

Low tide

10:30 am

High tide

2:30 pm

Low tide

7:42 pm

Nearby spots

Species at this spot

Australian Salmon
Yelloweye Mullet
Mulloway
Gummy Shark