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Bite Compass

Adelaide & SA Fish Species Guide

The fish South Australia anglers chase, under their SA names, with SA seasons and the spots in our guide that hold them.

22 species. Size and bag limits are set by PIRSA — each guide links them.

Filter by habitat:
Tailor
Pomatomus saltatrix
A fast, toothy schooling predator of surf beaches, headlands and estuary mouths. Best at first and last light on...
Listed at 2 SA spots in our guide.
SA season Year-round (best Oct–Apr)
Australian Herring (Tommy Ruff)
Arripis georgianus
A small, scrappy schooling fish of jetties, breakwalls and beaches, caught on light gear, small baits and berley, by...
Listed at 55 SA spots in our guide.
SA season Year-round
Australian Salmon
Arripis truttaceus
A hard-fighting schooling fish of surf beaches and rock platforms, and the juvenile "salmon trout" of bays and...
Listed at 56 SA spots in our guide.
SA season Year-round (best Apr–Sep)
Silver Trevally
Pseudocaranx georgianus
A deep-bodied, hard-pulling schooling trevally of jetties, breakwalls, reef and estuary channels. Comes readily to...
Listed at 23 SA spots in our guide.
SA season Year-round
Mulloway
Argyrosomus japonicus
A big, nocturnal predator of estuaries, river mouths, surf gutters and rock walls, and one of the most prized...
Listed at 27 SA spots in our guide.
SA season Nov–Apr
King George Whiting
Sillaginodes punctatus
The largest and most sought-after whiting, a spotted bottom-feeder of sand holes and seagrass. Caught on light bait...
Listed at 42 SA spots in our guide.
SA season Year-round (best May–Sep)
Yellowfin Whiting
Sillago schomburgkii
A plain silver whiting with yellow lower fins that feeds over warm, shallow sand flats. Caught on light running rigs...
Listed at 19 SA spots in our guide.
SA season Oct–Apr (best Nov–Mar)
Southern Calamari (Squid)
Sepioteuthis australis
A fast-growing, short-lived squid of shallow seagrass and reef, jigged from jetties, rocks and boats, best at low...
Listed at 52 SA spots in our guide.
SA season Year-round (best Nov–Apr); closed in the Spencer Gulf and Gulf St Vincent & Kangaroo Island zones
Snapper
Chrysophrys auratus
A pink, blue-spotted reef fish with crushing teeth, prized for its fight and its eating. Taken on fresh bait or soft...
Listed at 18 SA spots in our guide.
SA season Oct–May in the South East zone; closed in the West Coast, Spencer Gulf and Gulf St Vincent & Kangaroo Island zones until 30 Jun 2027
Black Bream
Acanthopagrus butcheri
A tough, wary estuary bream that lives around snags, pylons and rock walls, and one of the most popular light-tackle...
Listed at 13 SA spots in our guide.
SA season Year-round; closed 1 Aug–31 Jan in the Lakes and Coorong
Flathead
Platycephalus spp.
Flathead are the classic ambush predator of sandy bays, estuaries and jetty sand patches: a flat head, eyes on top,...
Listed at 24 SA spots in our guide.
SA season Year-round (best Nov–Apr)
Yellowtail Kingfish
Seriola lalandi
Yellowtail kingfish are the southern coast's hardest-pulling land-based fish: a fast, structure-loving pelagic that...
Listed at 6 SA spots in our guide.
SA season Dec–Apr; Jun–Oct in upper Spencer Gulf
Snook
Sphyraena novaehollandiae
Snook are the long, toothy sea pike of southern seagrass bays and jetties: a fast ambush predator that hits lures...
Listed at 40 SA spots in our guide.
SA season Year-round (best Oct–Apr)
Silver Whiting
Sillago bassensis
Southern school whiting, sold and caught in South Australia as silver whiting, are a small, barred whiting of clean...
Listed at 2 SA spots in our guide.
SA season Year-round
Southern Garfish
Hyporhamphus melanochir
Garfish are slender, silver surface schoolers of sheltered bays, jetties and seagrass, with a long needle of a lower...
Listed at 53 SA spots in our guide.
SA season Year-round (best Oct–Apr); closed in the Gulf St Vincent & Kangaroo Island zone
Redfin Perch
Perca fluviatilis
Redfin are an introduced European perch, now spread through fresh water across southern Australia: a barred,...
Listed at 4 SA spots in our guide.
SA season Year-round
Blue Swimmer Crab
Portunus armatus
Blue swimmer crabs are the sweet-meated crab of warm, sheltered sand and seagrass: caught in drop nets off jetties,...
Listed at 19 SA spots in our guide.
SA season Oct–Apr
Yelloweye Mullet
Aldrichetta forsteri
The common mullet of southern estuaries, beaches and jetties: a schooling, light-tackle fish caught on dough and...
Listed at 52 SA spots in our guide.
SA season Year-round (best Mar–Jul)
Gummy Shark
Mustelus antarcticus
A slender, grey, white-spotted hound shark with flat crushing teeth instead of cutting ones: a night-time bottom...
Listed at 7 SA spots in our guide.
SA season Year-round (best Nov–Apr)
Leatherjacket
Monacanthidae (various)
A group of small-mouthed, tough-skinned reef and jetty fish with a single spine on the head: notorious bait thieves...
Listed at 2 SA spots in our guide.
SA season Year-round
Golden Perch
Macquaria ambigua
A deep-bodied native perch of the Murray system and stocked impoundments, also called callop or yellowbelly: a...
Listed at 4 SA spots in our guide.
SA season Year-round (best Dec–Mar)
Murray Cod
Maccullochella peelii
Australia's largest freshwater fish, a territorial ambush predator of the Murray-Darling rivers and stocked lakes,...
Listed at 4 SA spots in our guide.
SA season Jan–Jul, catch and release only (closed to targeting 1 Aug–31 Dec in the River Murray and Lakes)

Fishing elsewhere? Western Australia species guide · New South Wales species guide