Most South Australian fishing is done with light spin outfits.

A 3kg spin outfit is ideal for gar, tommy ruffs, whiting, yelloweye mullet and bream. See various eBay light spin combo listings here.

A 6kg spinning outfit is suitable for general estuary and light boat fishing in South Australia. See eBay listings for 3-6kg spinning combos and more here.

The above outfit can be used on shallow, low-energy beaches to catch SA’s yellowfin whiting and yelloweye mullet, but a dedicated light surf rod would be better for this purpose, and can also be used for salmon. See combo listings here, or buy a light surf rod separately to use with your 3-6kg reel.

A heavier surf rod is needed for surf mulloway, snapper and shark fishing, see eBay listings here.

For boat fishing, a shorter, stouter rod/spinning reel combo loaded with 10kg line is ideal for general reef fishing in water to around 20m deep, and can also be used to cast lures to pelagic fish. See eBay listing here. Rods around 7′ long are ideal for boat fishing.

Small metal slice lures work well on South Australia’s salmon trout, silver trevally, flathead, barracoutta, tommies and snook. There are many types but the simple chrome styles are as good as any. See eBay listing here.

Use large metal slice lures on high-energy beaches where big salmon are expected.

Soft plastic grubs work well on bream, salmon trout and tommies, and freshwater fish such as yellowbelly, redfin, cod and trout. See eBay listings here and choose the smaller sizes, unless you are chasing murray cod.

Jig heads are needed for unrigged soft plastic lures. See eBay listings here. Once again, choose smaller sizes and lighter weights to help you present a lures in a realistic manner. Resin jigheads allow suspension-like presentation of lures, but their light weight make distance casting more difficult.

Sabiki bait jigs are great for catching tommy ruffs, yakkas and slimy mackerel, buy them on eBay here. Remove droppers if required to stay legally compliant, cutting a complete rig in half will usually make two legal sets.

For SA squidding, standard unbaited squid jigs such as these work well, see listings here.

Baited ‘spike jigs’ work well on large calamari squid. These jigs are cast under a float and left out until a squid takes the bait. Bait the jig with a small fish such as tommy ruff or mullet. These large baited jigs look clumsy compared with the smaller jigs more commonly seen, but they are effective … see listings here. The barbed version is even better if you can find them for sale.

Smaller squid can be targeted with baited spike jigs such as these … see eBay listings here.

The secret for successful squid fishing is to fish dusk, darkness and dawn, when the water is clear. Summer is usually best.

Floats are useful for suspending a bait, and work well when fishing for South Australia’s sweep, tommy ruffs, salmon trout and trevally. Large polystyrene floats are slid or clipped onto the line and a stopper is placed above the float to set the depth a bait is fished. See eBay listings here. Small quill style floats are very useful when freshwater fishing but for some reason are not much used in Australian fishing. Try a worm or shrimp suspended under a quill float next time you fish the Murray River or a trout stream.

Star sinkers or snapper leads are generally used on a paternoster rig for surf and boat fishing. For most other fishing, ball sinkers are used, as part of a running sinker rig where the sinker slides along the line, allowing a fish to easily run with a baited hook. See eBay listings for ball sinkers here, see listings for star sinkers here and for snapper leads here.

Hooks in mixed sizes are needed. Suggest 4# to #8 for whiting, mullet and tommy ruffs, 10# to #12 for garfish, 1/0 for bream, 4/0 for salmon and flathead and 11/0 for large mulloway. See eBay listings here.

Ganged hooks (joined chains of hooks) are often used when fishing pilchard or garfish baits for salmon and mulloway. Listings on eBay here.

Flounder spearing is popular in South Australa. A submerged light is generally used to find the fish, see eBay listing here.

Crabbing is popular in the South Australian shallows, using a crab rake. See eBay listing here.

Shrimp and yabbies are great baits for fishing the Murray River. Strict regulations apply to the type of gear used to catch them. Ebay sellers have a variety of yabby and shrimp traps, be sure to buy one that complies with local regulations.

Worms are also an excellent bait, see worm farm listings on eBay here.

Other items you may need are wire trace to stop fish such as barracoutta or sharks biting through your line, see eBay listings here, swivels to stop line twist when using spinning lures here, a filleting knife to clean your fish here, a burley bucket to attract fish to your area here, a waterproof torch here, a sharpening stone for knives and hooks here, bait jigs to catch baitfish such as tommy ruffs, slimy mackerel or chow for bait here, a sharpening stone for knives and hooks here, and of course a tackle box here.

Lastly, if don’t want to use traditional smelly baits, you can try a commercial bait product such as this.

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The following advice applies mainly to the two gulfs.

Black bream – All year, best in winter/spring. They move further up waterways in summer. Use live tube or blood worms, peeled prawn or tiny lures, best dawn and dusk, often at turn of the tide.

Crabs, blue swimmer – Best in summer. Rake them or use nets baited with fish frames, fish day or night.

Crabs, sand (two-spot) – May to June. Use drop nets baited with fish frames, tide dependent, their presence is usually noted when they start stealing fishing baits.

Flathead – All year. Use baits of bluebait, whitebait, small pilchards, squid, fish strips or lures, they bite all day.

Flounder – All year. Will take tiny baits of peeled prawn, worms or squid at night tide, but the usual method is spearing in the shallows at night, usually in summer.

Garfish – Best in summer/autumn but bigger fish often caught in winter. Use tiny baits of maggots, prawn, cockles presented on a float or just drifted back from boat, or dab at night with a net and light, they bite all day.

Mullet – Strong run of fish in autumn/winter. Use tiny baits of mince meat, seaweed worms or cockles. They bite in daylight, usually in very close along beaches at high tide.

Mulloway – Best in summer but caught all year. Use live baits or fresh fish fillets or freshly caught squid. Fish dusk into the night at turn of tide.

Salmon – Big fish best in autumn/winter but small fish show up all year. Use baits of peeled prawn, bluebait, whitebait, cockles, pilchards or lures. Best at high tide at dusk and dawn.

Snapper – All year best in spring/summer. Use baits of squid, pilchards, fish fillets or jigs. Best at dusk and dawn and they come in close after stormy weather. Restrictions currently apply.

Bluefin tuna – these appear off western SA before Christmas, reaching Port Lincoln about late February, and the eastern SA coast around March, depending on currents. Early season brings the biggest fish, along with albacore.

Snook – Bite all year but best in summer. Use lures, pilchards or fish strips. They bite well at night under jetty lights.

Squid – Available all year but best in summer. Use artificial jig lures or baited wire jigs. Best at dawn when the water is clear, but also at dusk and night.

Tommy ruffs – All year. Use maggots, peeled prawn, cockles. Best at night.

Whiting, king george – All year but often better quality fish in winter, use baits of cockles, peeled prawn or squid on the edge of seagrass beds, they bite all day, often tide dependent.

Whiting, silver – All year. Use tiny baits of cockles, worms or peeled prawns.

Whiting, yellowfin – All year but best in summer in spots well away from swimmers. Use fresh or live worms or peeled prawns. Some fishos do OK on tiny lures.

Kingfish – summer.

Silver trevally – summer.

Chow (yakkas) – summer.

Red mullet – all year.

Leatherjackets – all year.

Sweep and zebra fish – all year.

Sharks – all year but better in summer.

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The University of Adelaide published a paper on the ecology of South Australian trout in 1967.

Though decades old the paper provides interesting insights into how South Australian trout survive.

The relevant live page from Adelaide University is displayed below … click on the “02whole.pdf” link to download the PDF direct from the university website.