South Australian Angler – June 2018

tackle the sand if you have a capable
4WD. A word of caution; the sand along
Talia Beach gets notoriously soft, so be
sure to deflate your tyres and proceed
with caution. There are generally some
good gutters along the first 3km stretch
of beach from the caves.
The surf fishing can be hot or cold
at Talia. It can turn on some superlative
salmon fishing at times, with fish over
the magic 5kg mark, but it can also be
a challenging beach when the swell is
up and the weed is in. It’s just a matter
of picking the conditions. Using berley
helps to bring in the salmon along Talia.
A few nice flathead and gummy sharks
are caught from the surf at Talia, and the
very occasional mulloway.
Heading back out onto the highway,
4km north of the Talia Caves turn off
will bring you to Coodlie Park. Coodlie
Park Farm Retreat is a working station
offering camping, cabin accommodation
and coastal access at a fee. The coastline
is largely rocky, with consistent swell
limiting access to the waterline. There is,
however, a short beach within Coodlie
Park that offers some good rock fishing
platforms on the northern end of the
beach when the swell is low. Laying a
berley trail and fishing baits under a float
can produce some nice sweep, salmon
and big tommies.
The next beach to the north is
Mount Camel, with the dirt-road turn-
off located 3km up the highway from
Coodlie. The 4km dirt road leading into
Mount Camel is very corrugated, so take
it slowly. Mount Camel is a relatively
short beach, with a prominent gutter
located right in front of the carpark.
There is a band of reef to the left of the
gutter that helps to create and hold this
deeper pocket of water.
While Mount Camel does produce
a few big salmon from time to time,
it’s a more reliable location for bread
and butter fishing. Plenty of big mullet,
salmon trout, good sized tommies
and a few silver trevally are caught.

You needn’t cast far at Mount Camel,

with most of the action just behind the

shore-break. Scaling down to smaller

hooks and smaller baits brings good

results here.

VENUS BAY

5km further up the highway from Mount

Camel Beach is the turn off to Venus

Bay, with a sealed road taking you all the

way to the small township. The township

of Venus is situated on the southern

headland, which guards this large,

shallow bay system.

Although this is a large body of water,

the land-based opportunities within the

bay are fairly limited. The jetty is the

most popular land-based locale around

Venus, and offers good fishing for silver

trevally, salmon trout, tommies and

some nice whiting in the cooler months.

It’s not uncommon to get your bag limit

of 10 whiting off the jetty during winter,

although it’s very tidal, so it’s best to fish

the jetty once the tide is slowing or has

just turned.

Similarly, whiting can be caught

from shore on the inside of South

Talia Beach is located within Lake Newland Conservation Park

Salmon are the main

target at Talia Beach

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