The Eyre Peninsula: South Australia’s Fishing and Seafood Frontier - Part 2

This week I pick up the adventure with the main event: reef fishing 70 minutes cruise south down in the Great Southern Ocean.

It was a bit bumpy south of Cape Catastrophe, and one could see why without modern Navigational aids Flinders crew came undone in the maze of reefs and islands.  But we were plenty safe: this is Doddys Back yard and the fishing was exceptional. Impressive red snapper to 55 cm were plentiful: these fish are bright pink and taste as good as they look.

While many other tasties graced our creel, it was a queen snapper that I wanted most: we lost what felt like a cracker, and then we caught a reasonable one later that evening: exciting stuff!  These fish have brilliant colours, fight extra hard and most importantly the locals put them at the top of the long list of high end table fish. We also caught standard snapper to 20 pounds…fish of a life time in many parts but par for the course on Doddys Trips

The wind came in from the north for the next few days-perfect for beach fishing on the south facing beaches and cliffs of the Lincoln National Park, for which Doddy had already organized a pass. 

The cliff fishing is for the experienced angler who is not scared of heights-but it is still worth seeing the view from well back from the edge; the salmon schools form over winter and are great to watch.  Sharks, dolphins and seals can be seen feeding on the salmon at times, and whales cruise in season. But better still is the beach fishing: it’s safe, and given this is more or less the start of the Great Australian Bight you can’t help but be awe struck by the atmosphere and scenery.  The usual light-tackle spin or larger surf rod bait techniques produced a dozen salmon to 4 kilos in the 2 hours we fished.  The drive to and from the spots included four wheel driving thru massive sand dunes and was another highlight.

Yet another tasty treat is the iconic King George Whiting, and the lads at Mad Keen Charters at Tumby Bay produced these in droves, along with some XL southern Calamari.  Tumby Bay is just 30 minutes’ drive north from Port, and there is also Coffin Bay 30 minutes to the west, famous for Oysters, King George Whiting and Squid to name a few. 

The region is also famous for the cage diving with the great white sharks, but I filmed this last visit with Super Model Erin McNaught, so this time it was hand feeding and swimming with bluefin tuna up to 70 kilos in size-this was equally as impressive as the shark cage dive and a great family friendly set up to boot.

To cap things off we checked out a short demo on fish cleaning and cooking at what’s called “the Fresh Fish Place.” This is a full on commercial plant from start to plate and one of few places of its kind that I have come across. 

We learned some great new ways to clean and cook all the fish we caught earlier, and those who don’t wet a line will be happy to know that all the above mentioned fish and many more are available for purchase fresh and local: not shipped to the city and back to restaurants as happens in many places these days (crazy but true). You can also get local fish pre-prepared: the smoked kingfish and queen snapper were my favorite from the deli section.

Local coffin bay oysters are prepared in a variety of ways, the tempura ones are INCREDIBLE and are almost a meal on their own and the fact that all the batter was made from local flour added to the experience. That’s about all I have room for, but if your thinking of heading to the Eyre Peninsula a good reference site with lots of info for travelers is www.exploreeyrepeninsula.com.au

See you on the water.
Rob Paxevanos,
Author Australian Fishing Basics