how safe is south west rock bar

[spike2]

just a quicky was wondering how tricky the south west rocks bar crossing is , look like heading down that way in two weeks and wondering wether my shallow open boat can cross the bar safley
actually does anyone know if there is a rating system for bar crossings available for example l know the gold coast seaway in a reasonable sea offers a reasonably safe crossing and that the pin is generally more tricky
but when l travel to new places it would be handy have some idea of the bar conditions
cheers spike

[Gorilla_in_Manila]

Spike,
Heres a link to the map. Are you talking about the Macleay River?
Zoom in on the map and it says its very dangerous.
http://www.waterways.nsw.gov.au/docs/macleay_back.pdf
Don't know it myself sorry. Still, read plenty of articles in about fishing offshore from there, so must be able to get out. Good luck.
Cheers
Jeff

[spike2]

very dangerous doesnt sound to good

[zoley]

Spike,
SWR bar is a very very dangerous bar. Like all bars it has it's
days when you could cross in a rowboat but usually it is very
active. There is a creek bar that a lot of the smaller craft use
but you will have to keep an eye on your tide times as it gets
very shallow.
If you use the river always check the bar from the south wall,
a bit of a walk but it will show you what the bar is doing.
There are about 6 charter boats working so any one of them will
tell you if your boat is a goer or not.
Most days the ramps see a lot of traffic, always a good idea to ask
any of the locals for advice on the bar.
Over the years it has rolled plenty of good boats and deserves a
lot of respect.

[propdinger]

i go to hat head caravan park it 18km south of swr and it has a bowls club on it door step and i put my 18ft tinnie in the creek there to launch out of never had any trouble there just have to watch the tide and people on busy times ...

just another option

jeff

[RobK]

I spent a week down there before Christmas 03. We took a 4.1m tiller steer through the back creek entrance on a couple of days with no problems. You do have to watch depth but we had no problems. One of the local dive operaters uses this entrance almost exclusuvely as he feels it is safer than the Macleay,and he is running 6-7m vessels. Well worth getting outside. My brother in law and I boated and released ten or so kingies in under two hours around fish rock on trolled lures. One bloke was bottom fishing nearby with left over prawn heads from last nights dinner and could not stop catching them. Unbelieveable

Talk to the locals we found them helpful and generous with their time.

Regards

Rob

[basserman]

spike here is the goss!~
now hat head is only able to be a beach launch at the moment unless your boat can run in under 10cm of water because that all you'll get at high tide at low tide you can cross it now days without getting wet
as for the back creek bar i would recomend you to sick with the accual maclay bar just stick to the southern wall as it has the deeper channle (about 12+ foot of water on low tide)
as with all these sand bars on coastal nsw you are best to try to go and come back in on the incomeing tide but aslong as you pick your day and don't do nothing stupid it is safe on ether
one thing you must do for your own safty is to log on to VRM southwest rocks on 27mhz channle 40 give them your rego amoutn of poeple type of hull and expected time back

i have fished around my beloved mid north coast alot and find the macleay bar not that bad if you want to test your skills and bravery try crossing the bellinger river bar easyly one of the worst in nsw

but back channle bar is shallow and swell efected so some day is like a beach launch
hat head is beach launch only
crescent head beach launch only

the best two bars in the area is port macqaurie and macleay river (south west rocks)

[spike2]

thanks for all the advise guys l will seek local advise down there l guess if l dont go off shore the river may offer some fishing options
cheers spike