Underwater Maps Of Nsw Coast Line

[ben L]

Hello all

I would firstly like to say thank you to everyone on this forum. Although this is my first post I read this forum regularly and I have picked heaps of tips.

I have a question;

Is there any way to get maps of the ocean floor???

My mate and I recently purchased a small boat and fish of the south coast of NSW around Mossy Point / Batemans Bay. We are finding it hard to located reefs and other structures for Snapper and the like in the massive ocean. I know that Google is planning to make Ocean Maps but it is still a while off.

Any help or advice on finding these structures would be greatly appreciated.

Ben

[Robbielites]

Hi Ben,

Have a look at the boatbooks web site they hold charts for all over the world and you can purchase on line.

Cheers.

Robbie.

[ben L]

Thanks Robbie

[slinkymalinky]

NSW Public Works Dept - Coasts & Rivers Division, have 'Sea Bed' maps. I've got one for Sydney and one for Broken Bay. They show detailed bottom contours and also bottom material (eg. reef, sand, etc). I got mine from a specialist map shop in North Parramatta.

Cheers, Slinky

[krill]

Bonzle has bathymetry (depth info) for the whole of oz. Try here: Link

But, the most important tool for finding snapper is your sounder. No chart is ever going to show you fine grain structure. Learn to recognise the different returns you get from hard versus soft bottom. Individual snapper also have quite a distinctive echo return at times.

My tip would be to pick a prominent land feature like a headland or island and drive around it with your eye on the sounder. Your aim is to map out how the feature on land continues on out to sea. If you motor around on the 20m contour line you should have no probs locating structure. The fishing for reds around Batemans is quite good atm like on most of the south coast so keep hunting and you should have no probs bagging a few.

[snag]

NSW Public Works Dept - Coasts & Rivers Division, have 'Sea Bed' maps. I've got one for Sydney and one for Broken Bay. They show detailed bottom contours and also bottom material (eg. reef, sand, etc). I got mine from a specialist map shop in North Parramatta.

Cheers, Slinky

Do you the link slinky?

[slinkymalinky]

No sorry mate... I just read it from the maps. Any specialist map shop will probably have them... maybe just google map shops sydney??

Cheers, Slinky

[tuffy]

I have colour seabed maps which I bought from a place in Brookvale - these are maps created by the old Dept of Primary Industries about 1982, however, there are only 4 maps which take in offshore Sydney heads, Broken Bay and up to Terrigal/ Central Coast area - nothing for down south unfortunately. These maps show depth contours as well as bottom structure, ie, sand, rock, gravel & reef etc. A bit old but I shouldn't think the bottom would change that much over time.

Very handy to have, but a bit cumbersome - about 70cm x 1mtr.

Stay loose--

Tuffy

[saltrix]

Hello all

I would firstly like to say thank you to everyone on this forum. Although this is my first post I read this forum regularly and I have picked heaps of tips.

I have a question;

Is there any way to get maps of the ocean floor???

My mate and I recently purchased a small boat and fish of the south coast of NSW around Mossy Point / Batemans Bay. We are finding it hard to located reefs and other structures for Snapper and the like in the massive ocean. I know that Google is planning to make Ocean Maps but it is still a while off.

Any help or advice on finding these structures would be greatly appreciated.

Ben

Seabed Information charts for for Broken Bay, Sydney Heads, and Bate bay were produced in 1989, and cover the seabed contours and composition from the coast to about 6 nautical miles out. The 3 charts cover from Cape Three Points to well south of Bate Bay. I have the 3 charts and find them very useful for finding Fishing and Diving sites, but as far as I know no more were produced for other locations.

These charts should be available from the Dept of Public works or authorised chart stockists.

[Frantic]

NAVIONICS Platinum card shows bottom in 3D pretty sweet