South West Rocks Bar

[garfield28]

G'day all,

I am hoping to get up to South West Rocks on the weekend and just looking for some info on the Bar crossing and other alternatives please. 

I've heard the Bar crossing at SWR is pretty dangerous and has claimed lives in the past. I have never ever been there before and I don't know if it is safe for a 5.2 metre Savage boat to cross at all, or at any particular time. I have been trying to search up info and cannot find a great deal, and some people have suggested other ramps like the back creek and Goal but some seem to think that they are dangerous also, and can only really be used at certain times. If anyone could please give me some info as if it is too dangerous I will give it a miss. I wanted to get up there this weekend and chase some Spanish and Spotted Mackerel. 

 

If SWR is best avoided, can anyone please suggest a safer area where I may still tangle with a few Spanyards or Spotties please. I've heard Spotties can be caught at Forster too which would be a lot closer to home, but I'm not 100% convinced or know much about when is roughly the best time/month to get them etc. 

 

Any info would be really appreciated,

Thanks 

Geoff 

[rickmarlin62]

No macks down as far as forster yet   couple from barries bay  point plomer  port macq bar is average   swr bar is ok  avoid run out on falling tide or large swell  i may be goiin up to fish sat an sun morn yet  i have 4.8 vsea  no probs

[garfield28]

Cheers Rick. 

Swell is looking ok at the moment for Saturday but the low tide is at 6 am-ish which is around the time I'd be heading out I guess. I'm not the most experienced boater and I'm pretty worried about it. 

[dirvin21]

The SWR bar was looking pretty bad last weekend, on the runout tide, there's a beach ramp at scotts head as an alternative 

[Peter Nelson]

Hi mate

Like Rick said be carefull on run out tides. You get pressure waves popping up out of no where and a hard to read.

I've launched back creeks a few times and has it's challenges depending if it's been dredged,  tide times etc., you may have to punch through some waves.

If you do go up and have a chance, walk out to the end of the wall atbthe river(bar) and watch how the tide and waves react  and where the boats go out, mostly you go out on the south wall, better then trying to figure it out in the morning.

 

[Scratchie]

I wouldn’t even bother trying SWR bar if you’ve never been there before. It can be dangerous at the best of times and is a long bar. If you don’t have the experience, go with someone that does first! 
I’d try somewhere like crowdy first and try trolling livies around the fads. 
 

cheers scratchie!!! 

[frankS]

Geoff. As Scratchie said the bar is not just a couple of wave breaks, it goes on and on for about 200 metres or more with washing machine  waves which are very hard to pick. You need to study the path for a while from shore and then from boat before you GO . Coming back in is the dangerous time. It can be scary . At times it will be mild enough for a beginner to safely negotiate but those times are rare. The creek crossing has a right angle twist to it and is like a beach launch where you have to cross a couple of steep waves, not what you need on your first trip there. Once you get out the fishing is great, but there are safer places.

I could tell you a few stories of my adventures there some great and some not so great. I love the place but I have had 50 years of crossing bars.

If you had a few days to study the area and get used to it you would be fine once you done it a few times. You have to start somewhere so try a few easier bar crossings before you try to tackle one of the worst.

Frank

[garfield28]

10 hours ago, dirvin21 said:

The SWR bar was looking pretty bad last weekend, on the runout tide, there's a beach ramp at scotts head as an alternative 

Supposed to be decent conditions this Saturday if it stays that way... I'll have a look at the Scott's head option.

Thanks

3 hours ago, Peter Nelson said:

Hi mate

Like Rick said be carefull on run out tides. You get pressure waves popping up out of no where and a hard to read.

I've launched back creeks a few times and has it's challenges depending if it's been dredged,  tide times etc., you may have to punch through some waves.

If you do go up and have a chance, walk out to the end of the wall atbthe river(bar) and watch how the tide and waves react  and where the boats go out, mostly you go out on the south wall, better then trying to figure it out in the morning.

 

Thanks Pete. 

I won't have the time to have a look as I'd be getting up there late Friday night.. and as luck would have it Saturday morning early is a run out tide so looks like I need another area to launch from. 

1 hour ago, Scratchie said:

I wouldn’t even bother trying SWR bar if you’ve never been there before. It can be dangerous at the best of times and is a long bar. If you don’t have the experience, go with someone that does first! 
I’d try somewhere like crowdy first and try trolling livies around the fads. 
 

cheers scratchie!!! 

What are you up to Friday night/ Saturday morning Jeff? Hahaha Any Spanish or spotties been caught at Crowdy head mate? 

19 minutes ago, frankS said:

Geoff. As Scratchie said the bar is not just a couple of wave breaks, it goes on and on for about 200 metres or more with washing machine  waves which are very hard to pick. You need to study the path for a while from shore and then from boat before you GO . Coming back in is the dangerous time. It can be scary . At times it will be mild enough for a beginner to safely negotiate but those times are rare. The creek crossing has a right angle twist to it and is like a beach launch where you have to cross a couple of steep waves, not what you need on your first trip there. Once you get out the fishing is great, but there are safer places.

I could tell you a few stories of my adventures there some great and some not so great. I love the place but I have had 50 years of crossing bars.

If you had a few days to study the area and get used to it you would be fine once you done it a few times. You have to start somewhere so try a few easier bar crossings before you try to tackle one of the worst.

Frank

Cheers Frank. You know any places more south that are safe to launch and get out where I can catch the target species? I'll go to another location but really wanna try and have a crack at the Spanish 

[Scratchie]

1 hour ago, garfield28 said:

What are you up to Friday night/ Saturday morning Jeff? Hahaha Any Spanish or spotties been caught at Crowdy head mate? 

Not sure if they’ve made there way down there yet but I know they do frequent the area. Seriously though, bugger SWR. Drive up to Coffs and try there! 
I wish I could go, still dealing with kids sports! 
 

[Peter Nelson]

I don't think they have been catching many mackerel at SWR at the moment due to the water., so your probably better off defering  your trip or maybe try somewhere else. You never know unless u give it a go I guess.

I'm going to head up in a few weeks and give it a go, hopefully it improves soon.

I've been over that bar dozens of times and I still get a bit worried if the swells up, definitely gets the heart pumping.

 

 

 

[PaddyT]

If you havent done any or much bar crossing and you are lacking the confidence to do it-you've answered your own question-drive another hour north and hit Coffs- should be spannies and spots and probably a few wahoo by now if all the dirty water hasnt hit hard there- but then again the number of rivers isnt as great there-personally i prefer Coffs to SWR- there are more places to fish away from crowds- the Fish Rock and grassy head routine wears thin after a while

[rickmarlin62]

Im headin up for a dawn launch   fishin is goin off   il be in old model vsea  white with red flash on cab  come say hello   prob fishin 40mtr reef off jail   wind is down  no swell  no probs

[Peter Nelson]

12 hours ago, rickmarlin62 said:

Im headin up for a dawn launch   fishin is goin off   il be in old model vsea  white with red flash on cab  come say hello   prob fishin 40mtr reef off jail   wind is down  no swell  no probs

Good luck mate, let me know how you go, I'll hopefully be up there in 2 weeks

[garfield28]

Just want anyone else that reads this thread by coming across it in a search that the bar is everything that has been stated here in this thread. 

After speaking with the local Marine rescue it was advised to me that I do not launch at my original desired time of 5ish am but instead launch when there was daylight so I could sit back and look at the bar and try and read it a bit before attempting to cross it.

So I launched at 7am there was plenty of daylight and it was roughly half an hour after low tide. I sat back and watched and thought I'd seen enough of the waves breaking and the direction I needed to go. I saw a few boats go out and stopped one who said the bar wasn't too bad today (yesterday) and stated it was fairly tame at that time. He gave me some advice on how to cross it and explained the lights that direct you back in when I returned. I watched him go through and saw his boat point upwards a few times going over the waves, It freaked me out a bit but thought I'd now go across. I started to head towards it and as I approached the first couple of waves I went to jelly I couldn't do it, I turned around and started to head back to the ramp, I was bloody sh@tting myself! It was just one wave after another, after another. I freaked out and just couldn't do it. In the end a mate and young fella passenger I had in the boat who does have boating experience but had never crossed a bar stuck his hand up to have a crack because he was keen as mustard to get out and fish. He did it and he did it well on the advice that a boater from the area had given us earlier, and just when we thought we were through it 2 more waves really stood up in front of us and it was bloody hairy, I really paniced. The young fella did well, he said he was a little worried but you know these young blokes they think they're bullet proof and don't think of what happens if things go wrong. 

Bottom line is it was super, super scary and it wasn't even anywhere near its worst or even bad so the locals were saying yesterday, and it froze me. I totally respect what everyone said on this thread and it still didn't prepare me for how scared I was when I started to go across it. If I had to drive over it yesterday I would have drove to SWR for nothing because I couldn't do it. It's scary scary stuff. 

[Scratchie]

@garfield28

Thanks for your report and your honesty. Hopefully that honesty may help someone else reading this post! There’s lots of key points in this thread to look at! 
 

cheers scratchie!!! 

[rickmarlin62]

Good report mate  the bar wasnt big  it was just long and constant   i went early  but 15 boats went before me  i chose goin right after the wall and punched probably 15 waves to get clear when i looked back i had 6 boats followin me    comin in was flat   i checked jail ramp before daylight but there was no water there  it was shallow  i mean 6 inches  so the bar was only option  sorry i didnt see you out there would have been good to say gidday   after corona is gone we need to organise some group days at bay  central coast n sydney   hope we get some interest

[New Signing]

21 hours ago, garfield28 said:

Just want anyone else that reads this thread by coming across it in a search that the bar is everything that has been stated here in this thread. 

After speaking with the local Marine rescue it was advised to me that I do not launch at my original desired time of 5ish am but instead launch when there was daylight so I could sit back and look at the bar and try and read it a bit before attempting to cross it.

So I launched at 7am there was plenty of daylight and it was roughly half an hour after low tide. I sat back and watched and thought I'd seen enough of the waves breaking and the direction I needed to go. I saw a few boats go out and stopped one who said the bar wasn't too bad today (yesterday) and stated it was fairly tame at that time. He gave me some advice on how to cross it and explained the lights that direct you back in when I returned. I watched him go through and saw his boat point upwards a few times going over the waves, It freaked me out a bit but thought I'd now go across. I started to head towards it and as I approached the first couple of waves I went to jelly I couldn't do it, I turned around and started to head back to the ramp, I was bloody sh@tting myself! It was just one wave after another, after another. I freaked out and just couldn't do it. In the end a mate and young fella passenger I had in the boat who does have boating experience but had never crossed a bar stuck his hand up to have a crack because he was keen as mustard to get out and fish. He did it and he did it well on the advice that a boater from the area had given us earlier, and just when we thought we were through it 2 more waves really stood up in front of us and it was bloody hairy, I really paniced. The young fella did well, he said he was a little worried but you know these young blokes they think they're bullet proof and don't think of what happens if things go wrong. 

Bottom line is it was super, super scary and it wasn't even anywhere near its worst or even bad so the locals were saying yesterday, and it froze me. I totally respect what everyone said on this thread and it still didn't prepare me for how scared I was when I started to go across it. If I had to drive over it yesterday I would have drove to SWR for nothing because I couldn't do it. It's scary scary stuff. 

No shame in giving it a miss if you aren't confident mate.

Maybe try a couple of easier bar crossings before you attack SWR again

[PaddyT]

Good on you for 'fessing up your story but I think you need a rethink for next time-not wanting to be too critical but you broke a few cardinal rules from your comments-but please feel free to correct me if i get any facts wrong.

1. you didnt go and watch the bar from the rock wall for an hour or so at the same stage of the tide you wanted to cross

2. Marine Rescue will rarely if ever give you anything other than "generic"" advice eg-go when you can see, stick to the deeper water etc because they could get into all sorts of legal problems by giving "Go-No GO"" advice. You are better off talking to a few locals who are experienced at that particular bar

3. you let someone who has no bar crossing experience take your boat over a bar!-I just think thats a no-no-over exuberance and excess testosterone are no substitute for experience.

Anyway-you got away with it and learnt a few lessons- best of luck for next time BTW did you get spots or spanish macks?

[garfield28]

19 hours ago, rickmarlin62 said:

Good report mate  the bar wasnt big  it was just long and constant   i went early  but 15 boats went before me  i chose goin right after the wall and punched probably 15 waves to get clear when i looked back i had 6 boats followin me    comin in was flat   i checked jail ramp before daylight but there was no water there  it was shallow  i mean 6 inches  so the bar was only option  sorry i didnt see you out there would have been good to say gidday   after corona is gone we need to organise some group days at bay  central coast n sydney   hope we get some interest

Yeah would have been good Rick. 

The meet up sounds good too. 

7 hours ago, New Signing said:

No shame in giving it a miss if you aren't confident mate.

Maybe try a couple of easier bar crossings before you attack SWR again

Nah no shame but it's a long way to drive thinking you'll Cross's it but turns out you cannot. 

2 hours ago, PaddyT said:

Good on you for 'fessing up your story but I think you need a rethink for next time-not wanting to be too critical but you broke a few cardinal rules from your comments-but please feel free to correct me if i get any facts wrong.

1. you didnt go and watch the bar from the rock wall for an hour or so at the same stage of the tide you wanted to cross

2. Marine Rescue will rarely if ever give you anything other than "generic"" advice eg-go when you can see, stick to the deeper water etc because they could get into all sorts of legal problems by giving "Go-No GO"" advice. You are better off talking to a few locals who are experienced at that particular bar

3. you let someone who has no bar crossing experience take your boat over a bar!-I just think thats a no-no-over exuberance and excess testosterone are no substitute for experience.

Anyway-you got away with it and learnt a few lessons- best of luck for next time BTW did you get spots or spanish macks?

Yeah could have did that but I could see the waves etc from where I was in the boat also. 

As for giving someone else the wheel with no experience, it would have been no different if it were me as I have no experience either. The difference is I froze and couldn't do it and it may have been a problem mid bar if I had kept going and attempted to cross it myself. 

No Spanish mate either ☹️