Went down to the crossing tonight, rivers at .35- .4 had a quick flick for FA but saw 4 fish of around 80 to 85 caught . caught and released 4 fish to 90 in the previous week (Saw a few resonable frames left around for Broke Jaw)Red Rock seems to have leveled out so the river may hold at go tme for a day or two

hey mate can you tell me how far that trip is from darwin? never been out that way how do you get there? cheers

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Roper Bar is 180km east of Mataranka. Darwin - Mataranka 375km.

Round trip from Darwin 1100km.

A bit far to travel down after work for a flick Nice fish.

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Is anywhere in the Territory to far for a quick flick , Enjoy the journey

Roper bar is a fair old hike and 99% of the time leaves you disapointed with a broken heart, the rivers either to high or two low or there just not biting, one thing thats good is the size and fatness of the fish and when there on the chew theyl smack anything you throw at them If you do go there and plan on staying there you might wana take a tent or swag as the hotel there is very very basic and pricey with the sound of what sounds like a road train running all night (generator) the road out there has many creek crossing that are fine during the dry but in the wet its unpredictable as the the creeks come up quick and can leave you stranded there for weeks so go prepared and cashed up as a loaf of thawed out bread is 6 bucks, the road there is single lane bitumen all the way until the last 40km which is a trailer grave yard with bad corrugations and potholes evn worse after rain (blacksoil) another thing is if you have your boat or unleaded car there is only opal fuel available at $2.20 a litre, theyve even got post cards with a blank spot to fill out how much you paid for fuel (territory comedy at its best) Its a hard place but when it all comes together its worth it but in my opinion the Daly, Adelaide and other places are alot better facilatated with just as many fish without the big drive, if you like the bush then go to roper but the daly kicks its ass all day long in my opinion and you can do the trip in a day from Darwin and have a beer and barra on the bbq the same night. just my two cents to those that havent been out there. BOMMY for those interested in giving the roper a crack is there any discount for FFF members?

Hi G/N

How long since u been there?

january mate, use to live in Ngukurr which is 20 odd km away

Know Ngukurr well. I'll be at Tomato Is iagain n a couple of weeks. 44km from Roper Bar. U'd know Bruce Dalman then (bloke with the barge).

Diesel at Roper Bar was $1.80 litre less than 12 months ago. Down from the $2,20 that it used to be for years. Cheaper than Mataranka now.

Two main traffic obstacles to Roper Bar are Hellsgate bridge and Strangways Ck.

Hellsgate water is not runoff. Its backup from nearby Red Rock. Hellsgate is actually the name of the narrow gorge on the river nearby (next to Red Rock flood telemetry station).

Attached is a little calculator to indicate if Hellsgate bridge is passable/impassable as there is a direct relationship between Red Rock telemetry level and Hellsgate bridge decking.

Strangways has no telemetry site and is genuine runoff from the Larimar/Daly Waters area. Bit of suck-it-and-see. A long crossing which can be quite deceiving.

Never had any trouble on dirt to Roper Bar. Gets sloppy and dug up by first supply semis/trucks after the wet. Grader does that part of road first followed by the Roper Bar to Tomato Is section.

Roper Bar to Tomato Is can be a bit dodgy at times with washouts etc. There's no flood telemetry on Hodgson River either so depends on how much rain Hodgson Downs and Nutwood Downs have had if Hodgson bridge is open or not. Then its usually on the sand buildup on the western side.

Not at Ngukurr anymore?

Website won't allow the calculator so here it is in simple form.

Height above/below Hellsgate bridge decking = Red Rock water level - 10.7 metres.

If u can just see ALL of bridge railings u're looking at 500mm of water.

water level is everything at the bar...ring the local hotel for advice.....I think its about 4cm over the crossing is ideal

A bit more detail would have been helpful ronje.

diesel 2.20 a litre at the moment, opal 2 bucks a litre. thats today,
bruce is a good mate of mine, he use to gaurd my 4x for me and pick us up with the barge during the wet so we could have a drink

Unfortunatley guys no FFF discounts are available at present. The river is holding at about .4 and fishing resonable. Freind of mine went down @ about 5 last night and got a fat 90 which fired up the intrest of those sitting on the bank.Heard a report half a dozen or so smaller fish comming in from Blackfella's . The Hodgson is running extemly muddy at present causing a perfect color change.Wiltons @ .4 Mud I think you meant 40cms not 4 and best to ring the store for info as the local hotel is 180 ks away.Ronje and got-one Ngukurr is changing a bit at the moment with a heap of new houses going up.I'm driving the boats for the store and see Bruce often so I,ll say gidday for you

Thx bommy...good info there

thanks bommy, tell the boys at ngukurr i said gday