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roper river

Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2018 8:02 am
by hobbit
hi all I'm heading to port roper for a few days 1st week of October I've tried searching for info but cant find much. I understand that tides are roughly 3days after Darwin but are hard to predict. more wanting to know where at port roper your best to camp. I've seen on Google earth that there houses or huts out there is it best to stay away from there? also if trolling the mouth is it a big channel like shady etc? I've been told the mouth is very wide. any info into it would be nice. thanks . not looking for secret spots unless you want to

Re: roper river

Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2018 9:37 am
by fff1964
Hey Hobbit


:drinking8: Not sure if you were still going PM sent 8)

Re: roper river

Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2018 8:45 pm
by garrynt
Seen a few tents in and around the boatramp carpark last few trips. I've never set foot there, usually camped on boat after cruising from Tomato Island ramp.
There is a "jewie hole" about 30 metres out from the last creek before the mouth and its about 13+metres deep. This creek has trolled OK in the past and goes for many km.

From the Jewie hole, you can troll out to the mouth (in the channel/drop off) along the LHS about 10-20 metres off shore, but as you head closer to the mouth you track slightly more to the right to stay in the deeper water. The deeper water is only 3-4 metres (if that) as you get closer to the mouth or out past it and is easy to lose.

It was blowing a gale with a high in the Bight 2 months ago whe I was there last, so we didnt get to do the mouth channel troll. Many people say go out a few KM , return & repeat. Your first attempt will be a zigzag as you track down the almost non existant channel.

3 months ago we tried going out & way down to the right to access a creek there, via "darker" water, but ended up spitting lots of sand and having to rebalance boat to find the deeper water again.
So we went North (left) from mouth a few Kms (6ish) to another creek and that was still deep and easily accesable on the low tide.
If you see the crabbers boats cutting across the mouth, dont get sucked in & follow. They seem to know the right height/speed/track to get only their boat to where their pots are.

Amongst the mud there is bit of a sandy beach towards the mouth amongst the mangroves on the North Bank. We found it solid enough to get out and have a wee walk. Also farther up along the Jewie hole creek there are some accessible banks. The sandy beach also has mullet at the right time.

The last tides I used were Centre Island & Rose River. Rose River is 60km away north. But Seemed to have a closer tidal movement with Centre Island off Borroloola. Over 4 days in the one area you might work out a pattern so take them both.