North Australian FISH FINDER TM forums

Hi still new to boating and to FFF. chasing a bit of input into weather conditions and they're effect on the waters around darwin particualry the dundee and the harbour. Been out a few times and sometimes i get it wrong and make for a rough wet trip. I have a 5.2 ally and looking to see what people think would be acceptable winds and swell for it to get around off dundee and darwin

Wind direction can also play a viral roll in some areas too. Vernons, channel point, even Dundee.
I'll leave it up to others to comment as I'm no expert.
There's different sites too like windy, bom, willy weather. I'm sure others will add to the list too, but it's really worth not relying on just one, as often they can be quite different.

So many variables to this Question , I would suggest doing a few smaller trips to really get to know your boat and what your comfortable with . Any thing offshore more than 10knts can be nasty if the wind is opposed to the tide , a predicted .5mt swell can soon stand up to meter plus
with white caps and can make for a slow or dangerous trip back home .
A good 5.2 will handle a fair bit , but it all comes down to your abilities . Try planning your trips so your coming home with the wind at your back but with mostly easterlies during the dry that can be a bit hard .

Good luck , just take it slow and learn from the bad trips .

Up to 10 knots, usually smooth unless forecast is wrong.

10-15 knots is marginal depending on accuracy of forecast, and depending on your boat.

Above 15 knots is only fun for folk with sea legs and decent boats.

Be extra careful during big tides, which can quickly lift the waves up. Neaps are safer.

Cheers for the input lads will see how we go

I sometimes use the observations page on the BOM, it gives you the latest observations, so you can see what has been going on…some stations give more regular info than the others, can be handy if you are planing a quick trip out or even a longer trip and want to compare the forecast with what has actually been recorded at weather stations around the place.

Someone has already mentioned that wind vs tide can cause problems, especially with bigger tides and high water flow areas like channels, and where water is flowing over shoals, or deep to less deep spots

http://www.bom.gov.au/nt/observations/ntall.shtml

I also compare these main weather pages , BOM, willyweather and windytv. I Look at tide, wind and swell forecasts.

I still cant get it right.
Windytv and willy weather both use BOM data but all 3 can both be a huge variability.

Last sat for eg, windy forcast for the oil rig to be 4km and BOM said it was to be 20 km/s. both from the same data.
It did flatten off early and stayed flat all day until I got back to the wharf when it blew its tits off.

Get a bigger boat, say a 7m fibreglass one and they are great in all weather
BTW, im selling my 7+m fibreglass boat

Agreed nomad sat arvo def was rough i took the boat for a lap in the morning when it was glass. Went back in and conned the missus and kids into coming out for an arvo sesh in the harbour and instantly regretted it once we cleared the lizzy. two seasick kids to manage really kills the fishing.

Tinny Basher wrote:Agreed nomad sat arvo def was rough i took the boat for a lap in the morning when it was glass. Went back in and conned the missus and kids into coming out for an arvo sesh in the harbour and instantly regretted it once we cleared the lizzy. two seasick kids to manage really kills the fishing.

dont waste good burley!

As said, check all the weather sites regularly and often, even when you are not going out. You will see the trends appear. Also on BOM you can use the 4 day chart, the interactive chart and the winds page to dial in a better picture. Windytv is great and actually provides both the GFS and the ECWMF data.

As for wind speed, it depends on how hard you are willing to go for a fish. Under 10 knots is usually ideal.

Ditto re the realtime observations, check those wind meters before you leave, it's not a forecast but an actual measurement.

Yep, once you see the tiniest of white caps starting, pack up and go. it turns to poop very quickly. Been caught out many times with 'one more cast'

And if you catch one first cast, go home! Always a bad omen ...