Fishranger will give you a better offshore forecast than willy. Sat no chance, Sun if you stay within ~4km of shore. The dropping swell will help. There is ground in that close but youll have to put in the hours in the sounder, or fish the obvious stuff on the charts (which is usually a waste of time for somthing decent). Monday / Tuesday - titties.

Sth passage can be nasty. Nth passage a heap safer but longer trip.

 but would need 2 good days so will hold out for better days ,,, imo   would need to go 18klms or further out , later in the  the season  in closer ,guess it all depends on your expectations of a succssesfull day on the water,  if strong easterlies you will be exposed there is no shelter in close! good luck and look forward to hearing your experience up there  

Thanks for the tips - especially the south passage one
as I'd be taking the familu out in the centre console I think I'll just make a land based trip to see how it all pans out
I had aniother look at Fishranger this morning - Sunday looks to be the best out of all three days

Is there a [normal] boat ramp there now or do i have to beach launch ?
 

beach launch only

To reaching Sth passage. Very good for pinks. Some cracker squid amongst cray boat moorings. Big tailor of beach and jetty . Huge herring big gardies. All in bay. But don't go if ruff as saulty said.. not only getting out hard . When you hit first bank gets real fun on wrong day. Just be safe. Get some good mullys in close also. In the bay . Good luck

This time of year i'd be expecting the pelagics to be running hot up there just behind the reef, we saw and caught kingfish, tuna, spanish and shark mackerel busting up all along the back a few years ago

 vey windy here.

decided to not bring the boat. Didn’t want to smash the kids in the chop