Bag a Barra — 31 August 2019

You're listening to the camping and off-road radio show. Thanks to our broadcast partner, RAM Trucks, the big American V8 powered RAM 1500 pickup truck, Eats Utes for breakfast. Well, last week, we were very happy to get our new mate, Wadi, on the line from Barefoot Fishing Safaris up there in the Top End, and he's going to be a regular on the program every week, as I told you last week. We'll get you an intro, mate.

Watty, for next week. How are you going? Yeah, I'm going good, Doug. How you?

Oh, mate, I'm going, all right. not going as good as you, mate, because I'm not there. Yeah, it's tough, tough up the top. Mm, yeah.

What's it like up the Top End? Pretty good. living there? Look, yeah, look, I'm from Western Victoria originally, so, you know, we live right next to the Grampians National Park down home on the farm.

But yeah, like I feel as, as, stop it. Stop it. Stop it. Stop it. kidding. Both angles, mate.

Yeah, it's good. Oh, mate, how good is it, mate? Please. All right, so we're going to talk fishing from now on up in that area and you took a group out for a bit of an overnighter in the Kakadu National Park.

Tell us about that. Yeah, that's right. So that was actually a little private trip, which I don't get a chance to throw a line too much myself these days because I'm so busy taking people all that long. Yeah, we had a chance to get away for just one night recently, um, out to a couple of the billabongs in Kakadoo, and, and they're a really great spot to, to head to this time of year, um, as the water starts to build up again, the barrier start, thinking romantic thoughts, they, they start getting hungry, like we all do.

And um, so, yeah, we, we ended up out at Bucket Billabong, which actually is where I caught my 1st barrow there, ah, like 15 years ago. And um, yeah, got out there that night after we sort of had some trailer dramas, the neck of the trailer. My mate's boat, she clean broke in half, so you had to strap her together with a tree. We cut down out of the scrub. Hang on, what happened?

Hang on. So the camera trailer broke in half and what you just said, there's some bush mechanical stuff. Bit of MacGyver ring and what did you do? put it together with timber.

Yeah, so, yeah, the old boat trailer, she, um, she's a bit rickety. So, um, she pretty well, the drawbar broke off it. So we cut down a old woolly butt tree with the chainsaw and yeah, we last her all together and got us there and back, mate. So that was...

There goes a boat trailer. Sorry, mate, I thought you were talking to camper trailer. Yeah, that's the flag. Okay, mate, how big are the billabongs in Kakadu?

obviously fairly fairly large. Yeah, that's right. It's a bit of a common misconception we get up here. The one we fish bucket.

That particular trip is only, say, uh, maybe 2 or 3 kilometres long, but, uh, you know, the, the, the bigger billabongs that we, that we most commonly fish on our charters, the corrobory billabong. There's 30 or 40 kilometres of water there, you know, we call it a billabong, but it's just an isolated sort of pocket of a river that sort of, that becomes impassable at each end. So, yeah, plenty of spots for everyone and they certainly hold plenty of fish too. So, yeah, they're a great place to go out and you can camp right on the side.

Obviously, you can keep it in mind the um sabre tooth geckoes wandering around down there, but you, um, camp all through those areas and, and have a fish as well. So it's a perfect little setup. Yeah, keep your eye out for the big lizards with teeth, you reckon. Yeah, that's the one.

Yeah, there's plenty of them out there, but yeah, look, we, um, the way we tend to attack those sort of days, fishing is, is just an early morning session, then an evening session with an afternoon nap and a couple of frothies in between. sounding good. Yeah, yeah. So I think you'd like it.

Yeah. Yeah, I know, I would. We tend to troll around a bit, have a look on the sounder, which is a very important tool for us these days. And then once we've found some fish or some structure, working some deeper lures around snags and stuff where obviously Barrow in the perch family. So anyone they're business for yellow belly or red down south, um and Estry Perch, they, they know they're sort of ambush predators hanging around structure, so we, we tacked up the same way.

Yeah, mate, unbelievable. Look, I've got to say to you, oh, you've got the one hell of a life. in a great part of Australia. I mean, Fed, Hinkum up around there and where you're just ducking out there with billabong and Kakadu for a night.

I mean, how good have you got it? Really? That's incredible. Yeah, yeah. Look, I just duck out for the night is a bit different to what you would do down home, you know, like we never used to go fishing at one of the local lakes because it was too far to go to.

It took 25 minutes to get to, you know, where, whereas down here, up here, we, we, we drove 2 hours to get to that spot that night, um, and we fished for about 60 hours a day, and then drove back that day, but, you know, like, do the miles and get the smiles as I was saying, I'm here, so, yeah. Yes. Oh, that's why we've got you on, mate. Do the miles, get the smiles.

I love that mate. How good is it? And that is exactly why we've got you on this show, mate. We love that. Northern territory characteristics, mate.

fantastic. All right, so there it is. So in there, get into that. That's cool.

What it called? Bucket water oil. Yeah, so there's 3 or 4 big billabongs in that area there. And if people want any more info on this sort of stuff, duck, just hit us up through the Facebook page or website, and they'll, um, I'll give them any sort of info. I've got, I've got some really good Google Earth screenshots and stuff. But there's some good little full-wheel drive tracks to do around there as well as all the Kakadu waterfalls in that area as well.

So, yeah, highly recommended for this time of year. The barrow back on the bite and uh, you know, we're um, we're, we're not getting too wet just yet, so it's good. Good stuff, mate. Just give us that website, mate.

Yeah, so the website's Barefoot Fishing Safaris.com.au, and you can just search up on the Facebook page, uh on Barefoot Fishing Safaris. Very active on Facebook and there's all sorts of stuff on there. People contribute to. So, um, yeah, that's a, that's a good little interactive um forum for, people to get some more info.

Good on you, Watty. Sounds fantastic, mate. We'll certainly encourage people all over Australia on the radiator, check out the website that, of course, get on that Facebook page. Don't forget to catch Watty's segment on a podcast link.

I'll send that to him and he'll be posting that on his Facebook page as well. All right, Watty, we'll catch you next week, eh?