Bag a Barra — 15 November 2019

Okay, let's head to the Top End to Bag a Barra, with Glenn, what he wants, thanks to Barefoot Fishing Safaris. Yes, and you 2 can be a part of the program to send an email duck at 2gb.com. Plenty of people have been sending me messages and things of where I've been and they've been there themselves in the past or a few recommendations, certainly do appreciate all those messages that are coming on email and via Facebook, a stack of them via Facebook. Just before I grab body.

I should just say a big thank you and a big gadada, all those people who came up to me at the Perth four-wheel drive adventure show last week. I failed to do this earlier. I'm sorry about that. But plenty of people, and I was actually a bit surprised. Listen to the program.

there in Perth. We do broadcast through Macquarie Media there on NTS Digital, as well as Kicks Country Radio in Perth, and but a stack of people listen to both those, um, those, listen by both those means, but also on the podcast. For all you people who are listening in Perth, a big thank you for that. But in the meantime, you know, man, Watty, he's waiting patiently on the line.

We found him this week up there in the Top End. Geez, we travel around. We've been to Tassie. I'm on the nullabore, and now they're in the northern territory.

Watty, g'day. G'day, Doc. How are you today? Mate, I'm going, all right.

I am sitting in a great spot. I'm in a roadhouse. It's a bar here, which opens soon, and mate, I'm going good. Yeah, that's right.

You just mentioned to me that you're in a roadhouse on the uh Nullabore plane and might bring back some bittersweet memories for me actually. Yeah, okay. So you've been across here? I've done that drive half a dozen times.

Yeah, I did live in Broome for a while and I travelled around Australia a bit as a, as a young buck, and um, yeah, it was one time I was heading back from, from Broome, actually, it was Christmas, Christmas day, and I'd driven from Broome, old 60 series cruiser, all the way down, and, and, uh, at Peguna Roadhouse, uh, which is a bit west of Cockobbitty, out in the sticks near the blowholes there. I, um, yeah, heard a bit of a funny noise there, the old back dip there and done a wheelbarring Christmas day. Christmas. did you spend Christmas there?

Yeah, I did. So it happened a little bit before, so I sort of nursed the old girl in there and pulled up under a tree and I was there for 5 days, I think, until I could get some pass. I watched Shane Warne taking 700 test wicket in the bar at the Kaguna Roadhouse, very memorable moment. Or actually, I remember that.

I remember that when Shane Warne's got that 700th wicket. I do remember that So you were in a roadhouse on the Nullarball for that as well as for Christmas. I mean, was the people, the people fairly hospitable towards you?

Yeah, well, that's right. And this is the story I didn't get part of the story I didn't get to before I'd come on air, mate. That's the, that's the bitter side of it, but the sweet side of it, is that I, um, I'm still friends with 2 Swedish backpacker chicks who turned up at about the same time and, um, you know, the rest, I'll tell you off air. I was talking about the locals that live there, you imbecile.

Not the Swedish backpack, is it? Not the Swedish backpackers that were travelling at the time. What about that? You'll have to tell me about that at another time, mate. When you say you've travelled across... Yeah, go on.

But yeah, I did I did have a good time there. But because everything was closed, you know, the local bloke who had the spare parts in Perth was, you know, on the Cairns and camping down in Bunbury or wherever, so I couldn't get past for 4 or 5 days, so I sort of had to end the day myself a bit, but yeah. Yeah, no, fair enough. Well, shares like you were going all right, but I've got to say anyway, but that's the trouble when something goes wrong and you're on a big trip at Christmas time because everywhere's closed. And if you want to get parts or get, you're in a bit of strife.

So anyone planning a Christmas trip, make sure you do what what he didn't do and just make sure you do a bit of a maintenance check on your vehicle before you take off. But anyway, yeah. But, but, mate, when you, when you cross the Nullaborn, I meant to ask the other boys this, because obviously Graham and um, and Ronnie, Graham, Cahill, and Ronnie Dale have crossed it numerous times. So when you drive from city to Perth, that's once, and then you do the return trip.

So can you then say you've crossed another war twice? Well, I suppose so. So that'll go up the go up the back way around past Broome and Darwin. Yeah, no, exactly.

So you've done it. So I can now say, yeah, I've done it twice. Yeah, I guess you can say you've done it twice. Yeah.

you're not there yet, mate. You're still in the roadhouse position. Yeah, I know. Jinx me.

I don't want to jinx me, so I don't want to jinx me, so I'll just tap my head 3 times, touch wood. I've done that mate. So I'll just do that again for safety. But anyway, mate, so mate, how's the fishing been up the Top End, mate?

There's a bit of rain kicked in now. Yeah, that's right. We've actually just had a few days of no rain, which is pretty normal for this time of the year. We get sort of, you know, 10 days or 2 weeks of afternoon storms and it'll dry out for a couple of days, but it's been, it's actually been brilliant weather for fishing, is it, we've got into that really stable pattern now where it's uh flattened right out to sea.

So, um, yeah, I had the opportunity last week to get out and in amongst the pelagics, so we did really well on some big Spanish mackerel and John Trevelli and Brassy Trevelli that sort of took us to the reef every time as, as well as actually picked up some mug crabs still on the way back in to the boat lamp. So, that was really good. It's another thing that we sort of add to the bow from now until it does get um sort of proper stormy and windy in December. Is that is that is that blue water fishing again.

So, yeah, it's uh been good. Yeah, it's great, mate. Do you get many people travel up from the, I might have asked you this before. Do you have many people travel up from the south this time of year and as we get into the wet season to get that, that, you know, that wet season fishing experience?

Yeah, not heat. It's backed off for me to about a couple of days a week at the moment, which is pretty standard, and I'll just keep chipping away until 1st week of December, where I'll um, and then head south of Victoria for Christmas, but no, most people get up between that sort of mid February through to the end of September. But saying that, you know, if you, if you're used to a bit of heat and um, and you can hack it a little bit, we put the shade up and you can handle a little bit easier, you can get some cheaper accommodation rates and flights are cheaper at this time of year as well. So, you can save a bit of money by coming up at this time of year and also, I could say, the fishing is still just as good.

Yeah, that's great, mate, isn't it? I guess, well, the fishing, the fishing always seems to be good up there. It's just one of those places and they're and they're big barrers, mate, aren't they? Yeah, that's right.

The big ones are still around. I was actually talking to a guy this morning um who runs Charms out in Arnham Land and um we were acting about how many big fish have been caught this year. You know, the, the mothership trip that um, we went on earlier in the year that there's, one just came back that I wasn't on, but they, they got 6 bar over a metre last week. So, uh, it's pretty amazing fishing and it, yeah, it's been a year, bit of a year out of the box for big numbers of big fish throughout the dry season.

Normally we get them most of our big fish in the in the buildup and the runoff. But yeah, this, this year has been, uh, been sprinkled right through and um, yeah, like even close to town. We picked up a couple of 90s last week and actually you've wanted to jump on my Facebook page, duck, and have a look at the most awesome video of 2 of my clients who'd actually won a fishing trip up through my membership program. Um, we, we were fishing and we saw a big barrow jump up on the bank, um, 91 centimetres.

That video is now at 117,000 views or something. People love that uh... jumped up on the bank. What have jumped up on the bank?

So you might have spoken about this last week and yeah, it got chased up up onto the bank by a shark. Oh, that's right. You mentioned that. You did, yeah. over inetted him. yeah that's right.

That's right. You did mention that. So you're saying that... So, but you're saying they're catching Barramundi up there at a metre long. Yeah, definitely.

And this is the time of year when we expect them, but the numbers of Big Barrow this year are probably double, and I've seen in my 10 years, and who knows why, but yeah, we don't argue with it. We just hopefully, hopefully come in contact with one, get the picture made, and then let them go because they're in the pre-spawn sort of time now where they're sort of feeding up, so they can spawn. And um, yeah, we want, we want those big girls to be able to lay all the eggs so that, you know, in 3 years time we can catch those babies. Yeah, right.

And mate, you say I'm, I've got to say to you, I'll be honest with you. I didn't know they actually grew that big. How big, how big Willowbarrow Monday yet? What's the biggest one ever caught, do you reckon?

Uh, yeah, well, it varies a lot. So, you've got your big Queensland in Poundland Barrow, which grow really big, but not quite as long as what our wild fish in the territory do. So the world record bar is about 35 kilos, which is a huge fish, of course. Um, but only about 135 centimetres long.

Saying that, that's still a huge barrow, but they do get longer or they've been caught longer in the wild, you know, 140s and when you hear stories of, of back in the day of the, of the 150s. Uh, the biggest one I've ever seen is, is like a metre 37, I think, but and the biggest I've meted myself is metre 26. But, um, yeah, I mean, everything over 70 centimetres, big fish anyway, you know?

So once you start jumping, close to Dublin and it gets, it gets hefty. You sort of double the length, but you're quadruple or 10 times the weight, you know, they get very heavy, though. So £50 by the time they're a metre 10, you know? All right.

Unbelievable. I didn't realise I grew that big. A? That incredible, mate.

But if people want to see that video of yours too. Jump on the Facebook. Barefoot, Barefoot Fishing Safaris is the Facebook page. You need to jump onto that and have a look at that and have a look at it. So, and have a look at how have a look at the lifestyle this bloke has.

It's just incredible. All right, Whitey, will you enjoy the Top End? I'll enjoy the nuller ball. and once I get to cock or biddy, I'll feel a bit relieved because we're looking out for where you were for the roadhouse where you were stuck. I'll send you a photo of the bush. I'm going for 5 days.

Yeah. You know, like, you keep telling everyone how good my life is, Zuck, but you wouldn't want it to be me yesterday when I was in the, um, in the white uh, spray, chemical spray suit, standing fibreglass in my boat in the tropical heat. I can tell you now. It's not all, not all roses.

Bit of chafing action, was there? Well, it was a bit like being a human sauna. And then, yeah, you're saying, it's very hot menu, and then you get covered in a fibreglass ditch, but, yeah, like you get, you kind of... Whatdy.

You'll do anything to build up a thirst, son. You're not wrong. Yeah, I know, like me. All right, mate.

were you enjoyed up there? And like I said, you've had a big show today. We've been to Tassie. Now I've been to the Top End and I'm right in the middle somewhere.

So well done, mate. All right, we'll see if we can't, we'll see if we can't jag you next week, mate. Yeah, shouldn't be a problem. Good on you.

Safe trouble. Good on you. Good on you, mate. And there he is.

Yeah, man. What? You can check him out on Facebook. Just look for Barefoot Fishing Safaris up there in the northern territory and look, I know we give it to him about the life.

I know he does do some sort of work. But gee, I'll tell you what, if you want to know how to catch fish and you've always thought, how good would it be to go and land a couple of big bar of money? Mate, go and book yourself a trip with Watty, get yourself up to the northern territory and go with him. He knows where to get them.

And he said, mate, what did he say? Biggest one was a metre 26 or something. Unbelievable. And I should have asked you how long that'd take to rule in.

But anyway, he certainly does know where to get them, and there's no better man or no bigger expert up there in that part of the world on catching Barrow, and it's great that he comes on this program as well.