Bag a Barra — 7 August 2020

It's time to head to the Top End and Baga Barra. With Glenn Watty Watts, thanks to Shimano. Remember to buy local and fish local, visit Shimanofish.com.au. Well, I was in Kakadu the last few days, and I was, um, I was camped out at a place called, I think it's Kenindra, and Yellow Waters, I think, what he calls it, and he sends me a text, and he says to me, check out this bloke.

Well, the place is packed, right? There was people everywhere. Check out this bloke. He's got a boat.

He's in there fishing a few of the villabongs. Loves a beer. You'll get on well with him. So I sort of avoided that because the last thing I needed was have a big night with one of what his mates.

But it did get me thinking, fishing in Kakadu in some of the billabongs. Why not talk about that? Watty, I didn't hook up with you, mate, son. You're too scared, weren't you?

Oh, mate, after putting up with you, everything for, you know, at the time I did, and now I thought, gee, the last thing I need now is one of your mates. Although I've been looking for one of MH down here at the 303 bar, who's gone MIA. Yeah, maybe he heard you were coming too. Did you warn him?

I probably should have, but no, he's obviously smart enough to do it himself. Not a bad spot down here, considering you've brushed it. You were supposed to come down here and have a few beers. How far is this from your place?

About 100 K's, bit more? Yeah, no, it would be about 100 Ks. takes just under an hour to head down the highway there on the 130 K and hour speed limits. We blessed with up here.

Oh, mate. Yeah, what about that? Adelaide River's got a really good vibe about it. Yeah, I love it. It's very tropical.

It's a lot like North Queensland here. That's the feeling you get. It's like you're driving into some of those little townships around Tully and Cairns and things like that. It's very, very tropical.

Palm trees everywhere. Um, you've got a massive big river here, obviously, you don't swim in. And of course, but this 303 bar is just an absolute cracker. The beer garden, the pool out the back, the grassy campgrounds.

All, you know, with shaded spots. It's a great little spot. Yeah, absolutely. They do a ripper feed there too.

We stop in there most days on the way back from the Daly River when we're doing our extended charters down there through runoff or stop there for a counter on the way back on the last day before we get the boys back to town. It's a good feat. Yeah, no, it looks all right. In fact, I might even check that out a bit myself tonight.

Now, what are you did mention about the fishing that, and I did notice when I was camped out there, and it was on your recommendation that I went there, and of course, your lovely partner, Louise, is what she's doing with you has got me absolutely stuffed, but anyway, she is, she should be working for Northern Territory tourism. She knows a way around everywhere, and her little, her little instructions and and suggestions have come in very, very handy for me on this trip, and she recommended that we camp there. But there were a lot of boats in there on trailers and people set up with camp tents and things. Mate, what's the story in kakady with fishing the billabongs?

Yeah, well, that's right. There is a heap of billabongs you can fish through Kakadu and most of them are fairly easily accessed these days too. The roads are generally a bit better than they have been in the past. There's a lot of dirt road to get into them, but right where you were, yellow waters there in Coinda.

There is um, there's 3 different boat ramps there that you can access right from the caravan park or within 10 minute drive, and um, and you're fishing on the top of the uh, South Alligator River system there, and it's absolutely chock full of Saratoga and Barrett and all the other um, freshwater species as well. It's a really, really great spot to go for a fish. Yeah, you go in there much. You spend much time down there?

Yeah, not as much as I would like to. I actually caught my 1st barrow in one of the billabongs a bit further down that system um called Bucket Billabong, which is in um as you come into Kakadu from uh Darwin side. It's just in the front gate there and there's a, there's a heap of them on, on that sort of system there. That's a, that's sort of a wild man river tributary as well.

And, um, yeah, I don't get out there as much as I'd like to these days, and it is a decent drive, and, um, you got to drive past a lot of fish to sort of get there, I suppose, but, yeah, when we go out there, we stay for at least 2 nights, and we really make the most of it, spend a lot of time on the water. It's a beautiful, beautiful spot. I thought you were going to say a lot of time in that bar that's there next to that massive big pool that's in that caravan park. Yeah, it's very convenient just there too, isn't it?

Well, I didn't go in there, luckily, but it's certainly, well, I've got a lot of trouble if I was here with you, but, mate, it was absolutely packed. I think I rang you, didn't I? I ring you or text you? but the place was absolutely packed.

Pat, when I pulled in, the bloke said, mate, all we've got left, a non-powered site. I mean, that's all sweet. I don't need power and he said, mate, just drive down around there and find somewhere. But the place was chock a block.

That's unbelievable, isn't it? And considering how many people sort of can't or aren't allowed to come at the moment, for it's still to be so busy. It's um, it's a good sign. People are sort of still getting out and about when they can locally.

Yeah, definitely. Well, even here, mate, I've got to tell you, and in here last night, I mean, it empties out pretty quick of a morning. But even in here at behind the 303 bar here at Adelaide River, mate, it was packed last night and just people travelling through. And it's amazing, the amount of people on the road, a lot of people from South Australia. Um, you don't see too many uh, Victorian number plates.

You see a couple of New South Wales ones, although there is a bloke next to me who's from Victoria, but he's been on the road for about about 2 years, I think. He's next to me here, but it's quite amazing how many caravans and people there are still cruising about, which is good to see. Yeah, that's right. Yep.

And Adelaide River is a really great spot for people to, sort of, as they come up, you might be coming from Catherine or a bit further south. You can get Adelaide River on the, in the afternoon and sort of settle in, have your last night, get, get everything sorted, and then you're into, you're popping to Darwin before lunch the following day and, and you can um, head to your caravan park there. So it's actually a really good little stepping stone into Darwin. Yeah, it's a good spot here mate.

So there are plenty of places. Any other little favourites you have there in Kakadu, mate, for a little fishing. Oh, yeah, I mean, they're all pretty much favourites. They all, they all very similar.

The difference in amongst their billabongs out there really is just the size pretty much. Um, there's still a couple that are closed at the moment. I think the road conditions that haven't allowed them to be opened just yet, but um usually by this time of year, there's, there's at least 10 different billabongs out there that you can tell a boat into and, and launch and catch fish very easily, um, and you, you, you probably wouldn't take, I don't take my big boat out there.

That probably something that holds me back a little bit. You probably don't want to go over sort of 5 metres. In there, you, you're generally launching on um sort of mudbank um launches, so it can be a bit tricky with a really big boat, but any, any of the sort of travelling, the gray nomad size boat, perfect. Yeah, I was talking to a bloke. He said that a couple of the boat ramp that he was using was pretty wild.

So, yeah, you got to, yeah, take that into consideration. All right, mate. Well, I'm going to be getting further away from you from here, Roddy. I'll be heading south and that's his, of course.

If there's some sort of absolute debacle with borders and I get trapped up here. I'll be heading straight back to your place, son. Get them on ice. crossed by the sound of it. We might have to put a lock on that front gate.

What about your place, GG? You love a four-wheel drive track getting in. yeah that's right. It's a bit rough now.

Both attracted our boat, both recent houses are a bit rough, but anyway, that's how we like it, make us feel like we're living in the bush. That's what I said to the music. I said, I went and checked Watty's new joint now. It's a good place, but geez, he loves a four-wheel drive track going into his going up to the house.

I mean, fair E. Anyway, very, very good and a good little location there too, not too far away from everything. So, but you could be in the middle of nowhere. So, all right, Watty, well, I'll let you go back and get about your day and I'll talk to you, talk to you soon.

Good on you, mate. Enjoy it down there. I will, mate. There he is.

Our man, Glenn, what do you want? Don't forget to. If you're up here, you want to go fishing? Check him out, Barefoot Fishing Safaris.

You can just jump onto his website, check him out on Facebook. Post a lot of little videos on there as well, tips, and a lot of other little knickknacks, Barefoot Fishing Safaris, as you won't regret it. He took me out. I caught one.

So I was pretty happy with that. And I've got to say that was probably one of the highlights of this trip so far for me and we've had quite a few highlights. But that morning out on corroborate Billabong was something else. It really was.