Bag a Barra — 4 September 2020

It's time to head to the Top End, and Bagabara, with Glenn Watty Watts, thanks to Shimano. Remember to buy local and fish local. visit shimanofish.com.au. Well, well, we're bagging him earlier because we couldn't find him, but guess what?

We found him. Watty, where are you? There you go, mate. I actually just got off the water.

I, um, you were hanging it on me for, um, sort of being late, but I, I was out on the water at 6 o'clock this morning playing around with the, my new camera and doing a bit of video stuff, uh, for the one minute Monday and some other things I'm working on, so I've actually been working pretty hard today. I don't care. In fact, I mean, I remember when I was 5 minutes late, I pulled up at your place in the dark at 535 or whatever it was. Good afternoon, and then I copped it for about an hour and a half.

and then still was reminded of it throughout the day. Well, I've got you back now. I spoke to you last night and said, are you ready for the radio show tomorrow? Yep, duck, just give me a call.

on. Anyway, you're here now, which is great. We're out on the water. What the life you have, I've got to say, and I've been out on the water with you.

It certainly is fantastic. Just quickly, mate. How's that new, mate? More work this week?

Yeah, taking along nicely. All the welding should be done next few days, actually, and then it sort of comes down to me, just finishing it off, and then we'll get some paint going and run some wires and stuff, and off we go, you know, we'll be, it'll be fully functional on the water, you know, ready for runoff next year, but of course, I'm going to have it on the water plane around, you know, for a few months, just fine tuning things this year, so very exciting. Oh mate, absolutely. That's an absolute cracker of a boat, and it's at, what's that place that's at there in Darwin?

Oh, mate, the engineer bloke, they did, they did some work in there. It's a hot shed too. Yeah, I tried habit fabrication up there. Yeah, that's why we got a bit of a hold up there.

He gets so, he's so busy um with other work that I sort of go to the back of the pecking, becking order. unfortunately. the squeaky wheel. Oh, yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm tipping his up there with busy with paying customers. Oh, your mate's lobbing in there, parking a big a big aluminium boat in the middle of his workshop saying, I need this done. But mate, they certainly look like.

They look like they know their stuff there. mate. I saw some video of on your Facebook page, the Barefoot Fishing Safaris. People want to know what I'm talking about.

You need to jump onto Facebook and just type in Barefoot Fishing Safaris and you'll see some great stuff on there. But I saw a video where you had a couple of clients, as you call them, out fishing. Where was that out on the harbour? Yeah, that's right.

That's only a couple of days ago. We, um, we got out there over the um, high tide 1st thing in the morning and uh, just as it turns, it starts to run out, out, a couple of spots out in the front of Darwin Harvin is really crazy, pelagic action, can happen, and um, yeah, of course, uh, you're in a bit of phone service. I do the odd Facebook live in amongst that sort of stuff and we're catching some big queenfish and um big Trevelli out there. There's, there was some really huge mackerel that we got spooled by twice, got bitten off.

There was sharks chasing them around. It's um, it was a 4 hour trip and it was complete chaos for every minute of fishing, it was pretty good. Yeah, some of the sharks just were chasing the fish. Yeah, that's right.

Yeah, we sort of, we're letting these fish go, thinking, oh, we're doing the right thing, and the next thing, 8 sharks have a big stacks on and ripping the beach. So, we try to end up keeping a couple after that. Yeah, that's right. We'd rather turn a nice queenfish into some nice numbus to eat ourselves than to let the sharks eat them all. Yeah, absolutely.

How big were the sharks? Oh, there's some great big lemon sharks out there, but the ones that were chasing the fish around that day were, they're just big reef sharks. They're probably 6 foot long, I suppose. That's about as big as they'll get.

But yeah, they, you can just hear them, hear the noise of them just tearing through the water like, uh, it would be a scary place to fall in out there. Oh, mate, it sounds like it. you can actually hear them coming through the water. Well, not so much coming, but because they were, they were chasing these fish right at the boat and, and they would come in at a 1000000 miles an hour and then turn hard and you can just, you can hear their fins and that just sort of banking on that water and cutting through it, you know, it's like really amazing sound.

yeah. That's what you say, you wouldn't want to fall off the boat. I mean, like that was, I imagine hearing that, heading towards you. Oh, man, unbelievable.

Yeah, even like 6 foot. I mean, that's still a fair fish, mate. And so, um, you ever been lucky out there, don't you? You do take people out out in that harbour a fair bit, don't you?

So you get some success there? Yeah, absolutely. That's where we do sort of 99% of the half day charters. Um, I've got one tomorrow as well, and depending on the tides, we target all the different species of, the beauty of Darwin Harbour is that there's always somewhere you can hide out of the wind if it's windy, and there's always a species of fish you can catch.

Um because there's a lot of man-made structure around there as well. We tend to be jigging plastics around pylons and jetties and wharves and stuff for our snapper and that sort of thing is, as well as your barrow, mud crabs right through up to those big pelagics out the front. So, yeah, I mean, on its day, it's a, it's, it's a good, good fishery as anywhere in the world, but um, it does take a little bit to get to figure it out, you know? And that's what I was working on today, some, some sort of how to videos for, for people coming up and um, and just to make a bit easier for everyone to understand what we do.

I mean, you talk about those sharks there. I mean, I remember when we were up there, we had a feed there at one of those restaurants on the jetty. And there were a couple of blokes in a tinny just taken off into the darkness on that harbour, right? going out for a fish at their high vis gear on just in case anybody else might have spotted them, but I think they might have just knocked off work to be honest, but still.

But mate, I can picture it now because I've been out there. We actually went on one of those harbour cruises while we were up there too. So I know exactly what you're talking about now, which is fantastic. I can only say I wish I was still there.

Mate, the digit was great up there. You certainly lived the life. It's in great spots. It was funny, you know, I was talking to someone about you the other day and I said, what do you can give the fastest answers you'll ever get off anyone?

I mean, we asked him, do you want to be? yep. And I remember, I was like, you want to be? What a yep. And then I remember when we were out on the billabong, and we were about, I don't know, 20 feet off, 25 foot off the boat ramp in the boat, and the lovely Louise was going to get the car, you dropped her off at the bank, and then she jumped off the boat, go get the car, and then you just moved away from the ramp, and I said, would you jump in here and swim to the boat, right?

No. Well, I mean, some things take some explaining and some things don't, duck, do they? You know, I remember that time when you asked me if I need the beer and I'd been sitting there talking on the podcast for the last hour dry as a chip. and um... It was actually a radio show, but anyway, that's all right. It was in the morning.

Oh, the dry, the dead bingoes, donga, and it took me in 3 hours to get off of a can. So, you know, like I was green. Turn it up, you're kidding. I think I was, I think, man, lucky I turned up to your place that night with a box because it was a dry argument.

If I hadn't, there was a couple of light beers in the fridge. I mean, you talked yourself up here for 12 months. I get up there. There's 3 cans of light beer in the fridge.

I see what's doing. Yeah, right. Here we go. All right, mate.

All right, Barefoot Fishing Safaris. If you want to get hold of some of those footy shorts, limited numbers left there. Yes, travelling with the stock, mate, running out. Oh, yeah, no, there's only probably, there'd be less than 10 pairs in there, I reckon at the moment.

So, yeah, we'll have to get another order and they've been very popular. No one else in the country seems to have footy shorts with pockets in them. So that's our big selling point, yeah. Yeah, well that's, well, wait, why not? And that's the go and they are branded, of course, Barefoot Fishing Safaris.

You need to go to that website, barefootfishingsafaris.com.au, and follow the Barefoot Fishing Safaris, Facebook page, and like you say, you put up those, um, them live videos and them, and what do you call that, mad Monday video? May it Monday minute or something? Yeah, yeah, one minute Monday, just do a really short tip. Can't be anything from boat trail of the maintenance through to freezing fish to actual fishing stuff.

Yeah, good stuff. Keep the education going, yeah. All right. Well, if you're booking a holiday to the northern territory. You were heading up there.

You want to go catch some fish, I can guarantee you'll get them. He's not a bad guide, Watty. I mean, I've got no idea, and I caught a baramundi. My missus is still talking about that Saratoga.

She caught as well. She was big nating herself last week. did a family do up the coast. She was telling me, I caught this big Saratoga fish.

If you want to catch them, go with Watty. Youll get them. that the plan? Sounds good to me, mate.

Yeah. All right, mate. Well, I'll let you go. And we'll talk to you next week.

Good on you, Doc. Have a good week. You too, mate. There he is, Glenn.

Watty Watts, just go to the Barefoot Fishing Safaris's website. You will know what I'm talking about and jump onto the Facebook page. He's the best in the business up there. Barefoot Fishing Safaris, and he certainly will go home very, very happy after going fishing with Watty.