Bag a Barra — 11 December 2020

It's time to head to the Top End and Bag a Barra... with Glenn Watty Watts. Thanks to Shimano. Remember to buy local and fish local. visit shimanofish.com.au.

Well, one bloke who could do with some jocks and socks for Christmas is Glenn Watty Watts because he doesn't wear any. Watty, g'day. How you going, duck? Yeah, I'm going alright.

Yeah, I'm sure you are. Now, look, I saw a video of you've posted on your Facebook page Barefoot Fishing Safaris. When I was in Darwin a few months ago, It was very, very dry and you'd moved into this place and we had a look around and you had all these channels that ran through that were all drawing these dry watering holes with little drinking areas beside these waterholes. And I said to you at the time.

I said, mate, this place is going to look sensational once it starts raining later in the year. Well, I saw the video and mate, it looks fantastic. I was right. Yeah, that's right.

It is pretty awesome here at the moment. All the swimming holes are full, and we're getting rain every afternoon now pretty well, so they staying full and nice and plushed out. We've got some um birdie conducts have moved in, had their babies in the big dam at the front and I've had the tinny in there. Putting around in the island.

What about that, eh? You've got your own... You've got the dam in the front yard with an island in the middle of it. And I did see that video where you've put the tinny in in your front yard and driven around your own island.

I mean, you're flying, Watty. How good is it up there? Yeah, it's good now they're doing a bit of water testing. So, you know, if the, if the water holds, it's real handy for the big boat too, I'll be able to drop it into the, into the dam and do a bit of work on the trailer and then just pull it back out again.

Yeah, happy days, that's the game, mate. How's the big boat going, the new one, because you've had it out now for a couple of weeks, and I'm tipping it, take a bit of getting used to, but a bit more room on there, and how you're finding it, and the customers like it? Yeah, definitely. Um, there's everything about it is um, is good at the moment.

We're just, I'm just in the shed here today. Put some guides on the trailer just to set that trailer up for, um, just so I can drive the boat on and off really easy and it, it's something that's worth doing for everyone out there who, you, you know, quite often we hear, I got to get a smaller boat or it takes 3 people to launch the boat and this sort of stuff, but if you set, you spend, you know, if you spend a bit of time and a little bit of money just setting up the trailer, so you can just drive it on and off. Um like you've seen me do a a corrobery that day.

It just makes it so much easier for the life of the vessel, you know? And it's a fair bit safer than standing in the water at the back of the boat as well. Oh, absolutely. I mean, it doesn't matter whether there's crocodiles or not.

you get jammed in between a boat and a winch post. You know, you're in a bad way. So it pays it just, you know, even take it to the local trailer shop and get them to help you set it up with some adjustable guides and stuff and it makes a big difference. Absolutely.

Now, you're saying it's raining every night, which will change probably what people are chasing up there in regards to fishing. What's been biting, mate. They're still going off. I know you're not out with customers at the moment, but you've obviously got your finger on the pulse of what's being caught up there.

What's what's doing? Yeah, so we started really getting this transition time now where the billabongs sort of become a bit sort of dirty and probably a bit too hot to target barrow too much from now on. Um, but we're sort of still waiting for the, the flood border to start flowing properly. The Daly River's change colour, so we've got some good water coming down down there and obviously um, you know, back up into the catchment, so, once that, um, once the rain sort of fills up the, The billabongs and water holes off to the side of these major rivers, that's when we can expect that 1st Flood of bait to come out, um, generally coinciding with a big tide, and that, that's generally our 1st really hot bite for the, I suppose, wet season, and that could happen.

Probably on the next bull or new moon, um, just depend on how much rain. A monsoon starting to, you know, mill around up above us here now, so expecting very wet weather um for the next few days, so that'll be, that'll be really good and hopefully get that happening. You know, before Christmas for everyone. You love it, don't you?

And that was one thing I found when I was up there. The amount of locals that absolutely loved this time of year. They love that wet season. Sure, the humidity and all that, but you get used to that and but this wet season and the storms and just the, the, the whole show of those storms as well.

It's certainly, you know, Mother Nature can put on a light show and some of the photos I've seen in videos just looks fantastic up there. Mate, I know a lot of the guides now aren't out and about, but the weekend anglers, they still out having a crack. Yeah, everyone's still getting out. So we just had some really good spring tides, good fishing for the harbours and that sort of stuff.

So there's plenty of Baraban court. The trick at the moment is to just dodge those afternoon storms. So, you got to keep an eye on the horizon and on the weather and to try and get your fishing done, sort of on the run out tide or the bottom of the tide before it um sort of turns and blows up and can get a bit nastier. You know, Darwin Harbour particularly can get, can get actually quite dangerous out in the middle there if you, if you're caught in a storm and tide running against the wind and yeah, even in a big boat like mine, it gets pretty scary.

So, you, you want to um just be pretty mindful of that at this time of year. But, um, yeah, the, the jelly prawns are hatched and and are in the harbour, so the thread pins, salmon and the, and the barrow, and all the other predators are in there, um, chewing pretty aggressively at the moment. It's good. Oh, mate, sounds fantastic.

Really does. All right, mate. Now, how long how long before you head off down to the farm for Christmas? What, another couple of weeks?

Yeah, oh, not even. We're down on the 19th. So, um, you know, we're, and then we'll have, we'll be down there for about 3 weeks. So, I've got the old man lined up with the Abi nets, he's fixing all the holes in the Abi nets, and we're getting the tinny organised, a bit of, catch a few red fin and some cod and yellow belly. So, very excited to get down and be able to go for a swim and a water ski without having to look over our shoulders. Go to 2 geckoes coming out of the lily pad. Oh, exactly.

All right, mate. Well, I'll leave you back to go and do the trial. What did you do with just before you go? What did you do with the ale, mate?

You've got it sitting somewhere, have you? No, no, it's been sold. There's another fella up here. He's started up a bit of a guiding business.

So, yeah, he'll get another 10 years out of it like I did and you know, continue to serve its purpose. So, yeah, I look forward to seeing it out on the water again, actually. It'll be a bit of a surreal feeling the 1st time I see it on him. Someone else driving it. Yeah, absolutely.

A good boat, mate. And I tell you what they, mate. I'm trying to work out a plan to get myself back there, mate, so you can get me back out there again. go that new boat.

I'll be on time this time. Yeah, that's right. We don't wait till the lake comes. Oh, mate, you don't let them forget about it either.

just quietly. There's a little tip for you out there. If you're going fishing with Watty. Be on time, okay?

Because you want, not only will you cop it all day, but you'll cop it for months. The thing that got me is we actually waited longer for the shop to open to get the break and the egg rolls. So it didn't matter. It was worth being there first.

Get those first. Thank God. See you later. You're out.

See you, what are you talking to you next week, son? Hey, mate, good on you. There he is. He's a great man and a good mate of the programs, Glenn. What do you watch?

Barefoot Fishing Safaris. If you're playing that Top End trip for next year. Make sure you give him a crack. If you want to catch them.

I mean, I've got no idea, and I walked away after catching a barramundi, and if I can do it, you can do it too. He's certainly nosey stuff. And that new boat, I saw that boat being built, it was almost done when I was there, and it looked fantastic. I've seen photos of it. He's had it all wrapped and you got the great Northern brewery signage on the side of it as well as Barefoot Fishing Safaris.