Bag a Barra — 22 January 2021

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, he is the guru up there in the Top End.

We weren't sure whether we're gonna get him, because apparently he's been out on a station, which I'm not sure how many barramundis they catch on cattle stations in the northern territory, but we'll find out because we've jagged him. I don't think we'd track him down, but we found him. What he, what would you have to offer a cattle station? Yeah, you might wonder, duck, actually, but I, I, I sort of grew up on um sheep and cattle stations and have worked on a couple up here, so I'm actually just down here, um, just out of Catherine visiting a couple of mates and on that um, work out on Scott Creek Station, which is an interesting place.

The Catherine River flows straight through it. So you do catch a few fish out there. But it's up and flooded at the moment. So we were just doing a bit of a farm tour, yes.

The young fella's having a bit of a drive, got my car all filthy, dirty. And we're checking out their dry land, cotton crops that they've got growing out there too, which is very interesting. Yeah, I actually spent, I was lucky enough when I was up there to spend some time in Catherine. I think I was in Catherine for about a week and it was very warm.

It was very dry. Mate, what's it like now? Yeah, beautiful now. It's been, um, we sort of had some, you know, consistently intermittent rain here, um, for the last few days, both in Darwin and Catherine.

So, the river's up and flowing nicely, everything's lush and green. lawnmowers and whipper snippers going mad all around town trying to keep it on top of the grass. Everything's looking good. We just need rain to keep kicking along and she'll be a good season down here. Yeah, that's all right.

Yeah, I noticed that when I left there in July. I think the day I left Catherine, it was 37 degrees. What's the temperature there today? No, it's cool enough today.

Yeah, only about 28. Yeah, really nice. overcast. We'll get some rain later on today and it's beautiful.

Yeah, good place, Catherine. and like you say, if you're heading north through the Top End, you certainly will go through Catherine. So you're basically is doing a bit of socialising and a little bit of work and basically just annoying people, are you? Yeah, yeah.

Doing a little bit. They sort of kicked us out this morning as real work. So we've come into town to do a bit of touristing. going to head down to the gorge and jump on a cruise with the kids and go and visit the local tackle shops and stuff like you need to do. So that'll be a good little day for us, a couple of good art galleries to visit as well.

So, yeah, there's plenty of doing, Catherine. Yeah, absolutely. And there's actually some springs there at the rear of one of the caravan parks. I'm not sure whether they're still operational now.

Would those springs still be a bit of a go now or no goes in there because it's not far from the river? That's right. No, they're actually closed at the moment. Their flow gets a bit high and water levels get a bit high and unsafe, so they're closed, which is a bit of a bummer, but there's other places we're going to go for a swim up.

There's a swimming hole up here around Catherine Gorge there. going to go for a swim, which would be nice too. Oh, great part of the world, mate. You're a lucky man living up there and, you know, and dropping down to Catherine and doing those things there.

What about, look, you should stop off at the lazy lizard on the way back at Pine Creek and have a bit of a nice refresher over there, mate. a great little pub. Yeah, well, we did actually call into the lizard on the way down. As you know, you're not allowed to drive past some of these places without calling in, so you've got to follow the guidelines.

Exactly, you're right, mate. That's exactly right. You got to call him, do the right thing, and I spent some time there. The lazy lizard camped out the back.

It's certainly a great part of the world and it'd be certainly different there now for people who have never been there during the wet season like myself. It's certainly a different place to be than what it is like in July. So, it'd be quite interesting, to be honest. And I know what some of the locals I spoke to up there, Watty.

They all love it. They love this time. You love it. It's just a great time you to be in the northern territory.

Yeah, absolutely. We get freed up a little bit with time this time of year, and of course, all the waterfalls and stuff get going pretty nicely. So, yeah, it's, we just love, you know, sitting out last night, having a cleansing ale, watching the storms rolling, the big lightning and thunderstorms, and it's just, um, yeah, it's spectacular, you know, so, uh, we're pretty lucky and yeah, encourage people to come up for a look if they get a chance. All right, mate.

Well, it sounds good. Well, we'll let you go back and do the tourist scene there in Catherine. And like you say, there's plenty to see and do there. It's had the kids on a couple of those cruises and the like, and we certainly wish you well there, mate.

We'll talk a bit of fishing with you up the Top End next week, eh? Beautiful, good plan. Good on you, mate. There he is, Glenn, what do you want if you want to get onto some fishing in the Top End?

You need to jump onto his website. barefootfishingsafaris.com.au and of course check out his Facebook page as well. same name. Barefoot Fishing Safaris.

He is the best tour guide in the Top End, and that's what's my personal opinion, but certainly does know his stuff, and if you want to go up there and catch that a very elusive barramundi, which everybody seems to want to do when they head up there, you need to go with my mate, Watty, Glenn Watt, Barefoot Fishing Safaris, and you certainly might be disappointed there.