Bag a Barra — 4 February 2022

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. And of course, yeah, fishing guru in the Top End, and don't we all love getting up around Darwin, Kakadu, the Northern Territory, North Queensland. and you're up at the top. We just love it.

But we certainly love it where he is. He is our man, the owner and operator of Barefoot Fishing Safaris in Darwin, his name is Glenn. What are we calling? Watty, Watty, g'day.

G'day, Duck. How you going today? Well, mate, I'm going, okay. biting up there, champ?

Everything, I guess. Bite, mate. Yeah, yeah. Especially you, you're probably biting a few buck bikes for a couple of bucks. mate, can't get 20 off you, can I, mate? At this time of year, we do tend to run a bit low in the funding because we haven't done any work for a couple of months.

And you've spent all your spare time drinking your rest of what money you have got. Now, what he's biting is a bit going on. We want to talk about a couple of things today, one thing I think we should talk about when we get to it a minute is when, what sort of gear, I noticed, um, I've got this little fishing rod here that basically all pulls apart and goes into a bag and if you go camping, you pull it out and away you go. So we'll talk a bit about some of the gear that's around and what you should think about when you go camping.

But before we do that, mate, is there a bit of action? I'm tipping with runoffs and rubbish in the water and all that sort of stuff and change of climate, then it sort of won't be long before it does change back to a bit of a, you know, go towards the dry spell. Mate, does that change things? There are different fish biting.

tipping plenty of people still catching something. Yeah, well, it's um, you're right. We've had a heap of weather up here lately. Obviously, roads are closed and this sort of thing up to the territory at the moment, so that's causing a few dramas, but what it does do is really concentrate the fishing effort to inland stuff.

The monsoonal weather really blows up our sea. It's that northwesterly system and um, it sort of makes the um, the weather in the blue water pretty uncomfortable and dangerous sometimes. So, yeah, most people are c- concentrating on the rivers for the last week or so, and uh, yeah, certainly catching plenty of fish, some good reports from down the Daly and Shady Camp in the south alligator throughout the weekend. Of course, I'm keeping an eagle eye on the Daly.

It's sitting around 8 metres over the crossing there at the moment and hopefully we'll get a couple of days there. Oh, um, sort of in a week's time where it doesn't rain and it could just start to drop a little bit just as I pull the boat into the boat ramp and be nicely for me. You're a huge fan of the Daly. How often do you fish fish that? I'll be fishing it for 3 months straight starting on the 20th of February.

We're down there every single day. So yeah, I mean, I do love it. It's a, it's probably one of the most, I guess, prestigious rivers up here to where they hold um all the big barracomps these days. It's a really, really beautiful river as well, so you get to see all the wildlife as well as the fishing and yeah, it's just got this iconic, like a real territory feel about it.

Plus it, it is pretty remote and, and, um, you know, people, it's just that little bit far away from town that people don't go out for a day trip, which makes it good for me because they'll park in the Caribbean down there for 3 months and um, have some nice quiet um, time to meself on the river with not too many other boats. Great. Give everybody your rest back up there up in the Top End, which would be good for them as well. Mate.

Now we'll be able to get you when you're there. I mean, I mean, will we struggle to get hold of you? You do it every, do you do that every year, get down there for a fair bit of time and when you say you put the van down there for 3 months. you know, stay there for 3 months, you're back and forth.

Is that right? Well, yeah, that's right. I'll run the charters, their 5 day charters on weekdays, so we avoid the weekend traffic. There's always a little bit more. Um, but yeah, so I'm in and out every, every weekend um, with the new group and um, yeah, just have me the caravan set up down there at Lee and Jenny's bush camp, which is a great one.

There's a, there's half a dozen good, really good campgrounds down, down daily way, um, and we usually land, Jenny's just got, got a big 2 bedroom sort of house up the back that I can fit all my clients in, and they've got their own space to carry on and get out of bed real early and not disturb everyone else. So it's good. And don't get that, and get loud and vocal at night, which I'm tipping that'd be going on up there as well. Now, mate, especially when you're around.

And look, I need to tip too, if you are going up there and you're going fishing with the body, make sure you do get up early. I don't hear about it if you're 5 minutes late. Now, Wadi, people who just want to go fishing and camping for a weekend and, you know, they might be a bit restrictive for space, you know, they're taking the swag and a bit of gear, but they want to take a line on. I mean, I've noticed now some, some of the little, you know, portable setups you can take, like rotten real combos that, you know, all go into, like I say, a little little Gary bag about.

I don't know, the size of an iPad. It's just amazing how much you can get, what the gear now. And a lot of people always say fish light. What are your tips on that?

If you're going camping, take a bit of light gear with you and see what you can do? Yeah, definitely. I mean, um the technology in our um gears come a long way. especially in the last 10 years, um to the point now where there is some really good travel options as far as your rods goes. Everyone knows that's sort of the, probably the most cumbersome and perhaps an inconvenient thing to be carting around with you in cars and stuff, but, um, yeah, I use a brand of travel rod called Jabbers, um, it's a Singapore brand and they, they broke down into 4 pieces, and um, and yeah, I mean, it's as good as any top shelf rod you can get.

from tackle shops around the place and um, yeah, breaks down and you can say you can tuck it in your backpack. And if you're going for a bushwalk or, you know, um, the whole seat of the Ute or whatever makes it just real easy, um, to pull up at a culvert, like we were talking about last week and have a bit of a flick if you get a chance where you see a spot that looks like it's worth having a go. Yeah, she just throw a bit, just throw a lure on and into her. Yeah, that's right.

And, you know, yeah, you don't have to take too much tackle as well. uh you can get I mean, I've got an absolute boatload, a tackle, of course, but it's um, you, you probably find that over the course of year, you really are only using half a dozen different main lures. The gold bomber is one of the old tried and true up here and then the Reedy soft plastics is probably, if you were to choose one of one of each a hard body in a soft plastic this time of year, I'd probably grab a 5 inch Reedy's rubber and a 15 a gold bomber and that'd probably get me through a day.

I reckon. And for those of people who haven't got a clue like me. So, what, throw throw a bit of weight on with them or just, you throw the little rid on its own or you throw some weight on it, depending on where you are? Yeah, no, both of those ones are really easy because they're, um, sorry, the gold bomber is a 15 centimetre hard body lure, it's got 3 trebles and it, and it will dive down to about a metre and a half on the car.

So you cast it out and just wind it back with a bit of a twitch and pause, get that erratic action happening. Mark, how I bought that bar at that time. that's what I was doing Yeah, that's right.

Yeah, I think that's how you are always, normally. It's just, it's just, it's still the bows, which, of course. Yeah, go on. Go on. But then, and with the reason... I don't even want to think about what you were trying to say then.

That's all right. It's a pre- it's a pre-rigged soft plastic. Brady's is a really well-known modern territory brand. So, yeah, it's got its own sort of lead weight inside and hook.

So you've got to do is time. It looks like a little fish and if you get, you know, various different colours. The gold one is a, is a great colour, looks like a baby barra. and they are quite cannibalistic.

So, yeah, it works well and you can pretty much just throw them out and wind back in steadily. So. And you say that's a big brand in the territory. If someone was went up there and bought, you know, travelled up there for a bit of a trip and then came home with that same lure of work down here and some of the waters in other parts of the country or?

Yeah, definitely. particularly that you can buy Reedies all over the country. Um, but yeah, certainly, um, the smaller ones are 3 inch, reedish rubbers work really good on you, um, red green and yellow belly and stuff down south and and you catch brim on the, um, on them as well. Big brim, um flathead.

Yeah, any of those sort of any I mean, any fish that eats other forage fish as well. Um, the other thing that we can do to them, which we do up here a little bit too, is add a little um, spinner blade to the bottom of them, um, and that brings you into the realm of, um, of also catching Murray Todd with them as well. So, yeah, quite versatile just with a few modifications.

Well, mate, I'm asking all the hard questions you today, Wadi, because, you know, some, some, some of the, you know, people listening to us aren't as good a fisherman as you and I, and, uh, No, it is, it's interesting. I mean, that's why I asked you. I mean, I mean, the end of the day, I mean, that's what you do when people love to get out there and people love throwing in a line. And with more and more people, I think now, when I saw some figures the other day that, you know, 2 years ago, pre-COVID, I mean, I think there was something like 600,000 boats registered in Australia, there's now over a million. It's almost a 50% growth in 2 years.

9 out of 10 of those boats and live on trailers. I mean, so that means that's a lot more people going fishing as well, mate. You would think they were taking it up. So, um, they're not all water skis, so I'm thinking, you know, plenty of people do, maybe not as experienced or as, you know, a fairly new at fishing, so it's good to just sort of spread the word.

You're the man with all the knowledge. I've got no idea as yet. As you know, I was just talking myself up, but no, it's good stuff. All right, mate, will you enjoy up there, not long before you say what, the 20th of February?

That's not far off. It's only a few weeks away, so you'd be down there and made into it for it should be a bumper season for you. Yeah, it is looking like it's going to be an absolute bumper season, fishing wise, and also, obviously, we're really heavily booked right throughout the year. So, yeah, I mean, it's great.

Hopefully Australians can get back out and certainly have a good look around the country this year with a few less travel restrictions and everyone can sort of have a fun and enjoyable and safe time on the water. Mate, I've got, you better make a spot for a mate of mine coming up there. Scotty, Hannah, Hannah's haulage. Any truckies out there driving along.

You work for Hanna's haulage. I feel sorry for you, your boss is he'd be hard work. But mate, he's coming your way. Just while you're there and anyone listening, you know, Scott Hanna will agree with me.

very politically correct, he's easily offended. So you have to just treat him gently when he gets up there, but mate, you'll work it out. Yeah, I think I know what you're talking about there, mate. I'll sort him out.

He should be living up there. That's all I'll say. All right, we'll catch over you next week, mate. And see what's happening is you get closer to your 3 month stink down there at the Daly River, eh?

Look forward, and I bet you're looking forward to that, mate. We'll chat to you next week. Yeah, absolutely. Can't wait to see Richard and Eugene and my 1st clients down there.

so unreal. Can't wait to see them down there. Yeah, good stuff. I bet they can't wait to see you as well mate.

Well, all right, we'll chat. Oh, I'm serious. mate, please. Well, we'll chat to you next week to see what's doing as we get closer to you hitting the big fishing season that's going to be this 2022, which will be big for you, mate.

chat next week. See you later, bud. So, mate, there he is. That's okay.

I mean, Glenn, what are you, what? You can check him out. barefootfishing safaris.com.au. Go to the Facebook page of the same name, and like I say, if you're going to the Northern Territory, whether you're planning a trip for this year, next year, or this year, he sounds like he's booked, but get onto it, check out some of the educational videos and tips he does.

No one knows more about it than he does, especially when it comes to that Top End stuff. So get onto it. barefootfishingsafaris.com.au You can check out the Facebook page, as I say, it's Barefoot Fishing Safaris.