Bag a Barra — 24 February 2023

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, it's almost time to get out of here, but before we do that, we want to catch up with Watty because he's going to get pretty wet up there over the weekend and obviously in the next couple of days. There's big monsoonal rains all happening up there in Darwin. What do g'day? Yeah, how you going, duck?

It always seems to be soggy and wet when I'm trying to work on the boat without a shed to keep me dry, so maybe I should do that more often when we're having a dry spell. Yeah, I know this obviously has an effect on fishing, but I guess more water the better because you want that big last minute topper before the dry season, but when monsoon will rain, How much rain is that? Uh, it's, it's probably, this one isn't, um, such huge amounts at the moment largely, um, but just sort of continuous pitter patter all day, like we might get a 100 mil for a day or something like that.

So it is a decent amount of rain, but it's not sort of ripping the roof off type thing, but it just gets everything flowing again and lifts the river levels again and sort of finishes off a wet season for us. What's it like in that? I mean, because it's the locals love it, don't they? The wet season.

I found when I was up there with you a couple of years ago and everyone you spoke to that lived there, they loved it. Yeah, that's right. I mean, it's a time of year that everything just comes to life. you know, you got to cut your grass every week and the rivers are flowing, all the animals are breeding and stuff and it just really rejuvenates the land and I guess us as well.

Horses will dust off after a long, dusty dry season. So, yeah, we do tend to love a wet season of beer. And the rain doesn't bother anyone because, I mean, down here, if it rains, you're more than a few days, probably go, oh, this bloody rain won't go. But up there, it's just part of life.

Yeah, that's right. Yeah, the more the better, really, for us up here. Sort of everything revolves around it, all the tourism, and, um, you know, even, even other industry revolves around having big good wet seasons to get some work happening for everyone for the following year. Is it, you say, this will, this will help this, this, this top up, because obviously it'll, it'll start to back off soon.

So this will do wonders for your up and coming fishing season. Yeah, absolutely. This is absolutely perfect, just what we needed. It's one more river rise and then it can, it can sort of finish off and start to peter out and let the rivers and floodplains start to drop from even next week on would be, would be just fine, but yeah, it's, it's absolutely perfect this timing.

All right, mate. Well, make sure you stay, try and stay dry, get the work done on that boat and try and stay out of the bottle. We'll talk to you next week, eh? That's right.

Might be going for a bloody porter or a whiskey to start. Yeah, of course, of course. I mean, I would expect nothing less. All right, mate.

Well done. We'll have an extended chat to you next week about all of that and see you're going, but say good day to me, all the local publicans there for me, mate. I know you know all that. All right.

Yeah, will do, mate. No worries at all. See you later. There he is.

Barefoot Fishing Safaris, angling adventures as well. He's the go to in the top band when it comes to fishing. Our man, Watty, that is for sure. Be sure to check out the Facebook page and isn't he going to be in for a bumper fishing season this year and I know he's looking forward to it.

He's the best up there, and you know, he doesn't like me saying that, but we know he is. So he certainly is a go. you're heading to the Top End, you want to go fishing, you need to get onto our man, Watty.