Bag a Barra — 3 March 2023

Remember to buy local and fish local. visit shamanofish.com.au. Well, he sent me photos and videos last week with a big monsoonal rain. We'll find out if he survived.

of your waterlog, Watty, how are you? Oh, yeah, well, it continues to be pretty wet up here, duck. right, though. There's been a fair few people actually evacuated out of communities.

Really? some of the big rivers, yeah, which is um, there's, I think, 750 odd people, um, camp here in Darwin there, um, because the, the houses are all flooded down towards the, uh, the Vic River and around the Daly as well. Well, look, if you're up in that part of the world and you're affected by this. There's plenty of camping available in Wadi's backyard. Yeah, sounds about that.

Maybe you'll throw in a light beer as well. Turn up. You know? Well, you were going to put me at the front, weren't you, on the road?

When I come up there. Yeah, yeah, that's right. The grass is looking too nice out there now. Let's find somewhere else for you.

What out in the road? That's where you were going to put me. So you're not stopping in here, but I'm happy to sit jump out the front. On the other side of the fence, on the other side of the fence.

Oh, yeah, well and truly. Anyway, so if you are affected by that. You're looking for accommodation. Well, we'll give you what he's number.

Just contact us here. duck 4 by 4.com and send an email. But no, that's big, isn't it? And I mean, and it's, look, what have you been up there for a long time, has it been a bigger wet this year?

Like it's, it, it just seems to be keep on keeping on at the moment. How's it going? Yeah, yeah, look, it really is. I mean, the Daly is currently flooded right up around the township and the vic as well.

So, um, yeah, south alligators, um, in the same boat. So, yeah, I mean it, uh, we did, we were looking like probably having an average wet, but I think we'll, um, by the end of, end of March, we'll probably be right up there, perhaps in the top 10% if it keeps raining a bit, um, like it sort of seems like it's going to. And how's the humidity in the heat and all that? I mean, you love it.

It's bearable. Everyone's enjoying it. Well, yeah, I mean, because it's raining all the time, it's pretty cool. Like, it's 24, 26, sort of most days.

Still get a bit steamy if you're sort of outside and active, but yeah, I mean, it's quite pleasant weather, really. Well, that rules you out outside and active. I mean, I mean, of course, it's outside in a beer garden or something. Now, listen, look, the water will get away and all of that, and the dry season will come and people are going to head up there, and there's probably plenty of people listening to us now down south who, you know, just, you know, can't wait to get up there, and they've got their trip plans and their accommodation booked and all that, and their full drives and caravans ready to go.

Mate, everyone who goes up the Top End, they want to go fishing, a couple of spots you reckon like, Keith. So, where are some of the must, you know, the must do spots where they should really go and throw in the line if they want to get that barrow. Well, I mean, the, one of the classic ones, of course, uh, once the river does drop, um, is the Daly River, they can stand on the crossing there and catch a barrow almost every night of the year apart from, like at the moment when it's 13 metres above the crossing. struggle to get in there.

And big lizards, there's some big lizards there with teeth. So you'll be careful. Yeah, for sure. Any of those crossing, so you've got the um, the Daly River one, the uh, the Sampan Cricket, um, Shady Camp is also a really famous one and the um, the East Alligator.

That's where you see all those videos of all those props in around the barrow, so you do need to be a bit careful, but they are building some viewing platforms and fishing platforms down there. Well, it should be finished by the time everyone get tuppy this year, I reckon. So fishing platforms, so you can stand and fish off this platform and it's a fair bit safer and throw in a line, yeah? Yeah, yeah, that's the idea, yeah.

just on those platforms and crossings and that. Um, Cahill Crossing. Oh, what's going on there? Yeah, that's that's the one.

Yeah, that's on the East Alligator, the car crossing. So that's where they're building those new in platforms. Yeah, right, okay. because I remember if you were talking

Sorry, man, for some reason I was just looking at something and thinking of the Daly River, but yeah, so there, because I remember there was some, there was a controversy or something going on there or whatever with those crossings or they were building at the wrong time, but with those platforms, but it's all happening. Yeah, I guess they, I mean, they were building those platforms through the dry season when all the tourists are around, which was inconvenient. I suppose, for those guys, but at the same time, you simply can't build a, uh, platform there now because the, the river's metres and metres underwater. So, yeah, practical considerations, I guess.

Yeah, I'm tripping plenty of people have seen that at crossing on social media. There's some great videos there and I just can't believe in you see some of those videos there with people standing in knee deep water fishing, just amazing how stupid some people can be. It's incredible. Yeah, yeah, I mean, it's not really worth the risk, is it?

Catching Barrow is pretty good, but walking away from it at the end of the day is a bit more important. Yeah, Dundee Beach and those places. They're popular spots as well. Yeah, Dundee's are a really popular one.

Of course, you've got your barra fishing and your and your blue water fishing off Dundee and all your reef and plate because well, you can catch good barra straight off the rocks at Dundee, even from sort of out in front of the lodge and and knock walk you, you know, walk down 500 metres down the rocks there and some really good fish in some spots that we actually fish a lot on gold fishing trips. So, uh, it's a good one even, even at this time of year. Yep, absolutely, mate. And then my favourite.

You know my favourite. Yeah, the old Croggery Billabong? You had a boat for that one, don't you? You do need a boat, but you can hire boats there.

You can hire a party barge or a barbeque barge there or a little kinny. Hang on, hang on. Hang on, hang on. You can hire a barbeque party barge. Yeah, that's right.

yeah. Oh, how good's that? Yeah, it's really good, actually. They're great fun and they've got house bikes there as well, of course.

So you can, you can hire a, hire a tinny or a party barge and a houseboat and sort of tow it all the way along up to, right near where you caught your 1st barrow there, duck, and chuck the anchor out and, you know, you sort of camp there for a couple of nights. Oh how good would that be? Feeding in a house boat there. Oh, how good would that be?

Yeah, yeah. Oh, that'd be amazing. I'm a few days there. Just, oh, mate, that'd be, because, mate, I remember when we were there and you watched the sun come up and just that beautiful night, it's just natural. It's, it's, I said to you, this is the real deal here.

when you took the Top End. This is the real deal. It doesn't get any realer than this, does it? Right there.

It's a great story. Yeah absolutely. Especially, yeah, I mean, a sunset then and the barr starting to buff as you're cooking your barbeque dinner is a pretty special thing too, which you never really get to hear unless you're out there at that time of night. Yeah, just incredible mate.

And yeah, it's just, for me, that was just the real deal. It was just amazing. I thought, mate, this is as good as it gets. Being on that, on your boat that, that morning as the sun had come, is coming up and, just amazing.

If you haven't been to the Top End and gone to places like Robbery Billabong. mate, you haven't lived, you need to do it. And if you aren't sure, well, then we just get on to blokes like you and other guides, don't we? And news blokes can take them out.

Yeah, that's right, especially, like, if you've got a week or so, you can jump on with a guide for your 1st day and then hire both for the rest of it, if you want to go down that path. Yeah, go back and have a crack yourself, because most people who do it, I mean, a fisherman, you know, in other parts of the country, in other parts of the times of the year, but there are people who have got no idea like me and just come on and jump on with you and away we go. So it is good, mate. And I think that it won't be long now. You got all the, you know, all the swimming places at the moment, obviously closed off, like, you know, Berry Springs and all those places in Litchfield and that.

But when will they be open? I guess we got, it all depends on how far, how fast the water can get away, they've got to go in and make sure it's safe in those places. Yeah, pretty well. That's how it goes.

I was actually chatting to a lady from Sydney today who's um heading up later in the month who um came to do similar plans for that, and yeah, I mean, they've got a, there's a few of them that will remain open through Litchfield, but uh a lot of the areas that you can swim particularly through Kakadu. They in um, they're in sort of quite wet, uh, low country as well. So you need to wait for the road to dry out and um get graders in through there and then and then clear the crops out. So, um, so it not gets eaten, I suppose.

So, yeah, it does take a little bit of time, usually by sort of uh end of April, May, um those things will start to open up one by one. Yep, good stuff. All right, mate. Well we're looking forward to it.

I think it's going to be a bumper fishing season for you, and for anybody else that goes up there, and maybe, as I said, there'd be a stack of people listening to us right now, who have got that northern territory trip planned, ready to go, and they're just waiting, and, you know, getting work out of the way or whatever it is, or people that are retired or are heading up there. They just can't wait because it's a pretty popular spot once it gets cool down here. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, we'll start seeing um, seeing Fishermen or Keen Fisher up here pretty shortly.

Actually, usually, you know, once we tick into March, which we are now. We'll start getting the phone calls for one day trips and stuff coming up here. So, yeah, feel free to give us a call and we'd be able to put you on the right path for that as well. All right, you're a good man, Marty. I'll let you get back to the big garden.

Awesome, mate, no worries. Try not to be too active in that garden, okay? No, I don't wanna break a sweat. I don't know, especially, you'd be the only bloke in the northern series, it doesn't sweat.

Well, ideally that'd be nice. Oh, yeah, you do when they're going to close the pub. When they call last drinks, usually go into a leather. You got 2 hands for a reason, mate.

Exactly. Yeah, I know. I know. All right, talk to you next week, mate.

Good on you, mate. Thanks very much. There he is. That's Glenn.

What do you want? You can check him out. Bfoot fishing safaris. We'll check out Angling Adventures.

You can find websites, you can find him on social media on Facebook. He does it all, and he's the best in the business. The good thing about what he is and he's very, he's not just a fishing guy. He a lot more than that.

And it's fantastic. The stuff he does up there, his online courses, all that stuff, and he really puts back in and he wants as many people as they can to enjoy the fishing lifestyle, especially in that part of the world and beyond there. As you know, we've spoken about some of his overseas fishing trips now. Find it all there at Barefoot Fishing Safaris, and of course, Barefoot fishing, Angling, what's it called?

What, are you still there? Angling adventures. Angling, angling. I mean, I mean, I mean, you've become you've become the Rupert Murdoch, a fishing.

You've got companies and names everywhere. It's hard to keep up. That's true. Yeah, that's right.

Well, have fun. Talk to you next week. There he is. you'll find.

Just Google Wani, the guru from the Top End. might work. Anyway, he is the man when it comes to fishing up there, angling adventures, and of course, Barefoot Fishing Safaris.