Bag a Barra — 1 December 2023

It's time to head to the top N and Bag a Barra. With Glenn Watty Watts, thanks to Shimano. Remember to buy local and fish local. visit shimanofish.com.au. And he is the man behind Barefoot Fishing Safaris up there in the Top End of Darwin, and I think he's fishing season's come to an end now.

So, what pubby at, Roddy? Well, probably not far away from one mate. at the moment, I've been tearing around all day, so it's probably about that time. Now, listen, I was talking to Jace Andrews more for adventure earlier, and he was talking about how he's caught a metre barramundi.

He's mate, Simon hasn't caught one yet. He's trying to catch his second. Mate, how common is it? How hard is it to catch that barramundi that's at a metre long?

Oh, yeah, well, I mean, that's the absolute pinnacle or, you know, the holy grail for barrel fishing for sure. So it's, um, it's something that everyone definitely wants to do when they, uh, well, especially after you catch that 1st day, you would remember the feeling you got, when you caught yours, you thought, oh, wow, imagine if I could get one even bigger. So, it's um, it's certainly something that everyone wants to do, and it can, it can be really hard and takes a long, long time, or, you know, like everything is fishing, a bit of luck goes your way. Um, it can happen pretty quickly and um, and seemingly without too much effort, we have. I've, I've had a few clients over the years whose very 1st barrow has been over a metre.

Wow. I always tell them that they're going to put a big cross on their license and they won't be allowed back into the territory. Man, is it true? Is it true that the Barramundi will run out of stamina pretty quickly? Uh, they, I mean, they, even on a really big fish, they, we, we caught a metre 22 earlier this year in runoff, which is the biggest barrow I've guided, and we got the whole thing on video.

It probably goes for about 6 minutes. Yep. Uh, and that's a pretty long fight. At the time, it seems like it's 20 minutes or an hour, you know, but time sort of stands still. But the, the, especially the big fish, they don't jump heaps, they, they might jump a couple of times, but then they're just so big and strong and that's surging under the boat and and sort of running the angler around the place is, is when it gets, is when you usually lose them, you know, like they'll get into a snag or um, just their power, their size um, more than, than sort of how much stamina they've got, yeah.

It's unbelievable. I know you mentioned to me off air that your season has come to an end. It's amazing how quick the year goes because you're off to the farm again soon, the family farm in Victoria. I mean, geez, how many years you've been coming on this show now, Watty, because every year we get to this point when we catch you down at the farm.

I mean, we've done that quite a few times now. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, the annual pilgrimage down to the Yavey country in Western Victoria. And really looking forward to it.

And each year, the fishing in our local area gets better and better as well. They've been stalking a hell of a lot of native species, the cod, yellow belly, and bass into Rockland's Reservoir at Balmoral, and they've actually, Fisheries, Victoria has put up a 1000 bucks, I think it is for whoever catches the 1st metre out of Rockland's Reservoir, which is, you know, maybe that'll be me. Oh, good. Well, you can't win well, you can't win the $1000000 ones.

You might as well have that, right, the poverty private of the grand. Yeah, yeah. I mean, when you get down here, you just go, I use a kidding down here. I mean, we're giving away a $10000 where I come from. You know, you got, hey, how miserable are you, son? You blokes, a 1000 bucks, please.

Everything's bigger in the Top End, mate. I think the bank account, the Victorian government might be skinny at the moment. Didn't they cancel the Commonwealth Games or something down there anyway? Yeah, that's right. saving their bucks anyway.

Or right, well no dramas. Quickly, anything else that you want to mention that's happened there? Or is that it? Yeah, no, look, it's all happening, mate.

We've had the most amazing glass out weather in between the rain. So the offshore fishing and the barrow fishing is really is just going off for those who are willing to sort of brave the conditions at this time of year, which of course is mostly locals. But yeah, we're all, you know, you can almost sit around and watch the grass grow at this time of year and like I keep saying, it's my favourite part and when I come back from down the farm for Christmas time. I'll be flat out on the mower. I reckon just looking out the window here.

Imagine how many stubbies it takes to do that, eh, Gary? I mean, sure. Yeah, we got these camel back, see? We got a 2 litre camel back and just fill her up. Mate, tell me about those next week, all right?

Righto, mate. Good on you. There he is. our fishing guru up there in the Top End, Barefoot Fishing Safaris or angling adventures as he winds down the year, but he'll still be joining us each week here on the radio, that is for sure.

And there's none better when it comes to catching Barramundi, and knowing all about the fishing exploits in the Top End, the now, man, Watty, Barefoot Fishing Safaris.