Bag a Barra — 1 March 2024

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, of course, what is our mean up in the Top End, and you can find him at Barefoot Fishing Safaris, and, of course, Angling Adventures. He is on the line. Now, Wadi, I saw something. I'm not sure whether it's true or not, but Taylor Swift could be heading your way.

Is that right or not? Well, I did see something about her head and ears rock or something. Yeah, she, I don't know whether she's going to come to Darwin. It might be a bit hot and sweaty for all her makeup up here at the moment.

You know, she wears a lot of makeup. I assume that, it's probably a rude thing to assume, um, lovely tailor, but yeah, I just assume there'd being in showbiz, there might be a bit of that, and it probably get a bit runny up here at the moment, mate. I've got to say to you, I mean, she has been absolute, mate, massive here. All down, all along the east coast.

I mean, it's quite incredible really. that one person can change the mood of the whole community. I mean, it's incredible. I think it's a good thing.

Oh, yeah, absolutely. I'm all for it. I think, uh, like, she's a really positive role model, especially for young women, but for young people in general, you know, like, she's never caught up in any dramas and she, she does all her own uh, songwriting and and writes all her own music and stuff, and it just goes to show that, like, if you, if you are prepared to have a bit of a crack and and do things the right way, that you can, you can really go places. I mean, she's from a Christmas tree farm out in rural America there somewhere.

So, she had a privileged upbringing, but she just, um, she's chased a dream and, you know, like she's, uh, she's having major impact on, on the economies of, um, of, of everywhere she goes these days. Oh, mate, and you know what? There's a lot of bad extraordinary. Oh, mate, a lot of bad news around in the news, you know? A lot of stories around that aren't good.

I mean, I reckon it's good. Anyway, I don't know how we got up talking about Taylor Swift, only that I saw something. I think that what it might have been, what I did see that she was heading out there to Airs Rock and having a look there and good honour if she is. Well done, and I think what she's done here, the amount of people that would be earning money out of a touring Australia would be amazing.

She'd certainly get the economy a beast if anything. Well done to her. Now, talking about giving the economy a booster, what have you been doing up there, mate? It's all happening up there right now?

A bit more rain, they reckon? and fishing? What's happening? Yeah, we are.

We're into it. We finished the 1st trip of the year the other day out at Kakadu. So that was, that was really good to get back on the water and, and have a look down the Riddler and, yeah, we found that uh, there's definitely plenty of fish around and once uh, once the water settles a little bit, like I keep saying it, it'll really fire. Hopefully by the next trip.

We've got a bit of a monsoon break period right here at the moment, but it is forecast to come back up from, I think, south of Darwin, which will just keep it. All we need now is just a little bits of rain here and there just to keep things sort of topped up and just keep it happening. What, what we don't want is a big long break of, say, 2 or 3 weeks where it doesn't rain, and then the water up on the floodplains, that's, you know, less than knee deep will, starts to get a bit hot, and then those, the bait fish and the frogs and all, all the yabbies and everything that's up there, sort of breeding up and providing that food for the Barra. that they can uh get it put under a bit of stress and and perhaps not breed as much and and even at some points uh can die as well. and yeah, we just don't want those water temps to get up too high, which it definitely at the moment doesn't look like it's going to happen.

We've just got this rain ticking along here and there. So, yeah, it's all lined up to be pretty incredible year for fishing and for everything up here, you know. I mean, the more rain, the better the waterfalls are and all those swimming holes and stuff, so it sets it up for a really good season for everyone. Oh, you're going to be for an absolute cracker.

And mate, our plan is to get up there later in the year, as you know. Probably think about giving you some dates for all of that. Mate, there was something I saw. It's funny how things pop up on your news feed, and I know these things were popping up on mine. I had a look, and I don't know how they find you, but anyway, these rec decks, recreational decks for jet skis, mate, do people fish for fish off jet skis up in the Top End much?

Not much. There is a couple, and mostly you'll see them out of out in the harbour, I suppose, in what we would consider the blue water, sort of away from the mangroves and stuff, and where it's, uh, I guess you can consider it safe from crocodiles to a certain degree. They get out there and chase the tudor around, you know, when they're busting up and, and have a lot of fun. Sometimes there's actually a jet ski tour in Darren Harbour and sometimes the workers will blast out in between trips and catch a couple of tuner and stuff and have a bit of fun out there.

So, they do do that. There is a couple of local blokes, one fellow in particular, he's a retired fishing guide, one of the old original fishing guide, that he's got a jet ski that he's set up specifically for bar fishing, and he's got a bit of a cage around it and stuff like that. So if he does get into mischief. Well, if he sort of does come across a crocodile, he doesn't get him to mischief.

He's got an esky spot for an esky on it, and he can fit a few barrow in it when he, when he puts a bag of ice in it and stuff, and he actually records a really efficient fishing platform for Barrow, because as, as you would know, you, you don't need much water for him to float and be able to drive in, so you can get into real shallow areas and really target those barrow when they, when they're perhaps biting a bit better. That's the problem up there because I know it's pretty popular. becoming a popular vessel to fish off free down these parts, but up there, obviously, you got crocs. Yeah, that's it.

That's the only real drama, is the crocs, and there's a few bikes that get out on the kayaks and that sort of stuff, and yeah, it's just a matter of being, uh, being thoughtful about what you're doing and where you're putting it, you know, like, so Darwin Harv is probably one of the better places to do it because they consistently trap all the crocodiles out of there. So if there is any, they're most likely small and not going to give very any problems. And, um, yeah, I mean, word gets around pretty quick if there is a bigger one around sort of thing. So, but yeah, you you just, you've got to be really mindful of that. It's not something that I would probably do.

But, um, you know, people are keen enough to do it. Yeah. All right, mate. Well, we'll let you get back.

I thought I'd ask you that one because I know you're all over it up there. All right, mate. Well, you get through this next bit of rain, mate, and we'll see if we can't find you somewhere next week and find out what's biting wear, eh? Yeah, that it'll be exciting.

We've ticked over 1100 mils at our joints. It's Christmas. So, if it keeps coming here, we're actually above average, just above average for rainfall for the, um, for this season at the moment, yeah, in Darwin, which is which is really good. Yeah. Good stuff, Noah.

All right, mate. talk to you next week. Right, yeah. Thanks, mate.

There he is. That Noah's Ark up there, but he'll be building the ark soon. Oh, our man, Watty, up there in the Top End, and we'll as we get into it, it's going to be a lot harder to get, but as we get into it, we certainly find out what he's biting as people make the journey south to the Top End to go fishing. We've not only Watty, but other people.

Of course, we send them. We love them to go with Watty. We'll be going with it with him ourselves later in the year, but it's all about the takeoff up there in the Top End, which is what plenty of people listen to this show. Head to Darwin and places top around there to go and catch that, elusive Barramundi.