Bag a Barra — 19 April 2024

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 shamanofish.com.au. Well, I was sitting here the other day and just kicking back and the phone kept going off.

Text messages. I thought, who are all these people texting me? Anyway, so I thought, oh, better have a look. something's going on

I've got the whole stack of text messages here. And it was all from one person, sending me the same video, 15 times. He caught a metery. Watty?

Well done, son. Can you tell people what a metre he is? Yeah, well, the metre is a very, oh, it's a very coveted term up here, I suppose, mate. That's when you finally get your hand on a, on a barrow over 100 centimetres.

Uh something that all barrow anglers probably dream of do after they catch their 1st one. Yeah, well, I've got to say, I did see, I did watch the video. I couldn't miss it because you did send it to me 15 times to make sure I saw it. But I've got to say to you that it took a bit to Pauline.

He looked like he had a bit of, how must he weigh? Uh, that particular one, uh, 102 centimetres, they'd probably be, uh, it wouldn't be, they, they talk about a real big one being sort of a £50 but I'd say it's probably close to 40. So, yeah, 18, 16 kilos, something like that maybe? That's unbelievable.

That is, I mean, yeah, if that dollar's fishing, that size. That is unbelievable. What did you just do with him? Quick photos, mate.

put a research tag in his shoulder and a couple of quick photos and then back in the drink. Hopefully catch him again next to you when he's a bit bigger. So lucky for him that you're a very responsible fisherman. Well, yeah, actually, and following the guidelines and actually the regulations up here, are allowed to keep one barrow over 90 centimetres, and that's designed around the sort of if it happens to be.

So if that fish was hooked in the gills and bleeding badly and and wasn't going to revive, then we could legally keep it and not sort of waste it and feed it to crocodiles or sharks, which is a, which is a sensible rule, but, you know, the, those fish there would produce a few 1000000 eggs each year as a, as a big breeding female, so we're pretty keen to keep those ones in the system, uh, swoon around and fit and healthy. Okay, so if they are that size, you've got to, you've got to hang on to, you've got to put them, you know, put them back and, and, and let them do their thing, which is pretty responsible really. Um, certainly, um, it is, it is good that, that, that, and it's good that everyone is sort of obliged by those rules too. I think the majority of people fishing in the Top End would certainly be abiding by those rules, wouldn't they?

No, absolutely. Yeah, I mean, the only time you would ever see a, about over, over 90 get necked, which is that, that legal limit, um, would be, you know, out on community where they, where they're getting, they are fishing specifically for a feed, uh, or if, um, or if the fish dies in the boat or during capture, um, you know, might get a tail bitten off by shark or, or is just bleeding badly and won't revive, then you can legally keep one over 90 per, per session type thing. So, uh, but yeah, um, it's always been the gentleman's agreement, that the bonds go back and, and I sort of take it a bit, a step further on my guided fishing trips where we sort of put back anything over about sort of high 70s, uh, it's, it's been a long time since I've killed a barrow over 80 centimetres, and it's practical as well, as well as um, the environmental side of things. I mean, those 75 centimetre barred, 2 fillets off them will feed 4 people really perfectly, you know, and they fit inside our zippy bags that we send fish home with and and that sort of stuff.

So it's practical and environmental reasons for working those decisions for me. Makes me feel good considering that when I caught, you didn't hesitate to clean that one up for me. Yeah, well, I mean, that's a nice healthy fish. That was at about mid 60s or high 60s or something.

That's the problem. Yeah, well, I think we got 2 nights out of him. Yeah, yeah, I think. That wasn't that big.

if you fill it out with a bit of chips and salad and stuff, it does go a long way. Chips and salad a couple of beers. Yeah, good on you mate. What else is happening up there quickly, mate.

I mean, it'd be starting to gear up for a cracking season. You're starting to see a few people make their way that in that direction yet or is it just a bit early? No, yeah, they're on their way. Generally after Easter is going to start, then by Anzac Day, it'll be pretty busy, um, which is coming up, of course, what's that next week or something?

Um, so yeah, it's um, it's getting busy. I'm pretty confident that the season has turned. There's a few little indicators that I go by up here and they're pretty reliable and that's happening now. We've got some cool nights and humidity's dropping a bit and stuff, so, yeah, so, it's sort of camping weather now, which is um, it's a big change to a couple of weeks ago, but that's what happens up here when it stops, it stops, and when it starts, it starts, I think.

Yeah, absolutely. Talk about camping, whether we're off to the Victorian high country next week. I reckon it'll be a little bit cooler down there than where it's where you are. Yeah, definitely. I've got, although I do have a bit of that in the in the blood.

We've got heritage in Estale down at the little snowy down there, um, like near the Mida Mida River, and it's been a lot of time uh, walking up and down those streams down there chasing the trout, and of course now the codfish is down there pretty good too. So, um, yeah, I do enjoy getting down that country. Usually when it's still a bit warm because Frost on the swag isn't something that I look forward to too much these days. Yeah, I know, I know. Tell me about it.

I don't know. I seem to feel the cold a little bit more these days anyway. But we'll be down there. We'll have camp.

I was actually then there filming for Oz off-road TV and you can catch that on YouTube and as I put on social media, later in the year, we'll be re-editing all those episodes and having a revamp and they'll be on the 9 network somewhere, across mouldy stations and as well as 9 now. So we look forward to airing that over the summer months there. But we'll be down there filming the high country for Oz Afraid TV, which would be great. All right, mate. Well, it sounds like it's all happening up there in the Top End.

Well done on catching that fish. I'll delete some of those videos. It's blocking me phone. And we'll let you get back into whatever it is you're doing. Just quickly, the $10,000 fish thing still happening.

Still happening, mate. They're going to be quiet. Yeah, the, um, you know, like I've said in the past, they do tend to um, spread out a bit this time of year, so maybe once the water drops, drops off into the river's a bit more and fish are in the flood, uh, back into billabongs and stuff that might, someone might turn into a millionnaire, but no, no, uh, no, uh, breaking news on that front at the moment. All right, mate, no dramas.

All right. Well we'll try and catch you next week if you're not out on the boat somewhere. Yeah, mate, we'll do that. Good on you, mate.

There he is. Watty. Bear wood fishing safari's all simply look for angling adventures, angling adventures. If you want to go fishing in the Top End, he's your man, and you'll go and you're certainly not guaranteed, but geez, you're a bigger chance of catching a bar of Monday going out with Watty than you are just going out there doing your best on your race, I can tell you.

I mean, I've got all the gear and absolutely no idea here, and even I caught one. So he knows where they are, and angling adventures, not just in the Top End, but beyond these days, he does some pretty, he runs some pretty good fishing trips at the moment, and you can check him all out at the website, anglingadventures.com.au, or look for Barefoot Fishing Safaris as well, and go up there and go fishing in the Top End with one of the best.