Bag a Barra — 6 December 2024

Remember to buy local and fish local. visit shimanofish.com.au. Well, if you want to go fishing in the Top End, your go to, of course, is Barefoot Fishing Safaris, or if you want to go further than that, you need to get onto angling adventures. It's all run by the same bloke and he joins us every week on the show, Glenn.

What do you want? What do you g'day? G'day, Doc, how are you going? Mate, they tell me that you've been on the ride on Moa all week.

is that right Oh, yeah, well, not only is it good fishing season. good grass growing season up here, mate. There's a twice a week job around our joint at the moment.

Keep it look tidy, yeah. You're riding along and it's growing behind you. Pretty well. Yeah.

No, it looks bloody good though, doesn't it? You know, when you get you get the grass all nice and freshly mowed. Satisfying thing. Yeah, it's all nice and green this time of year with all that rain.

How has the rain been? Big storms up there, mate. Yeah, not massive storms like it was last week, but sort of consistent rain each day. Not everywhere.

Of course, it is a little bit patchy. We missed out on a day or 2 but yeah, more and more rain and um a few more roads being closed. They cross the gate at Kale's Crossing across Arnham Land during the week and there's a few of the um Kakadu billabongs and other swimming holes that are closing up sort of as the water levels rise. So yeah, it's all going to plan.

Kale's Crossing, isn't that one of them crossings where you see some of the most idiotic behaviour anywhere? You'll see it anywhere, mate. People standing knee deep in water fishing, kids playing in the water. I've seen it all.

I mean, it's just ludicrous with 100s of crocodiles. But you can see them and you've got people, I mean, it's just unbelievable. Some of the videos that I've seen. It is a bit of a worry.

What do you do? You can't put a fence around it. No, well, that's true. wouldn't work regardless. So, yeah, people have got to use their own brains a bit more.

Okay, any more fish any more tag fish for the $1000000 fish competition lately? You heard anything there? No, no more this week that I'm aware of. But yeah, I mean, the harbour continues to fish really well.

You know, this sort of stormy weather, we get that absolute glass out condition, so it makes really good, particularly harbour and blue water fishing on the big tides, and then, yeah, it's all about those big barren, the mouths of the rivers, on the smaller ties, and I mean, it's a common thing every day. You drive around Darwin. There's boats on the road everywhere, but, um, you know, more and more, you, you can, you can almost pick what tides it is, the, depending on which, which direction the boats are heading in, so everyone's out and about. Yep, absolutely mate.

And what's biting, mate? I'm chipping the barrel. they big on the bite at the minute at the minute? Oh yeah, definitely.

Yeah, plenty of barriers. The jelly prawns are sort of booming in numbers in the harbour too. Once you get start getting this regular rain. They really breed up and the barrel, it's ready and little snapper and mangro jacks and stuff.

They all get in those drains and pretty big feeding frenzies at this time of year. So, it can be a bit trickier to catch them when it happens, can be sort of a blessing and a curse. You know you've found a fish, but they don't always want to eat what you've got because they've got a, you know, got a smorgasborg in front of them. So, yeah, but, but definitely, um, you know, it's all, it's all on track for a really good wet season if we keep going the way we are.

Yep, yep, yep, yep. Happy days. Well, that's the go. It's funny, you know, because everyone heads up there, obviously, in the dry season, but it seems that the best fishing is in the wet season.

Would that be fair? Well, definitely some of the best fishing. Perhaps the very best for Barries during that runoff period, Mark, April, May, but a wet season, you know, people need to appreciate that having a good wet season is really important for the following dry season, you know, so you've got the waterfalls flowing, all the spring fed, billabongs like, or swimming holes like Berry Springs and that. If you have a poor wet season, none of that sort of, that stuff really kicks into gear and it can be a bit of a depressing dry.

So it's all part of the big cycle. Yep, that sounds great, mate. It just, like you say, and that's the thing, it is a cycle. It is a, it's one of those places in Australia.

actually has a real nature cycle, doesn't it? When you look, I say, Perth, Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, it's just, they're just, you know, these weather cycles up there have such an impact. on the, on the, um, you know, on the place. It's incredible, isn't it?

Yeah, yeah, that's right. I guess how, um, how wet and dry time is a bit more defined than, uh, southern states which sort of, um, probably illustrates it a bit clearer and, and listeners to the show, you know, they're all, uh, largely outdoorsy type people, and they, they understand the importance of the, of a good cycle of things throughout the season, and, and even throughout a period of 10 years or so, you know, we might have a, a dry, wet, a dry year or 2, but if it's, if it's, um, sprinkled in amongst the other good years, it's not so much of a big deal. But this, if this keeps going the way it's going, you know, this is sort of 3 good wets in a row, so that's what really starts to set up some really amazing fishing for next runoff. Yeah, great stuff, mate.

All right. Watty? Well, it's good to see that it's all happening up there and moving into that, you know, real, real wet time when more and more water holes get closed and more roads get closed and the grass just keeps on growing. Sure does do that.

And, um, you know, and we'll start winding down for Christmas soon, too, mate, I suppose, mate, you're going to have a break over Christmas yourself. No, well, sort of, but we'll still be doing the radio show. Still be doing that. You would have had your 1st Christmas.

You would have had your 1st Christmas party 3 months ago, wouldn't you, up there? Well, yeah, once my birthday is done in September, that's when we start looking to... parties you know. I remember last year you went to your 1st Christmas party in, I think it was in April.

anyway. See ya. Christmas is just a state of mind, mate. That's all right.

Good on you. Oh, see you, mate. There he is. That's our man, Watty in the Top End, Barefoot Fishing Safaris or angling adventures, and he's right up there.

The rain. It plays a huge part in the way of that cycle that he's talking about and how things change and how the fishing changes and how all these things change up there.