Bag a Barra — 21 March 2025

It's time now to head to the Top End and Bag a Barra with Glenn Watty Watt, thanks to Barefoot Fishing Safaris and uniden. For the best in UHF communications, explore the extract series at uniden.com.au. Well, I wasn't sure if we were gonna get Watty this week, because I'm led to believe there's someone up there, quarter Barramundi, and one of themselves, 10,000, and I tried to ring Watty, but couldn't find him. But now we found out it wasn't him because he's actually answered the phone. What do you get, eh?

Yeah, that's right, mate. Yeah. That wouldn't be too bad. Would it go for a fish with a couple of your mates?

Actually, it was on a charter too down at Dundee. It was the fella's 1st ever Barra. And um, had a red tag and it, so, yeah, well, as far as I know, it was 10 grand, because we haven't heard that the 1000000s gone off, so, I'll be black. So she's 1st ever Barrett, he's on a charter boat, and he's won, I mean, the,

the locals tried to lasso the bloke when he got back to the ramp? Yeah, that's right. It would have been his bloody shout at the bar. I reckon... The people would have been filthy on him.

Imagine the blokes got the locals hardcore up there, fishermen, who have been out there trying to jag the 10,000, and some bloke turns up, goes on a charter boat, catches his 1st fish, and wins the team. Yeah, mate, that's the way that's the way it goes with fishing, isn't it? There's a lot of luck involved. We all know that.

Yeah, well, mate, unfortunately that doesn't come. I don't seem to pack that in my bag on the way out the luck when I go fishing out there. But anyway, oh, well, it's good to see that they're still out there and people are still jagging a few bucks. Just on that.

If you won, if you did, if it was you, how long, how much of the 10,000 would be left by the time you got home? So you'd leave, you'd pack the mate up onto the ramp, onto the trailer, stop off for that, you know, that quiet one over the bar on the way home? How much of the 10,000 would be left by the time you got home, you reckon? Well, that's the problem, isn't it, mate?

Because if you come from, well, if you come from Kakadu, you've got about 4 pubs to drive past to get to my joint and you come from Dundee, you've got about 5 or 6. So you have someone driving for you, obviously, you'd be just there and you'd have all these mates that you'd have all these mates that you didn't know. trying to, you know, and you'd be having, you know, and then obviously you're saying, well, mate, we know you've got plenty on you.

You've got 10 K, so it's your shout. No, it wouldn't be a bad problem to have though, would it? How's it going up there, mate? What else has been happening, mate?

What's the latest? Oh, well, it's all happening, mate. The fishing, of course, is in full swing up here. The guides are flat out and there's been a couple of fishing comps already.

Um with sort of mixed results. It's an interesting season because we're actually in the middle of another monsoon right now, which, you know, it's sort of like we're, we're running a month behind. So, the season is um, sort of playing out a bit um, differently than it normally would, but it's been really good for my clients out at uh, Kakadu. We've had really good fishing and good weather.

We haven't, we've had afternoon rain out there a lot, but we haven't been wet on the boat, and um, we've had some nice overcast days to keep us a bit cool, and the fish have been bought, mate. So, yeah, like it's hard to complain at the moment. If it keeps doing what it's doing for another 4 or 5 days, this rain, it'll really set us up to extend right through to the end of May, which is exciting for everyone. It's amazing, isn't it, that a bit more rain, and a little bit, you know, where it's a little bit out of, you know, whack with the time, and it's a bit later, how it has such an effect on the fishing going for another couple of months.

It's incredible. Yeah, that's right. And it behaves different in different systems too, you know, so the Daly River was really flooded there a while ago, and it, like it was up 10 metres, and then it dropped right down really quickly down to 4 metres, so that sort of, that has a big effect on your strategies as a guide, and if you're going out for the weekend, what you're going to do for your fishing wise. But then if you go out to, say, the south alligator, where I am, we haven't had those fluctuations.

So it's been a bit more consistently sort of good fishing. I know Shady Camp has been pretty tricky at times because it's still a bit flooded as well. So, yeah, people sort of think you just rock up and catch Barramundi up here, but it, it's, it's definitely not the case, and particularly runoff can be one of those sort of feast or famine times, and the, and the trick for me as a guide, I suppose, is to try and balance that out a bit and get results on a consistent basis. So that's the tricky part, but we're doing our best.

Yep, absolutely. All right, mate. Well, it's good to see that the fishing's good at the moment and it's only going to get better and good that someone's won 10,000. So all happening in the Top End.

Yeah, that's right. The trackers are out on the side of the road, mowing the grass, all these beautiful spots, getting everything ready for the tourist to turn up. They usually start expecting that after after Easter. So that's going to be great for them, it'll be all ready to go.

Yeah, absolutely. It'll be quick quiet around town now, wouldn't it? I mean, just locals really. Yeah, locals and keen fishos, mate.

That's about what it is at the moment. And of course, you get a decent amount of people this time of year. I know a lot of my mates that sort of come up and do their own trips. You know, drive up for, um, fish for a week, leave a car and, and boat here for a while and then, and then they might fly up again later on in April or something as well.

So, there's a fair bit of that going on, but yeah, guide the flat out. If you're not flat out this time of year, you need to be doing something else, I think. Okay, well done. All right.

Well, there you go. So only the kingfish has at the moment. Before the rest of the world turns up for that beautiful dry season, because the weather is perfect in the northern territory, especially the Top End around that dry season. You're a good man, Watty, we'll talk to you next week.

Go back out and see if you can drag that 10 grand for next week, will you? Yeah, I wouldn't mind that to happen. You probably could handle that. That TV drums. Don't forget your old mate, the duck.

All right, talk to you next week. Yeah, right, yeah. Good on you bud. There he is.

That's Watty, Barefoot Fishing Safaris. Check him out online. Check out Angling Adventures as well. You want to catch them in the Top End when you're travelling up there?

on your outback trips and your Top End trips. You need to go and check out Watty, Barefoot Fishing Safaris and get you out there and get you amongst the big barrers as well.