Bag a Barra — 4 July 2025

It's time now to head to the Top End and Baga 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, one, bloke, here on the radio, most weeks here, of course, is our man, Glenn Watty Watt, from Barefoot Fishing Safaris, in the Top End, and, of course, if you want to go further fishing, we'll go fishing further than that, you can jump onto Angling Adventures, the same guru, right behind all of it. Watty, geez, I'm in a good spot today, son. The Walkabout Creek Pub.

eh? You got me. You got me this week, mate. I had your last week but I think you got me this week.

I've got your tenfold, mate. You'd love it here. You'd be biggie. You'd be big.

I know, at least I wouldn't be on the bean drink at the register there just yet. I've got a bit of time up me sleeve. Yeah, yeah, mate, honestly, mate, when you're travelling through it, you got to call in here, mate. telling you, you would be massive here.

You'd be like, God, this is heaven. I mean, when I'm set up here, we've got the studio on the bar. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, that's probably the best radio studio in the country today, I reckon.

Oh, mate, for sure. I mean, it doesn't get any better than this. And I mean, it's such a famous pub. I mean, it's, as I mentioned before, there's a lot of iconic pubs around, but, but, but not as famous as is, obviously, because of crocodile under the movie.

I mean, so and I've been here quite a number of times now. I feel like I'm almost a local here now. There's only, well, the population grew by one yesterday when I turned up. There's 13 now.

Yeah, yeah, that's right. Not much of a population. But you know the highlight of this pub? Pub, whatdy?

What's that, mate? The number one publican in the country. Say g'day to him. His name's Frank.

Oh, Frankie. yep. There you go, mate. I heard story.

G'day, mate. How you going? Yeah, that, yeah, I don't know whether you believe teaming him, but yeah, you know what I, what the ducks like. He gets a bit, buddy. I don't know, yeah.

What are you trying to say, Frank? You've been stage fright there, Frank. I mean, normally, Frank, we had a lot of time hired at finding him because what happens? What he does, what he, he always tells us, oh, I'm in the cool room constantly monitoring the product and, you know, and making sure that it's fresh and, you know, I'm not serving, you know, an inferior, you know, beer here.

But mate, I've actually found out where he really is when you can't find him yesterday and that's hanging out washing and doing those sorts of jobs. Yeah, I don't like that getting out, duck. But anyway, yeah, thanks for that. It's a multi-skilled discipline, duck.

I tried it one day. Mr. Duck might appreciate it. Well, as we speak, she's out there actually doing that at the moment. washing machine in the van, working his ring at it, the minute.

A lot of red dusty gear in there, mate. Anyway. Anyway, mate, what's, but no, you should pop in here. This pub's got your name written all over it.

What do you? I mean, you'd just, you'd be the king here. You'd be, you, Frank, mate, I'll tell you now, the dynamic duo. What do you reckon, Frank?

All right, you reckon? Look, I actually have been there a 100 years ago when I was a kid that, through that area on family holidays and stuff, but, um, yeah, not since I've not since I've been of legal age, I suppose. So yeah, that's a long time now. I have to get across there.

Another time. Need to come in and breast the bar, mate. That a go. That's right, yep, okay.

Cheer it out. Get a bit of fun. Yeah, mate, you'll love it here, mate. You love it here.

they've got mid strength. So, you know, when you're working, you know, still have a beer before lunch. Yeah, yeah, that's what we want. Yeah, we don't want to drink... morning when we're working.

Not a lot of mid strength here, but it's a lot of full strength stuff here. What are you on there, Frank? The 4 X bidders you've got them. Four X better, mate, yeah.

We're not at anything at the moment, but later on we could be. Yeah, but anyway. Now, listen, what do you what's biting in the Top End, son? Well, mate, it's been, you mentioned it a little bit there before yourself.

a bit chilly and it continues to be a bit chilly and windy here in the Top End as well. and um you know, that sort of does, that makes it a bit tricky, uh, um, well, I guess you just got to plan a bit more about where you go when it's windy in the mornings like this, but it means that um, probably more people are spending a bit more time in the harbours and billabongs than out doing the blue water fishing. Although, I do know that, um, you know, queenfish, Trevally, mackerel, and tuna, and all those sort of cooler water species are in the harbour, and buy them pretty well, when it's not too choppy to be sort of blasting around after them. So you've got to pick a bit of a window. Usually around lunchtime, the wind dies off before we get our afternoon sea breeze and that can be a really good time to go out for a fish.

All right. I mean, I've been in the territory a few times, and obviously, we only went as north as Catherine before we headed to Cananara, but I found it to be cool. Like, I remember one time when I was up there, left Catherine, it was 37 degrees in July, August, I just can't believe, it is a bit cooler, that's for sure, but I've got to say to you, Watty, there's a lot of people leading your way, mate. I would have passed 2000 vans on the Stuart Highway.

More. Yeah, no doubt. Yep, that's right, isn't it? Thousands.

Yeah, yeah, there's as many as I've ever seen and we were in the shops the other day with the kids doing some stuff and yeah, you could hardly get around in the shops. It was amazing how many people are up here. So, that's really good. And, you know, the, of course, the people from down south, who weren't sort of used to the heat like we are, appreciate a bit of this cooler weather. And, and you would have got the extremes of it down there in Catherine too, because you're right in saying that it does get cooler down there. They have a lot of nights under 15 degrees and right down to 10 or 8 degrees in Catherine this time in year and and then in that buildup time they get much hotter weather as well where they might even crack a 40 degree day, but certainly a lot of 38s and stuff like that through the buildup.

So, um, just a bit more inland and and it doesn't get the um, the, the balancing effect from the ocean. Yeah, no, certainly, I've got to say, though, at the times, I know it gets really cooled down the central part, but I just noticed that this time, it's probably been the coolest time I've experienced in the territory, that's for sure. I was a bit dirty that I, I know through the week, territory day. Jesus, I would love to have been up there for that.

If it wasn't, I've got to get back, believe it or not, I've got to get back for an event we're having at Blue Lagine Beach resort with listeners and I've got to get back for that. It's in the very beginning of August. I'm going to tell you now, I said to Mrs. Duck, if it wasn't for that, I would have, when we got to Catherine, I would have went north and stayed there. and just parked up there and at your place for 2 months.

Yeah, yeah. Frank's just laughing. cut a hole in the fence, you might get in, mate, but you wouldn't find the key. But no, but I'm curious. at your place, but I would have said, you know what, let's just work from up here. But geez, territory day.

I mean how good is it? Oh, look, I don't care what anyone says for me that you're living in the best place in the country, mate, the territory. It's just... Territory Day and Krakenite is pretty unique, as everyone knows, and I took a couple of our clients, angling adventures clients for the airport, the other day flying out to Tiwi Island, lodge for a few days, and they were here for cracker night, and, you know, their faces were still white. They're like, what is going on with you guys up here?

Oh, mate. around shooting each other with fireworks and every single backyard and out on the street and stuff and we had a good time here too. I mean, we don't go too crazy. You can get a, you can get a box of fireworks or about 150 bucks of the last year, 2 or 3 hours at home with the family and we just put the sprinkler on on the grass beforehand and get into it with the kids and it's a heap of fun, you know? So, yeah, we do appreciate that, that we still live in a fairly, um... In a rule of, in the, the last frontier, the real Australia.

Yeah, yeah. I mean, we don't, we're largely governed by our own sensibility. which can be perhaps a bit risky, but you know, who cares? Yeah, I mean, it's a hell of a time. I encourage everyone to get up for a crack of night one day if you can.

Well, there were a lot of signs around fireworks for sale and a couple of our crew were going, they saw crackers here. I said, mate, I don't know, it's the territory. I mean, it's coming up that territory day, but oh yeah, it's my bottom lip is up when I drove back over the border into Queensland. I thought, oh, well, leaving God's country again.

But I, I, I, I, I, we were, we were, we were, the 3 ways and a little pub there at the 3 ways now, and we can't get the back, and we had a couple of beers and a feed, and I would sit on these singlets, and I can't, you go, we knew exactly what was written on them, but it basically had the northern territory, fit in, or go somewhere else. And I thought, yeah, only in the territory, eh? And you know you're in trouble if you don't fit in here because you're too extreme, but there is a place where you can go if you're too wild for the territory and that's perhaps popping New Guinea or Port Moresby. Yeah, no, good luck with that. On me, maybe in years to come if I'm not here anymore.

No, no, no, no, no, no. The territory's a go. The last frontier. All right, mate.

So the fish are still abiding, you know, that's the main thing up there. It's all happening up in the Top End at the minute with all these sorts of days, the V8s there a couple of weeks ago, and of course, now, then the territory day, and it's a great part of the world, mate. You're blessed up there and you've got plenty of fish to catch and all that as well. Yeah, mate, it keeps coming and, you know, we've got the rest of the dry season's chock a block.

Of course, it's time, um, the Darwin Cup carnival has, I think, might even start next weekend, and then, um, you know, we're, we're looking forward to Darwin Cup, and, uh, and the Darwin Festival as well, which is all through August, so people want to start planning that as well. Yeah, no, good stuff. Well, there's a lot of people headed your way, mate. We passed literally past 1000s of caravans heading north, just amazing the amount of number of like, couldn't believe it, and all those free RV stops, just chocker block, full of vans, and the caravan parks, and the like, that one down, is it?

is it banker, banker, or whatever it is down there? That place there, that was there. There was a stack of vans in there, but then every rest stop along the way. Geez, I've got to say, I mentioned it earlier, we're running out of time here, but Western Australia and the territory just do it so well with those designated RV stops.

It makes a big difference for people that are just looking for that quick overnight stay. They don't have to unhook. They pull up, they have a feed, they go to bed, and then they get up and go again, and the other states can certainly learn from the northern territory in Western Australia. Thats for sure, mate.

Yeah, that's right. It's an interesting thing with the Caribbean, didn't it? I remember when everyone was buying caravans during COVID, and we all thought, oh, geez, there's going to be plenty of cheap caravans on the for sale in a couple of years' time, but it has been that way. In fact, it seems to keep growing.

So people have got the bug. Yeah, they certainly have, mate, which is good. Travel Australia and do all that before you go, look, and Abswear, and make it a tooly for you, that's for sure. You're a good man.

We'll check in with you next week, eh? Yep, right. No worries. I'll be here, I reckon.

All right, there he is. That's the mayor of Darwin. Glenn, what do you want? Oh, he's not the mayor.

We want to make him the chief minister up there, as you know. And of course, we've got the mayor of McKinlay here with us here today. I mean, she's a real political program this week. The mayor of McKinlay and the mayor of Darwin on at the same time, that's 2 leading political figures in this country who have just got heaps of things to say, but do nothing about it.

That is for sure, especially the bloke sitting next to me here. Anyway, go Barefoot Fishing Safaris. Check Wadi out there, and of course, angling adventures, if you want to take your fishing trip to the next level, you go to those 2 websites, check out the social media pages as well.