Bag a Barra — 7 November 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. Oh, now, man, up in the Top End. Of course, is Glenn, what do you want, if you want to go fishing up there and catch Barramundi and everything else, you need to go with Barefoot Fishing Safaris, check out the website, check out the social media pages. And of course, if you want to take your fishing trip to the next level, well, angling adventures, and that's Watty as well, and his brothers run that where they take you overseas to some exotic fishing locations and get the big ones.

But he catches plenty of big ones up there. He just can't jag that fish that's the $1000000 fish. But I want to talk to Watty, not just about fishing, but through the week, I saw on the NT news, and I mentioned this earlier, Melbourne Cup Day, forget the thoroughbreds. They had crocodile racing. At Berry Springs Tavern.

Berry Springs. Have you been there? The swimming at Berry Springs is amazing. It's just basically out of Darwin.

What do you g'day? G'day, duck, yeah. We do things a bit different up here on Melbourne Cup day or any day, I suppose, but yeah, that's a pretty good example of it, isn't it? old croc racing.

Oh, mate, and the beauty of it, but everyone was all still dressed up. Oh, yeah, that's right. Yeah. I mean, don't get much of an opportunity to get dressed up up here, so anything.

I know, I know. seen videos of you and I've met you up there. I mean, you look like an unmade bed, fed, ink. I mean, I mean, what about?

I mean, like, seriously. Tie yourself up. I have a haircut and a shave too, what he wouldn't hurt. Now listen, only in the northern territory, could you go to crocodile racing?

They weren't they weren't 4 metre crocs, by the way. They were baby crocs. But they'd set it up. They had, they had bales of hay, you made this channel with nice green lawn, laid out the turf, and off they went racing up this, the grass. I, I, I just thought very, very northern territory like. It just, how good is it?

The crook racing at Berry Springs. Yeah, that's right. I actually came. I was pulling in through the bottle shop to get a beer on the way home from fishing and I was wondering what was going on here.

They were just packing her all up and yeah, the Berry Springs tab was fairly jumping and then only a few minutes down the road. Of course, is the Nunamar, where they have the green tree frog races. So, maybe they need to combine the 2 and get some frogs on the back of those crops as jockeys or something next year. Oh, mate, yeah, get some jockeys on some of the big crocs. See how they go.

You know what? The Berry Springs tab also did this funny thing recently, which was Buffalo, Bingo, or something like that, where you got a, you got a number. You got to allocated a number and they had to paddock out the front marked out in a grid and wherever the pet buffalo had its morning poo. that was that was the winner. So, you, you won whatever you, whatever the prize was or whatever.

Oh, the northern territory. You gotta love it. But it's good old school fun, the territory, isn't it? I mean, when you think about it up in the Top End. It's a different part of Australia.

It's probably, and I've said it here many times, it is my favourite part of Australia, and I mean, obviously North Queensland, the channel country is a close 2nd to me. Everyone has their little favourite area, but I remember when we get the four-wheel drive shows. I was at Adelaide where a couple of weeks ago at Perth this weekend now, and people will ask me, where's your favourite destination? And I always, straight out of my lips comes to the Top End, northern territory. And we've been to the Kimberley. It all beautiful, but it's not just the destination and the location and the fishing and it's the lifestyle.

Oh, it is the last frontier of the Australian Aussie culture lifestyle. isn't it? Yeah, yeah. Oh, I couldn't agree more, mate.

And, you know, like all those, all those funny sort of things that happen up here, they're all done with the best of intentions as well. And I know that the, uh, the noonie raised over 40 grand for uh, care flight, uh, through their frog races. They auction the frogs off, uh, and they probably do a similar thing at Berry Springs as well, you know? So, because it is a small and sort of intimate, um, population up here, everyone gets around it and uh, and we try and look after each other as best we can. So, yeah, it's all good fun and there's good stuff happening as well. Yep, you gotta love it, mate.

Absolutely. It's a great place and things like that, the croc racing, a long weekend, every 2nd weekend, basically, cracker night. Get to the northern territory. You won't want to go home.

That's right, or you can make it home. That's for sure. Well, there is that too. I mean, I've just got to talk, Mrs. Duck into it and obviously get permission from you to move move there.

That's the problem. That's right. Yeah, yeah. There's probably some blocks out of town, mate, and we could hide you out there on.

blocks out of town. Mate, what's happening with the fishing? Quickly, the $10000 fish. No one's jagged a million, but any more tag fish court?

seems to be taken off with a bit of a bang this year with plenty of people picking up 10 K. Yeah, yeah, there has been a bit of a flurry of them. Nothing in the last few days, but the Barr have certainly been biting really well. I had a 4 or 5 day trip there a few days ago and when the conditions were right, it was a bit windy one day, which turned them off a bit, but, yeah, when we get those nice steamy, stormy days, they, they really, um, they really come out to play.

So, that's going well. I know it's interesting sometimes how far these fish travel. One of them was let go at the crab claw boat ramp and then was re-caught at Dundee off the rocks there. That was that one from a couple of weeks ago.

So how far is it? How far did it travel? For him to swim that far? It's probably, oh, I'd be close, probably 60 or 80 K's, um, and, and it's around a heap of islands and reefs and all that sort of stuff, so he's gone on a bit of an adventure, that one, but then others sort of stick around exactly the area that they were released. So, um, it, it actually helps us understand a bit more about their behaviour too when they get recaptured and some of this info comes out.

So it's really interesting. Yeah, that is a good way to look at it, isn't it? I mean, okay, it's a great, promotion and it's certainly great for fishing and great for the industry because obviously people got to go up there and buy hooks and tackle and rods and all their gear and and obviously great for tourism as well, attracting people to the territory and to get them, you know, in this time of year when it's the tourism season sort of drops off a bit.

It's still a little attraction to get there where they can pick them, you know, that chance of winning a million. But you are right. It basically, you know, it provides some sort of data, if you like, and information on how far these fish do travel when they're swimming around and doing what they do. Yeah, that's a, that was a really interesting one because it's not, uh, it's not as if it's happened in a really long time frame or over a big change of season either.

It's within perhaps a few weeks of it, and yeah, perhaps that fish just didn't like his neighbours or whatever happened there, but, um, yeah, it's a big swim for a little fish, because that one wasn't particularly big either. So, yeah, um, interesting stuff, it makes you consider how your, your fishing plans revolve around that sort of thing knowing that, how much those fish move within a system, even within a short period of time. So, yeah, it's um, it's interesting things to think about while you're staring at the sunset over a beer, mate. It's what keeps us yapping and keeps us getting out on the water each time.

Yeah, Dundee Beach. best sunset I've ever seen. There you go. I love a sunset.

I love a sunrise. I love a sunset, and I've seen plenty of them, and I've still rate Dundee Beach as the best I've ever seen. I think Popi'd be happy that you're saying that, mate. But yeah, it's, it's dead set, one of the best spots, especially when you're eating a feed of fresh fish like we were every night last week down there too.

So, yeah. Oh, mate, I'm not on my way, we were on a beach at Esperance of it. And obviously, we were fishing there and we were actually doing live radio off the beach, it was quite incredible, really. sitting there in chairs beside the car, on the beach, doing live radio, and then watching the sunset on the beach, which was fantastic. Don't get me wrong.

It was, I know, Western Australia, Beauty, but still, nothing beats that, you can tell, Papey. Mate, he should be charging for that. So I wonder. I mean, if you were running the pub, you'd be charging people to look at the sun go down.

I could just see it now. But that, without a doubt for me, and I've been to Corumba, where they, it's a mat, and then look, don't get me wrong, it's a beautiful sunset at Corumba, and the, you know, the, the, the, the tavern there, all of that in the caravan park. Um, and it is beautiful, but nothing for me, you know, I know it's about opinion and personal thoughts, but mate, the one you could, mate, it was incredible. Dundee Beach Sunset, that day, it was like someone had just painted the sky orange.

It was after the sun had just dropped off over the horizon and I just couldn't stop staring at it. What a backdrop when you're having something at the bistro at the pub there with this orange sky. Beautiful. Beautiful.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. creates good memories, that sort of stuff, yeah. And especially now with the big storms that come rolling through around that similar time, you know, get a bit of lightning happening as well. We've been getting some cracker storms out that way, so everything's starting to green up pretty well now.

And um and yeah, we're looking like it's going to be a pretty good start to the wet season. Well, we've got a big planning meeting next year for our trip planning meeting next month. Um, for where we're going to next year for Oz Afraid TV and what we're up to and I'm factoring in, uh, we were going to end up at Airs Rock, Ularoo, whatever you want to call it there. It's hard when you're an old bloke, do not call it Airs Rock, but I know it's not more known as Uluru now.

But we are going there. And I'm trying to factor in where we can take a few weeks because we'll finish filming there. We're going to film a big trip out there along the unit out of track and out Housey Springs and Fink and all of that. Get ourselves up there. And then I want to factor in, um, some downtime where we can sneak up to the Top End and I've got a mate coming on that one. And I said, mate, we've got to get out and spend a couple of days at Dundee Beach, uh, and just to, you know, to show him what it's like. And so, mate, you, you won't regret it. I mean, you won't forget it either.

I just think it's a great spot, and you'd been telling me about Dundee Beach for ages, and when I finally got out there and we only went out there to film, and then leave, and I said to Gavin and Mrs. Duck, next time we come here, we won't be just coming out working and going. We had to feed the pub though. We after we finished filming, actually wrapped up the series there. And then we went and had a feed at the pub and then left. Next time I'll be staying there.

What a top spot. Yeah, it is a top spot, mate. And from Alice, it's only 1400 K's, you do that in a day in the big V8? No worries.

So, yeah, well worth it. You almost there, aren't you, when you're, when you're at Alison. I'll give you a little fun fact that you wouldn't be aware of. mate, in a past life.

I was a concierge at the Desert Gardens hotel at Yolara there where um the where everyone stays to go. So yeah, that's where I get my customer service skills from, of course. That'll do, mate. I was a concierge.

Front of house. Fair Tinkum. Where was this at? That was at the Desert Gardens Hotel.

Where was this at? Where were you the concierge at? At Yalara, where everyone stays to go and see, see Year's Rock. So, yeah.

All right. I got to fly. Got to fly, mate. We run out of time here. Got to go.

See you. Good night, see ya. There he is. That's the concierge.

Watty, Barefoot Fishing Safaris.