Bag a Barra — 26 December 2025

It's time now to head to the Top End and bag of Bara with Glenn Watty Watt, thanks to Barefoot Fishing Safaris and UniDen. For the best in UHF communications, explore the extract series at UniDed.com.au. Well, this time of year, we, well, this time of the show, this period, we normally head to the Top End with our man, Watty, up in the northern territory and go fishing in Kakadu, Arnham Land, around Darwin. We've had him on the boat. He's been out there on Starlink and doing his best, but it is Christmas and New Year time and what he does have family down on farms and he's around in Victoria somewhere.

Watty? Did you survive Christmas, son? You must have. You're on the phone.

We got through it, mate. Yeah, I remember when I was chatting to you last week, we were on the train and we actually had some dramas on the train, the train, the train broke down, halfway to Horsham, so, bit of a drama, but we got that sorted and then, yeah, nice weather down here on the farm, Christmas, and then, yeah, now we're building up, I suppose, for the next phase, heading to, we're going to Melbourne for New Year's, but, yeah, we've got a bit to go there. We've had, had some nice weather down here which is really, really good. So the train broke down.

I mean, so were there any beers left in the beer car after that? How long were you sitting there for? Oh, well, see, something happened was that real hot day and something happened with the electric. So Aircon and all the lights and stuff went out on the train. So they pulled her into Dim Bull.

We sort of rolled in there, fixed it, and then it did the same thing halfway to Horsham, which wasn't a huge deal for us. We'll run a bit late, but that doesn't matter, but the train that, it was due to go all the way to Melbourne, which is another couple of hours, um, but they pulled the pin on that and I think they'll put the rest of them on buses. Oh, wouldn't you be... Mate, that would, that, you'd be blowing up.

Oh, yeah. Well, there's not much you could do. I think it happens a bit on those 40 plus days. I had a, had the train wound back a bit because the tracks move and all that because it gets so hot and blah, blah, but yeah, we were lucky that we were sort of getting off at that stop anyway.

Oh, be blowing. Oh, imagine that. playing straight. that's playing straight in automobiles, isn't it? right there.

That's right. Yeah, well, I mean, mate, you're kicking back, you're in the bar car. You know, how good is this train ride? Next thing you know, you're sitting on a bus.

Yeah, that's right. No, you'd be filthy. good, mate. Yeah, like we were saying last week, I highly recommend it. Yeah, I sent you a couple little videos there, having a couple of beers in the bar cart with the line there.

And the videos of your, what are they, you're cooking yabbies? Gabby's in a few chops, mate. Yeah. The old man good enough to kill a few sheep before we came back down.

So we got an abundant supply of chops and we've been getting a few yabbies, not too many. It's a bit harder than past years as a bit of a late spring down here, but we're getting enough for a feed and been catching a few fish in local lake and river as well. that's been nice. And what about, have you climatized?

Because, I mean, obviously you've come from Darwin and you're down, you know, that part of the world now. How are you going with that? Oh, well, it was a bit struggle straight there for a while as we, um, we looked at the weather before we came down and sort of figured out, oh, we don't need to take much warm stuff and then we had about, oh, 5 or 6 or more days of um, really cool weather. Um, so I had to run into the old man's cupboard and dress up like old grandad.

So, uh, we're lucky that they've got all the right gear, but yeah, it was pretty cold, and my kids were struggling a bit, of course, because they're born in Darwin, and they're not used to it, but, um, they did plenty of playing, and Oscars off riding a motorbike at the moment and stuff. So yeah, it's good life down here on the farm, of course. Yeah, absolutely, mate. Have you got any mail on what's happening back home with the fishing?

Have they... I guess it's, you know, pretty wet up there now. Is it or what's happening? Yeah, it has been raining a fair bit and not a hell of a lot of fishing going on perhaps over the Christmas period.

Um, but of course, yeah, from um, perhaps now when everyone gets it together again and um, gets back out on the water, there'll be a bit more fishing news. But yeah, fair bit of rain going on up there, so that's going to set us up for real, like January can be really good when you get that 1st sort of flood in the rivers and it can push all those fishy out of the billabongs out looking for a bit of salty water and if you're sitting in the right spot or you've been following the weather, you can have some really great fishing. So, um, I'll be looking forward to getting back up into that, but at the same time, I'm having a pretty good time down here at the moment. It was funny, the other day, we had a couple of French here just for a couple of a couple of drinks and Christmas drinks and it was a stinking hot day here, stinking 40 all day, and then it came over a bit windy.

And then we got this heavy sort of really not heavy, but really thick rain. You get those really thick, heavy drops. And it started raining and no one... And mate, we just, and I was just sort of, I went, oh, mate, no one's, I wasn't running for cover.

And I've gone, this is what my mate, what he tells me, up in the territory, when it's at, oh, that starts raining. Everyone just goes, oh, how good's this? More, more, more, it's a student. More or less.

We just more or less stood in it. And that's my mate, Sock. I'm going to introduce you to, who's heading up there to Darwin, and he's about to take off and I'm going to get him on the radio a few times because he's actually going to take off for about a couple of years travelling. Oh, right, right. And, um, he, uh, he's a good mate.

He's been on our TV show. He a good bloke. And we actually call him sock because he wears like socks with thongs. Oh, there you go.

Jasonista, is he? yeah Yeah, yeah, yeah. But then after, but what happened was before Christmas, it was revealed.

This is off the track 4 by 4, you want to check him out on Facebook. But he went to the drive in. There's not many driving theatres around, but there is one that's probably about an hour from here. Anyway, he went there and he was blowing up and carrying on because he went and saw Elf, but it was on, it was on channel 9 the night before, and he's gone to the drive in to watch it, the same show at the drive, and he ain't carrying.

Oh, he carried on like a blowing up whippersnipper. And I said, mate, we're changing your name from sock to sock. Adding an O, I mean, fed. He could just get into the spirit of the thing, mate.

You know, this was, anyway, earlier was going on about it, but anyway. You don't go to driving to watch the movie anyway, do you? There's other things you'd expect to do when you go to the driving. It's not the 80s, mate. I mean, fair dinkum.

I mean, mate, come on. I mean, you are right out there. Are you any driving theatres in Darwin? No, we've got the outdoor cinema down there on the waterfront.

Of course, that's a bit of a Darwin institution, and the possums all run across the screen and that sort of stuff, and bandy coats on the grass and that. So, um, yeah, but the same sort of thing, like they don't play the latest blockbuster movies there. It's always older stuff, but it's hard, it's just the experience of going to going to that, that venue. I suppose is what it's all about. less, less that, less than the movie, that's for sure.

I used to love the driving. At least I love it. They were the Mitch. Mrs. Duck. Would have enjoyed it too, I suppose.

Well, I did take it to the drive-in many years ago, yes. We haven't been there for about over 30 years now since we've been to the driving. We wanted to make a comeback. Go down, there you go, get the Pluto dog, what do they call them?

The Pluto pup, Dagwood dog, and one of those little chock coated ice cream canes. No, they go. I don't know if you still get all that there. Don't know, mate.

Yeah, you'd have to go and suss it out. I have to ask silk. I'll have to, I will have to ask Zook, exactly. Listen, just quickly, New Year's Eve, Melbourne, what are you doing in Melbourne?

Are they ready for you down there? Oh, well, we've given them the heads up. There's a couple of bikes I know down there that don't mind a bit of a party, and a couple of fish and tackle guys that we like to keep in touch with. So we're going to take a slab of beer over to Hurley's fly fishing and see what sort of mischief we can get into there before they close the shop and then, yeah, sort of go from there.

I suppose they're only there for a couple of nights and one full day and then we'll be back up to home on that 1st. So, yeah, just a little flying visit, I don't like spend too much time on the big city, mate. I get a bit nervous. Well, maybe they get nervous that I'm there.

I don't know what it is. Oh, I reckon that'd be. Yeah, they would be. They'd be like, geez, watch this bloke.

Anyway. All right, mate. Well, look, thanks for your contribution this year. Watty, it's been great as usual, mate.

and you enjoy the rest of your time on the farm and of course have a great New Year's down there in Melbourne. and a safe trip back, habit. We'll talk to you. We'll talk to you next year.

Yeah. No worries at all. I know you can hear the motorbike in the background, Oscars. to rev. to Yabi nets, and we're, give her a rev, mate.

There we go. He's just really been and checked the yabby nets down the pag. He got some nice big yabbies here, so they'll go pretty nicely today on the barbeque this afternoon, I reckon. Oh, yeah, washed down with a couple of cold ones.

That'll do? All right. Well, good stuff, mate. Good, is it?

Well, all the kids these days seem to ride those electric things. But anyway, obviously, mate, I can't, mate, they get me started. I mean, oh, mate, I'm no, mate. I know wowser.

I can't believe that, you see, kids riding those things around the roads, as that was me on my old wise Z Haiti, they would have taken the bike off me and kicked me up the, you know what. That's right. Yeah, times have changed. a bit safer these days. That's right.

Times have changed. You get caught riding your mini, you know, your Y Z 80 or whatever it was on the, anywhere on the, you know, just in a public panic you'd be in the, in the, in it. And then now you have these kids riding these things everywhere. Anyway, good on them.

You can tell them, mate. I know, mate. Be careful, boys, at least put a helmet on. Anyway, I don't know.

Anyway, it's good. Nothing like kids, ride motorbikes around farms. Have a great new year, mate. Try to behave yourself and we'll talk to you next year, eh?

Good on you, mate. I look forward to that again. you too Good on you, mate.

There you is. That our man, Glenn Watty, what? Barefoot Fishing Safaris, check him out online. Check out the social media pages, the go to.

If you want to go fishing in the Top End, and it places around Kakadu, Harnum Lean, Darwin, or, you know, all those, you know, the, those big river systems up there, including up there around Dundee Beach as well. He's your man, the great Watty, Barefoot Fishing Safaris. If you want to take your fishing adventure to another level and do some exotic fishing overseas, well, he also has angling adventures, and you can go and do that as well. He is the man.

He's our fishing guru in the northern territory, although he's on a farm in Victoria at the moment, heading to Melbourne.