Bag a Barra — 13 March 2026

It's time now to head to the Top End and Bagger 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, he's up there in the Top End, and it's been very, very wet up there. In fact, he's doing, I don't know how big the detour is, but he's on his way into Kakato. He had to come all the way down to a really one of my favourite spots, actually, Pine Creek, and come into the bottom part of Kakadu.

He'll go past the turnoff to Gonlom Falls and oh, he's a good part of the world. Watty, how are you, sir? Yeah, that's right, mate. I'm doing the hard idea to try and keep this show on the road, but there's sort of no other choice at the moment.

Yeah, I've just pulled up outside of Pine Creek and dragging a bit of gear down so we can get fishing the next couple of days. It's a bit of a slow trip. All the roads all busted up and still plenty of rain. So, yeah, hopefully there's a couple of bridges a bit damaged up here apparently, but I should be able to sneak over them and get all my gear up into Jabberoo, so we can start fishing in a few days' time.

Mate, I've got to say, well, there's been plenty of water and south of you from where you are there. Catherine have copped an absolute hammering and I saw through the week that they actually evacuated the hospital and transported everybody to Darwin. I mean, it must be huge there. Mate, it must be, it must be so massive wet, is it?

I mean, you can't get from your place out to Jabberoo. I mean, how much water have you copped up there? Yeah, it's been huge and I, I guess it's, uh, it's sort of a culmination of a few things. We've been saying how wet it is for the last few months or even, you know, we had that cyclone in November, right?

So, it was a really good start for the wet season. Everyone loves that sort of thing and until it ends up in a flood. So, the um, the Mary River bridge at Mary River Lagoon, which is just past Corroboree Tavern there, um, is, is up over the guardrails, which is something that I've never seen. And so the roads close from Bird Billabong right through to the South Alligator River, out that way, which means no one can get the Shady Camp and do any guided fishing out there either.

So, if you add that to the Daly River, being sort of at record flood levels, and then, of course, Catherine, um, the only place that we can, well, the only big river we can really get to with any ease without having to do a 4 hour trip like I am today is, um, is the Adelaide River, mate. So, yeah, we're a bit sort of skint for options at the moment, but, of course, it will mean for good things later on. It's just a shame that, you know, uh, uh, Catherine, half the town got flooded and and there's a lot of damage down there and even close to town, Darwin River and Berry Springs and stuff, there was people got flooded out of their houses there too. So yeah, it's pretty extraordinary.

Yeah, I saw the, I saw some video footage and photos of Berry Springs and the water there. It's credible. I'm tipping. So fishing is probably not as full on it the minute, is it?

I mean, I mean, with Darwin Harbour, I guess, you could probably still throw a line in there, could you? But still, it's a lot of restrictions at the minute. Yeah, that's right. You could go in the harbour, but you know, with all this weather around it chops up pretty bad.

So it's certainly not the number one option. And of course, from sort of mid-February through to the end of May, is the time of year that we really look forward to getting out on these big rivers and chasing sort of bigger numbers of bigger Barra and thread. So, yeah, everyone's a bit disappointed at the moment, but perhaps also just in a little bit of survival mode, you know, we're on water restrictions in Darwin and boil water alerts and, you know, half the state's been um, being flooded. So, yeah, everyone's just sort of getting through 11 foot in front of the other at the moment and fishing's perhaps on the back burner for a couple of weeks.

Yeah, which is a bit of a shame, mate. Tell me, what's the fuel situation in the northern territory, mate, especially in your part of the world at the top? Yeah, it's pretty frustrating, like everywhere. It went up sort of 60 odd sense of leader in 10 days or so.

Yeah, right when, right when we're about to start burning a heap of it too. And uh, it's, yeah, that's frustrating. Here comes the fuel truck, just heading to Jabru, just passing me now, actually. So yeah, those guys have been isolated for a few days out here.

So, they'll be, um, they'll be fanging for their old mate to get up there in that truck, and, um, yeah, I mean, out here, it's going to be an extra ¢50 a litre on top of that. So we're probably looking at about 3 bucks a litre out in Jabru. I reckon by the time I get out here in another hour or so. But, uh, yeah, it's, I mean, we've still got plenty, which is sort of the main thing, I suppose, I feel uh, more sorry for the farmers and the truckies and stuff, or definitely the farmers who have been put on rations, somewhere, you know, in areas down there in the Mali and Victoria and stuff, they're trying to grow food for the country and they can't get fuel to put the seed in the ground.

So that's a bit of a disgrace, I reckon. Oh, yeah, the whole thing. I mean, seriously, we've dropped the ball years ago and we're paying the price now. I said that earlier.

I mean, we built a country here in 200 years. We were pretty self- sufficient. What happened? Well, we've turned all our fuel.

We, you know, we don't, oh, we don't want to upset the greenies and we don't want to, you know, when it's all about climate change and solar and wind and all this stuff at the end of the day, we don't refine fuel. I mean, we've turned off our oil tap, all of that. I mean, and now, we're relying on other people, and it's, and we're paying that price right now for, for putting ourselves in this position, really. Yeah, it's a shame we don't at least refine a bit of it ourselves.

I mean, there's plenty of country out in the middle of the desert that's a long way from any bombs or threats in the case of a war and there's plenty of oil out around Iniminka and those sort of places where I used to drive earth moving gear on the oil rigs and yeah, it sort of makes sense that you'd at least have enough production going on to keep the country going in tons like this or or might end up doing something worse. Maybe if these mob overseas keep carrying on the way they're going. Yeah, well, we're going to open these things back up right now. And then and then sit down after it and go, well, look, you know what?

let's just keep this going. I mean, fit. Anyway, I'm only a poor silly yobbo. I mean, how would I know? Anyway, but no, yeah, but I think the panic buying doesn't help either, and there's plenty of people.

I understand people in farms. trying to stock up because they're competing with people coming from out of town. I've seen photos of car trailers with 2 2000 litre drums on the back. Just standing there looking at his phone while he's got the pump just pumping diesel into the tank.

I mean, fat ink. I mean, it's, yeah, and it doesn't help, but... They're coming into that time of year when they do now. later the day. Yeah, but these aren't farmers. These are people that are just, you know, I mean, fan, it doesn't help anyway.

mate, we'll let you go, because I know you got, I know. man, I know you're full on. You might not know you stopped pulled over there at Pine Creek. save travels and try and catch one for us out there, eh?

Yeah, yeah. Well, fingers crossed, we'll be able to get out fishing. I mean, we're still every shower of rain sort of bumps these rivers up again, mate.