Bag a Barra — 19 June 2026

It's time 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 radio communications. Explore the extract series at uniden.com.au. Are you getting excited?

Not long now. Wadi, are you there? The calendar yet, but... Oh, I wonder where you were then, Mulch, you got to turn him up.

Yeah. Are you getting are you getting excited? Oh, yeah, well, once once you give me the dates, mate, I be able to start the countdown on the calendar, just like Christmas, but right now, I'm just sort of just standing there staring at the gate all day waiting for you to turn up. Oh, no, well, no, standing out there at the moment, mate, you'll be very tired by the time I get there.

You probably be, you'll probably be like the, you know, look like the 1978 hide and seek champion here. They found in a wardrobe not long ago as a skeleton. Yeah, yeah, you're standing out there waiting for me right now, mate. That'll be you.

But no, we'll give you some warning, but I think we, I'll be able to give you some dates. Once I know the date will be at Uluru and we're filming there. We're filming, we'll wrap up, and we will then take a couple of days, we'll then take a couple of 2 or 3 days to get up to where you are. I want to get to Dundee.

I said, get on to your mate. What's his name? Your mate out there? out there at the park there and Naomi at the caravan park, yeah.

Get onto them, mate, and telling me, book us a couple of spots. we'll be there How good will it be? Good one.

Yep, I'll let them know to keep an eye out for you. Yeah, they'll probably close that day. Keep the duck suite open. Yep.

The duck sweet, you imbecile. I mean, thank you. Mate, what's doing in the Top End, mate? It was funny.

I was talking to a bloke yesterday and I said, there's always something on up there. There's a public holiday every 2nd week somewhere and there's always an event on and a festival and the festival of Watty. That happens every day of the year in the Top End. What's doing?

Yeah, that's right. Well, we're going into school holidays, of course, from now on. So, that's going to be pretty flat out and traditionally one of the busiest times of the year up here, so, fingers crossed, um, people start turning up again. I did see a heap of caravans on the road yesterday, so that's a really good sign, actually heading out towards Dundee.

We were on our way back from a day's fishing in Bynoe Harbour with them, mate, and that was really nice. It was the 1st day I've been back out there since November last year, mate, but we, um, yeah, it was a bit sort of one of those typical dry season days, you know, the southerners love it, but it's sort of, it's not what I love for fish, and it was a bit cool and windy, but, um, the fish actually were biting pretty good, so we end up with half a dozen barrel or so and a nice mackerel, some cod and threadfinch salmon. So yeah, the boy, oh, and a nice little flathead. So the boys took home a nice little mixed bag back to the Caribbean park to be able to have a bit of nice fresh local fish for the next couple of nights.

so that was nice Yeah, mate, I'm just, look, Bono Harbour, where is that? For those who don't know. Okay, so if you're heading out to Dundee from Darwin, say, um, you, you go, you sort of got to drive around Bynoe Harbour, it's the next big body of water to the west of Darwin.

And then, yeah, the next stop around further west is Dundee. So Dundee's obviously on the coastline there and it sort of faces out to open ocean. And if you went out of the boat around there, turn right, you go to the islands that sort of are the western boundary of Bynoe Harbour. It's, it's um, over 700 square kilometres of um, of amazing sort of in-shore sheltered estuary fishing, um, which has virtually every species you can catch up here in salt water. So, uh, can really turn it on.

Today would be an absolute crack of day to be there. It's a bit uh more humid and overcast and stuff and I know those days in there that the fish really switch on so I'm a bit disappointed in front of the computer today. It's um exactly.

Yes, exactly right. When they're on, you're off. I mean, like, yeah, that sounds like me, actually. That'd be the way, yeah.

You say it was cool, just what was the temperature yesterday? Oh, I mean, we're looking... Right now, it's a pretty... Yeah, if that, I mean, it would have been 29, maybe 30 and low humidity. summer days you've been out there.

Yeah, no, listen. That's why people go up there, you imbecile. Because, because down here, it's zero. So they get out of here and they get up there.

I mean, we were we were camped. I can't remember where it was now. about 2 weeks ago and it was one degree and the wind chill made it feel like -6. And now that was cool.

And look, I know that we've got I know there's one listener in particular who listens to us from Canada who tells me to harden up. because when he lives, it's minus 30. But, but, mate, you're up there, it's a cool day, the fish aren't biding.

It's 30. 2930. You poor bugger. Well, actually they were biting pretty good. I didn't know that apart from when I, the thing about Bynoe and the way that I like the fish it is that we're looking for clean water.

So, um, whichever way the wind's blowing, we sort of can't go on that prevailing side. So we just go into sheltered water and it's, and it's all good, but, um, it does mean that, um, yeah, I guess your auctions are a bit more restricted than, than perhaps you'd like it. But yeah, still no complaints mate, that's for sure. Yeah, absolutely, mate.

I was like, I was mentioning earlier, it's what you do for a job is pretty good and we've got, you've got, and I talk about our job and you think how lucky you are to be doing what we do. I mean, it's still a job and it's still work, but there are people doing it a lot tougher than nasty jobs. And um, it is good in your regard. I mean, what we're doing at the moment, we're doing a sleigh burn home, from a film trip, and what you did yesterday was went out and did a bit of fishing for yourself, and it makes a bit of a difference, doesn't it?

Because when you've got people, when you've got people on the boat, you want to make sure your customers are happy and making sure that they're, you know, looked after and that they're catching fish and you don't want to let them down, but when you're out there on your own, well, the pressure's off a bit and you're just out there enjoying it. Yeah, that's right. And I mean, the flip side of that is I don't get as much chance to do it as I perhaps used to. But, yeah, it's like it's a lifestyle that I've chosen to sort of build around and there's plenty of other ways to make a lot more money, but, uh, and I've done those, you know, mining and that sort of thing, but, um, you know, you don't get that sort of real lifestyle that I'm looking for and the whole reason that I moved up to the territory.

So, yeah, I'm well aware of it, mate. I spend plenty of time in woolsheds and sitting in scrapers and driving road trains. So, I know there's a lot of people out there probably listening to us thinking that they wish they were doing what we were doing. And, um, I guess my advice to those people is that you can do it. You just got to actually make the decisions and making excuses, I suppose.

But yeah, I realise that it's not that easy as well. Yeah, no, they're exactly right, mate. And as I said, I mean, what we do, it does become a bit, you know, tedious and it's worked, but it's still, you look around you and think, oh, look where I am today. I mean, there once upon a time I'd be sitting on the traffic and the M2 in Sydney for 2 hours each way a day, thinking, mate, this is just, this is just the great way to fry your brain, sitting here and doing this.

Yeah, the same man. And look at people going camping and fishing, probably. Yeah, absolutely, mate. And then when you, you know, and then, you know, you think about some of the emergency service jobs that are out there and anyone who's been in hospital who knows how hard people work that work in those places, mate.

So you've got to just, um, think to yourself, how lucky are we that we've, that we do what we do and it is good to enjoy and to do what we encourage people to do. We encourage people to go carving and camping. We encourage people to go fishing. when we get a chance to do it for ourselves, you sort of think, yep, this is it.

This is what we said, well, no wonder we tell people to do this. How good is it? A lot of people here doing it. I'm doing right now, I can tell you.

We just have fault. You been to Foster Town Curry? Oh, I don't remember it. Maybe we used to do big um big driving family holidays when we were kids.

That was one thing that I think sort of probably helped me end up where I am is. I mean, we didn't have a hell of a lot of money through the 80s, but mum and dad drove us to every capital city in the country by the time we finished high school. Big drive and holidays of the 64 trailer on 4 kids. All under, you know, 17 for most of it. And, um, yeah, I mean, we got to see a lot of the countryside and that, um, I guess, um, made us inquisitive and want to go and have a look around.

So there's a good chance I have been, mate, but definitely not in the last 20 years. No, that's it, mate. Oh, well, it's just that little lower end of the mid-north coast of New South Wales. Beautiful here mate.

There's so many little seaside villages here, but anyway. What else up there, mate? So fish are biting, which is good. That's a good thing.

We love it when the fish are biting in the Top End. That's why we told people to go up there. Any other news, mate? You want to go?

Tell us before you go. Well, yeah, I mean, it's all happening, of course, every weekend is a big decision about what we're going to do. So I've seen a V8 supercar truck starting to roll in yesterday as we're driving around as well. So that's um, that's coming up.

I'm not exactly sure when that is. But, you know, obviously in the next week or 2 and then um, another big thing that we've got up here happening and I'm just about to jump on the computer right now to book some tickets is the test crickets coming back to Australia later on in the year too. So boys are going to play Bangladesh and um that's the 1st time test cricket will be in the territory in the last 20 odd years. So really exciting for people in Darwin. And one interesting stat is that Travis Head, if he gets a ton in Darwin, he will be the only Australian, I think, to have ever to have scored a century in every state and territory.

So there you go. That'll be cool if that happens. Yeah, it would be good. There's a big chance of doing it.

There be lots of drinks, breaks, that's for sure. All right, mate. Looking good, mate. Yeah, absolutely.

And that's just the, and I'm not talking about the ones in the crowd anyway. All right. Or talk to you next week, mate. Righto.

Good on you, go and book those tickets for the cricket because that might even be when you're up here too. That could be a bit of fun. Who knows? We've got there in August, mate.

I think July or August. So anyway. All right, we'll talk to you next week. Good stuff, righto.

There he is. That's our man, Glenn. What do you want? Barefoot Fishing Safaris is in the Top End, if you want to go fishing up there in the northern territory.

Here's your man. Check him out online. Barefoot Fishing Safaris are, of course, jump onto his social media pages as well. Glenn Watty, what with our northern territory Top End report with some fishing thrown in, is what we like to do right here.

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