Bag a Barra — 17 July 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. And of course, our man is Glenn Watty Wad.

He is the owner operator of Barefoot Fishing Safaris up there in Darwin and the Top End, and of course, Angling Adventures, where he takes your fishing adventures to another level. But this week, when we will touch on some fishing. But this week, there was a video doing the rounds at what he sent me, and I've got to say, now I have seen, and like we all have, haven't we, we've all seen people who are just so stupid, you cannot believe that they have got as far as they have in life. Anyway, let's let Watty tell the story. What do you g'day?

G'day, duck, yeah. And just to clarify, we're not talking about me here or a political. No we're not talking NRL player. No, maybe the person is an NRL playing politician.

No, no, no, no, no, no, listen, now, listen, tell us this story because I've got to, when you sent me the video, at 1st I thought, gee, that crocodile's got its head a long way out of the water. I looked it, I thought, hang on, it's what? It's somebody's sweeping. Ned, just tell us what's happened.

Now, this is a Shady Camp. Now, anyone who has been to the territory knows Shady Camp. if you're a fisherman, obviously, and it's one of the, what his favourite spots, now just set the scene. Tell us what normally goes on at Shady Camp and tell us what happened there with this bloke.

Yeah, well, it's a, it's, it's pretty dumbfounding when you watch the video show. Shady Camp is, um, is a section on the Mary River, which separates the salt water from the freshwater, so it's about 35 kilometres inland from the ocean. Um, it's perhaps the territory's most um, well-known runoff barra fishing spot, apart from Kakadu and Daly, perhaps up there as well. But, um, it's also well known to be the highest density of salt water crocodiles anywhere in the world. Um, somewhere between 10 and 15 soldies per kilometre.

And actually, at times, um, you know, everyone's seen those crocs grouping right up at Kale's Crossing, and the same thing happens at Shady Camp, especially when the mullet push up in the later half of the year, um, I, I've been on the water there when they've been stacked on top of each other, they're along the bank for a 100 metres either side of that crossing, and, um, and you know, you're driving through them like they're a mob of cows just waiting for the mullet to push up, but, Something different got in the water. It must have been last weekend. Something different got in the water and it was a person.

Uh, uh, it looks like his boat's, perhaps, um, sort of blown off the um, boat ramp when he'd gone to put the trailer up in the car park or something and he swum out. It'd have to be 20, maybe 30 metres out to the middle of the river to climb into his boat. And I just couldn't believe it when I saw it. And instantly I said, some mate who showed me. He said, I said, does that boat have Red Joe stickers on it? Because that's a dead giveaway at someone from Interstate.

Well, I said to you, I fair, when I 1st looked it, I said, that has to be a tourist, doesn't it? Now we can identify where the person's from. It's Victoria. Oh, mate. Yeah, I think it is from Victoria, yeah.

I mean, seriously, you're talking about a boat that's floated off from the, we think from the boat ramp. so he's obviously pulled up and gotten to get his car or something. or whatever, or he's, and it's, and it's drifted off out into the middle of the waterway. So he decided that it'd be a good idea to go for a swim out to get his boat.

I mean, look, he's a tip. It just gets someone else's boat, hop in that with them and get a rope and go and hook it up and drag it back in. There is no... I remember being on corroborate billabong with you.

And there's a lot of crocodiles there. And I, and we were 10 foot off the ramp and I said, I asked you the question, would you jump in the water here to swim to the ramp? We were about 10 foot? And you went, nope. Instantly just went, nope.

Look, that bloke is not only swimming, but he's paddling a, he's like doing the dog paddle like he's paddling along in the water. mate, I'm telling you now, he would have to be, apart from being a complete idiot, the luckiest, if I was him, I'd go and buy a lottery ticket, because how that bloke has not ended up in a crocodile's mouth is beyond me. Ah, mate, it's pretty extraordinary, and I mean, it's pretty easy not to get eaten by crocodiles. All you have to do is not get in the water.

breaking the that's broken the 11 golden rule, you know? I remember, I remember, my mate, John Stanley, who I do another radio show with in Sydney, Brisbane, and network stations, and we do it on a Thursday night. And then when the football season's finished, we do it on Friday nights. But he asked me one time when I was talking about being up there with you and he said, have you got any advice when you go fishing up there and I said, yeah, stay in the boat.

It's pretty simple stuff, isn't it? I mean, the thing that just drives me crazy about that is that that's the sort of stuff that, I mean, it'd be a tragedy, if that person got killed... Oh, of course it would be. And it's easy for us to sit here and call him an idiot, an imbecile. But this person has family.

He would have had family or mates on the bank with him waiting for him to go and get the boat. And I mean, he's probably got family back, what he would have, if he, well, the Reg Jay's from Victoria. So if he's from Victoria. This person has a family back home.

I mean, seriously. I mean, it's a well, the boat couldn't be worth that much money, mate. No, and you know what, the worst thing that could happen with that boat is that it would gently drift down the freshwater side of that billabong about 30 metres to the barrage, which is probably running over the barrage, maybe it might have even stopped by now, but maybe ankle deep. You'll walk around there, a 100 metres and climbing the boat off the barrage and drive it away or other, you know, in the other side, walk around the other side.

Look, in fairness to old mate, that's local knowledge and he wouldn't know that, right? Oh no, you can't miss it. You can see it from the ramp and you can't miss it when you're driving in. So there's no excuses for that sort of stupidity, apart from panic, I suppose, which is what he's done, obviously.

Oh, look, look, at the end of the day, it's a very stupid thing what he's done. But as I was saying, he's, and he has to be, he has to take the, he has to take the 22 trophies this week. He's the idiot of the week, but he's also the luckiest person of the week, but he's got a family at home. I mean, I mean, we don't know him.

So, I mean, but at the end of the day, he could have had kids back there on the, you don't know. I mean, you've got people who actually care about you. I mean, what are you doing diving and swimming or die, we didn't see him dive, but swimming in crocodile infested waters to get your boat when there's obviously other boats there where you could have said, listen, mate, can you just run me out there and we'll throw a rope on this and bring them back to the bank? Crazy.

Absolute crazy. It wouldn't matter. You know, I mean, it just blows my mind. There's no way. Someone asked me one day would I ride my jet ski out there and I said, no.

I was if you come off, you're gone. And we rode the jets. I mean, sometimes you worry around in the ocean and some of the rivers now. with sharks.

But at the end of the day, um, your chances of, if you come off a jet ski in places up in the Top End, I'm not sure how popular jets go. Are they popular up there? Jet skis?

No, mate, there's half a dozen of them that blast around in Darwin Harbour as a bit of a tourist thing, but they're the only ones that I know of up here. There was a couple of fellas who tried them out for fishing in the harbour and things, but just because they're a bit shallow water access and stuff, but it's just a bit too sketchy, you know. Once you, once you can get in, well, I mean, anywhere in the harbour, anywhere within 15 K's of the, of the shoreline up here, you're a chance to see a crocodile. So, yeah, it's a bit dodgy for me. I like to have some sides up on the thing and have an essay in a stereo.

So, jet skis don't have that. Yeah, I just, yeah, and plenty of people have said, would you ride your jets cup there? I've just said no, not at all. If something happened.

and you come off or you're gone. I mean, like, you know, you're praying. Oh, yeah, no, no, thanks. But mate, anyway.

But apart from that bloke who, as I say, I mean, he's, we can have a laugh and we can bag him and he, he deserves to be bagged. I mean, that's just crazy doing what he did. But mate, he's a tip, mate. I'm pretty sure you've got family and I'm pretty sure you've got friends. And mate, don't worry about your boat.

I mean, it's probably insured anyway. I mean, if I saw it again. And obviously he's copying it everywhere up there, though, that video, I'll be doing the rounds. I saw the one you sent me at 170,000 views. There might be a people walking.

Anyway, but mate, apart from all of that. Why, anything, just quickly, what's happening? The fish, um, they're on and oh, I'll break home. good news for you too.

We should be able to spend a day with you before you go away on your trip. We'll be up there, mate. Got to work out where you're taking us, yes, which I'll tell you what, we've got to do a lot of work to get to you, but I want to do that. So we'll definitely catch you up there in the Top End, mate.

But now, what's what's biting, mate? Anything new? anything happening? Yeah, I mean, it continues to go off.

I said on the ABC radio the other day that... Oh, hang on, hang on. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. what are you are you moonlighting?

I thought you were one dog, one bone, Watty. You kidding, aren't you? You got to pat me a bit more often than you do to keep me under the porch, bud. Or maybe just pay you.

That might all. Yeah, we'll send the invoice to the territory government pretty soon. Yeah, I know. a real sweet spot, you know?

So everything's happening. If you get these breaks between a little bit of windy days here and there, it's just gold. I got out on the harbour for a couple of hours over the weekend. When was that early last week? and yeah, heaps of queenfish and tuna and stuff carrying on.

So, we had a bit of fun out there, but yeah, the mud crab reports continue to come in and heard some really good reports from the last set of neeps, which is earlier this week, um, just in some clean water around the mounds of the big rivers, you know, like 50 fish days and stuff. So, you know, after such a big wet season, it's just going to keep ticking along like that. So it's it's really good. We've got Viking funeral up here over the weekend.

So that's, um, that's gonna, um, well, that, um, that goes really well over, over these, um, couple of days over the weekend and, of course, uh, any number of other things that you got to try and decide to do Darwin show next weekend, Friday, Saturday. So that's another big one and yeah, looking forward to looking forward to that as well. No, there's always something going on there. I love it.

Oh, I love it up there. How good is it? Darwin show. What's the other one?

Viking funeral. What's that about? Quickly? Yeah, Viking funeral.

So they do that at the old yacht club at Diner Beach. you know, the old push push the raft out and shoot the arrow into it and watch it burn and stuff. I don't know where it started, but yeah, it's a really, it's become a really big tradition up here over the years and draws a huge crowd. Everyone dresses up in Viking gear and that sort of thing.

So, heaps of fun. The yacht club is one of those good old Darwin joints, just like the ski club and the beachfront, okay, and that's a real iconic pub. Yeah. I do like that. never been in there to go there when I'm up there in the next couple of weeks.

Oh, I've got to go, Wady. We're running out of time, but well done, and keep an eye on there, mate, at Shady Camp, and I reckon he's probably in the, you know, in a lottery office now buying his lottery tickets, okay? Oh, he might have used all his luck up, mate. You better beating and hunting down.

You get the $1000000 interview. Right, EEE. It could have been. Oh, mate.

I've got to say, that's got to be the dumbest thing I've seen for a long, long time. Anyway, anyway. Especially there, Fair Dinkum. All right, talk to you soon. Next week.

Good on you. Ta-da, mate. There he is. man, Glenn Watty, what?

Barefoot Fishing Safaris. And of course, I English Adventures. You can catch him up there in the Top End. And if you want to go, and we're going to catch up with Body in a few weeks.

Can't wait to do that. So if you want to catch Watty, go and check him out. Barefoot Fishing Safaris, go fishing with the best, and of course, angling adventures, all up there based in the Top End, no one knows the northern territory, fishing spots better than he mounts for his for sure.