Bag a Barra — 14 August 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. Well, there is a lot happening in the Northern Territory in the Top End.

I'm led to believe as our man, Neil Stewart, mentioned earlier on the show. The Darwin Festival's on. How good is that? I'm going up there at the right time and there's one bloke up there who's very, very excited and he's on the line.

What do you g'day? No, I got a ducks, yeah? You're not far away now, eh? Not far away, mate.

I be there with you. Blighting good. That'll be, uh, be good. It's been a while since you've been up a couple of years, eh?

Oh, well, up to you. We were in the northern territory last year, we went up to Catherine and cut across through WA, but we were up there with you, and I know you're very, very excited. I love it up here, as you know. And the whole territory's good.

We've had a few good days at Ayres Rock and all of that. once we left Mount Dare and then we went up to the centre of Australia. The geographical centre of the country, which was fantastic, and of course, the time it is, rock was good, always good there. And here we are now, just south of Alice Springs, as we make our way to the Top End, to spend some time with the great man, Glenn, what do you want?

There a lot going on, mate. What's biting with the fishing? Now, listen, we're talking to you off fair. you're thinking Darwin Harbour might be the goal if we want to get into them.

Yeah, I reckon we should go for a look at Darwin Harbour, mate. the perfect time of year for it. Um, you know, when we get this cooler weather, which has been beautiful and cool the last few days, so, um, not much wind around, but uh, cooler water teams. That's when we get our the bigger pelagics pushing into the harbour Spanish mackerel.

Well, a few different knuckle species. actually. Our long tail tuna, which is my favourite for some sashimi, and then Queenfish and Trevely and all that sort of stuff, really fire up as well, right through the harbour. We get these nice incoming neat tides, particularly on a weekend and it's pretty fun out there.

All the boats racing around, chasing tuna, Queenies and Max around right up through the harbour, all the way up into the Elizabeth River arm, which is our closest boat ramp to my place. So, it's a beautiful place, and you haven't been out on the water there, mate. It's a great different angle to see the city from. Darwin Harbour is like 6 times the size of Sydney Harbour.

So, it's absolutely massive. And, um, you know, it's, it's, uh, well, it's a very busy sort of industrial port. It's actually in really good nick environmentally. Um, it's heavily monitored and there's still some really world-class fishing within, you know, we, we've got big Qantas planes flying over the top of us while we're having really great fishing sessions. So, it's a great place to go for a quick, especially if you only got sort of half a day or whatever to fill in, you don't have to drive a 1000000 miles, like we seem to have to for all our other spots.

So, yeah, I'm looking forward to showing you guys around Darwin Harbour and you know, you've got such a big variety of different species you can catch there as well, which is a bit different to sort of your billabongs and that sort of stuff where we've been in the past. And the Barra, in the harbour? We sure to get one? Yeah, absolutely bar in the harbour.

They're a bit more sort of specific with the tides and that sort of thing. I haven't checked the tides for our particular day, but we're sort of talking about, but yeah, we really want a nice runout tide in the morning for Barry, get the water out of the mangroves and down into the drains, get them active. But the good thing about the harbour is that while you're waiting either side of perhaps bar activity or whatever your target is, there's other things you can fill in the time with. So you're, um, you've got so many options, you can easily fill in the entire day of daylight hours, fishing, um, sort of targeted spots and and techniques depending on the species. Yeah, can't wait for it, mate.

Certainly looking forward to getting up there, and of course, we'll have a cold one or two. Yeah, they still serve it up here, mate, which is good. They've got the memo that you're on the way up, so they might have gotten upload and have her all sorted and ready to go. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Well done. Good on you, mate. Yeah, they still serve that. What else, mate?

And how's the fishing been everywhere else? Because I know it's at peak time now. We've no, I'll tell you one thing heading up, needing north. We've passed a few people heading south, which means obviously people, they've had their little stint in the Top End.

They're making their way back home. But there'd still be a few people about, wouldn't they? Ah, yeah, there's still plenty about it. It does tend to start to shuffle around again this time of year as we get closer to footy finals.

You know, you'll get a few grandies, want to go back and watch the kids in their footy and netball and other sport finals down south. But yeah, I mean, the entire area of the northern territory right from down at King Ash Bay, up through the Top End and across to the West Australian border is absolutely perfect at this time. You can't, you can't get better. The only thing I'm sort of waiting for is for our kakadoo billabongs to open up, which after such a big wet season might take a little bit longer than normal. Um and that's fine.

If that coincides with some warmer temperatures starting to happen in September, that'll be, that'll be just fine because that'll really fire those barrer up and that's when we can expect to have, we're talking about the test cricket that's on right now, up here, um cricket score captures of Barra in the billabongs, from, from about mid-September onwards, um, something that a lot of locals, particularly uh, planned and pitching dates around every year. I haven't actually been out through a bar of fish for a little while, so I've been away in Christmas Island chasing bonefish on the flats. That's why you couldn't get hold of me last week. Yeah.

Well, when you mentioned, when you mentioned... Sorry, mate. Sorry to interrupt you, but when you mentioned Christmas Island. I was thinking the Christmas Island that everybody knows. I got that wrong, didn't I?

Yeah, that's the one that all the Australians know just through some bad press over the years, I suppose, but there's actually 2 Christmas islands. one off West Coast, in the Indian Ocean, is an Australian territory. You fly there via Perth um a couple of times a week where they have had um immigration detention centres and stuff in the past. I've been through there on the way to Kokis Keeling Islands, which is a very similar destination, albeit much, much smaller than the Christmas Island in the Pacific Ocean, which is, let's say, halfway between Fiji and Hawaii. So you get there, Brisbane, Fiji, and then through to the island of Christmas Island, which is the largest coral atoll in the world.

It's absolute paradise. out there, and uh, you know, uh, every different fish species you can imagine to find somewhere that's about as far away from everything else as you could possibly get. It's smack bang in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. So, yeah, but it's patroned a lot by the US clients through our summertime, their wintertime, and then mostly Australians through this time of year when everyone bounced out trying to get away and get a bit of sunshine.

So I'm lucky enough to actually be heading back there towards the end of your time up here. So I get 2 trips there this year, which is, you know, one of the tough parts of my job at Angling Adventures. Your gigs, your gigs, a fishing guru. Alright, mate. Well we're looking forward to seeing you.

We are in the northern territory and we have been for a while now as we make our way north. I'll be up there for a couple of weeks and mate, you wouldn't believe I've got to get a radiator fitted to the ram while I'm up there. Anyway, it's worked out well. Yeah. So you'll be nicely settled into the territory timeframe in Ireland.

A new phrase when I was in Christmas Island recently. They have 2 different times there. They have Christmas Island time or island time. We could call it territory time here, and then you have time on time, which is actually the time that you're supposed to be somewhere.

When we say, meet you at the pub, maybe time on time or territory time. Doesn't matter really because I will happily wait there on my own and keep a couple of beers comfortable and company while you turn up. I was telling my mates here about territory time. It a real thing, isn't it?

It's a real thing, mate. Yeah, and it's great to be part of when that's the flow that you're going with. Sometimes when you want to get something done and you're on a bit of a time limit, it can get frustrating, but of course, you know, the whole thing that wraps around territory time is exactly why I live here. So you, you sort of got a roll with it a little bit every now and then, but most of the time I'm more than happy to go with territory time. I like territory time.

I think it's good. I like to be punctual on, you know, when you have to be, but, you know, territory time does sound pretty good to me. I reckon I could, I could live by that, that time. I like it.

Yeah, it doesn't fly too well. When you go back down south to the big wide world of perhaps Sydney or Melbourne, people seem to be a bit more demanding with appearing to, you know, boring things like uh, work at work and other other things like. Territory. Territory time. Territory time? Yeah, that's right.

the way to go. That's the mind thing you want to be in, especially where you want. Well, I'll tell you what, when I'm at home, it's normally duck time. Okay?

All right. I'm going. See you in a few days. That's a bit of a worry.

I hope that's not too sinister what duck time is, but I'm not going to ask. Duck time is just right. there when I get there. See you there.

It'll be right. I'm bad. at that. They should be right, mate.

I live by that. Yeah, you should be right. You know, we'll sort it. All right mate.

You enjoy it up there. I'll see you in a few days, eh? Awesome, mate. Look forward to that.

Good on you, Watty, there he is, Glenn. What do you want? That's Barefoot Fishing Safaris. And of course, angling adventures, and he's revealed that there is a 2nd Christmas island.

But what about that between Fiji and Hawaii, mate? Wow. He goes out there, doesn't he? Barefoot Fishing Safaris.

checking me out and of course, if you want to go to those places like Christmas Island, the 2nd Christmas Island, and take your fishing adventure to another level. Well, you just got to jump onto Angling Adventures as well. Looking forward to catching up with my mate, Watty. He's been part of this radio show now for many, many years since we started it, basically.

And um, or this version of it, and uh, he's certainly our men in the Top End. Can't wait to catch up with him there. In Darwin, and we'll go out to Dundee Beach and do all that great stuff that we can be done there. I know the people that are coming with us are fairly excited about it. Can't wait to get up there myself, to be honest.

anyway. Barefoot Fishing Safaris. You want to go catch that barra in the Top End?