Bag a Barra — 9 October 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, we've had trouble finding him because he was somewhere in some remote part of the world, when we spoke to him a few weeks ago, you might remember, we spoke to our man, Watty, from Barefoot Fishing Safaris when we had to record a chat with him through Facebook Messenger, because he was that remote. And then over the last couple of weeks we just couldn't get him at all. But he's back.

But he's back straight into it. hes on a boat somewhere. Where are you, Watty? I am, mate.

I want a boat. I got a barrow in my eyesight right now, flies going over his nose, slow down, John, slow down, let he meet it. Oh, he turned away. Oh, yeah, I'm back working like a dog as always, mate, but yeah.

Oh, yeah, yeah. Very different scenario right now. We're sweating it out here. Then even 4 or 5 days ago I was fishing in the snow where I'm about 40 K's from the Russian border in Mongolia.

So. That is unbelievable, isn't it, really? I think it is incredible that we haven't got hold of you out there. You sent me through some photos of what looked like to be a...

Oh, hang on. He's on the fishy head here. This doesn't get your mind, doesn't get any more real than this, does it? But you sent me through photos of the, some of the couple of the fish that you caught. And they look like massive big eels, but I know they were some sort of a trout.

What sort of fish were they? and how big were they? They were huge. It's the largest salmoned species in the world. The Siberian tamen.

essentially a huge brown trout and there he is the, it's a yellow tail. And um, yeah, they grow to about a metre and a half long. You'll see that one that Louise got to eat. That was very close, um was a metre 32 centimetres.

So she made it onto the wall of fame in that lodge, which we need to get to a metre 20 to get on the wall of fame. Mine was only a tiny little metre 12 compared to hers, but yeah, absolutely epic, Epic spot, epic trip, there's another one. He's looking at that fly. Um, And yeah, I mean, such a contrast to what we're used to up here, of course, uh, absolute trip of a lifetime, and just like everyone said to me before I, before I went when I was researching the trip and putting it together for our group, that one of the greatest travel experiences you can do in your lifetime.

Mongolian culture is so rich, their food is amazing. The landscape's incredible, and of course, the fishing is wonderful as well. So, yeah, it was, that's one you would never forget, and, and for anyone who's keen on, particularly that cool weather sort of trout fishing stuff, um, putting on the list for sure. So, oh mate, yeah, definitely.

So will you run a trip back over there again at some point or? Yeah, I will. I don't know if I'll get back over there next year. Although anyone can go at any time, but I'll go.

I'll take a group over in their summertime in July in 2028, which is when it's not snowing. It's sort of a, it's like a southern springtime, whether you, you're sort of 26 degree days, 10 degree nights, and uh, um, those big time and um, there's a mouse, sort of, not a mouse plague, but um, the, the mice in the summertime, swim across the rivers, so they, they're catching them on big surface lures and things and flies, which would just be amazing. We got a little taste of that for our stuff, but it was, like you say, it was snowing and a different part of the season when we were there just last week. So, yeah, I can't wait to get back.

It's amazing. Yeah, incredible, mate. really is. Now, you're back.

Now, where, so you, I think you're just telling, where are you now? You're on the boat now, you've got some people out fishing. So how are they biting? Obviously, it sounds like there's a bit of action happening in the background there.

Yeah, well, yeah, I've got John here. He's come over from the States. We've done a couple of days out at your favourite corrobery Billabong where he got into a couple of Saratoga and some small barrow there and we'd just come out to Crab Claw Island yesterday and we've got another few days here on the flats and yeah, we've got 2 in the net so far this morning and since I've been talking to you, I've seen another 4 so, um, they are biting, mate. It's that time of year when they start to group up, um, particularly in the mouths of these rivers and things where we're fishing and um, getting ready for that wet season.

We're pretty keen to get a bit of rain up here and get things kicking off, but yeah, the fishing, even before I left when I spoke to you last time, actually, I can see the spot where I was chatting to you last time I was here before I went to Mongolia. It's been really good since September. So, um, you know, we've got another 3 sets of groups to do through to the end of November and it's, and it should just keep getting better and better. How is the buildup, mate, at the moment?

I mean, he's the wet starting to build up now. I know when I was there, only, what, a couple of months ago now, there was a few steamy days and they were all talking about maybe an early wet. How is the weather there at the minute? Yeah, well we haven't had a hell of a lot of rain.

While we were away the 3 weeks, I think we had about only sort of 15 mils or so at our place, but it is scattered and it's starting to appear here and there. Um, perhaps not, definitely not as much as we've had by this time last year. Uh, but yeah, I mean, the humidity is up. It's interesting though, because it hasn't rained and everything hasn't greened up yet.

It's not as humid as it, as it often is. My old man's up from Victoria at the moment, and he, he really struggles in the human weather, but he's having a, he's having a great time. So, um, yeah, it hasn't quite sort of happened yet as far as the rain goes, but the water temps are up again and the humidity is, is there. And um, and yeah, rain will happen any moment.

Yeah, that's a small Barrett, didn't he, John? You get him, John? Get him. Get him. Get him.

All right. So I'm tipping it to be a little bit scarce around town. There wouldn't be too many caravaners still there now, would there? No, it's really starting to quiet down as far as that goes.

The caravan parks are fairly empty now and it's just the local sort of who enjoy this time of the year, which is, which is me, and of course, the, the Keane Fishers, who, who come up every year at this time as well. So, um, yeah, it, it, the, the switch has been flicked, mate, as far as the general tourism goes, which is the way it is every year. Dollar fish is happening, no. I keep telling John to catch the one with the red tag.

He's letting me down at the moment. That was my next question. So the $1000000 fish would be back on and people would be out there, mate. Those 2 blokes who won, who, what, they sold up everything and gave up their jobs and thought were going to make their fortune. Remember that Steve?

Yeah, yeah. Anyway, you'll see that you'll see that you'll see them washing cars somewhere in Darwin or doing something. Anyway. All right, well, mate, we'll let you get back into it.

So you're on the water right now. You're out there, you're hooking a couple. You into women, they're biting and they're around. So, it doesn't get any more real than this when we talk to you when you're actually out on the boat fishing, which is fantastic.

We absolutely love it when we do that. Welcome home. I'm glad you made it back safely, and I bet they're probably glad to see the back of you, to be honest, over there, but, um, and they're probably relieved us. He's not going to be back here for another 2 years.

How good is it? They'd probably taken that long to get over it, I'd reckon. But no, it's good that it's good that you're back, mate. And now we'll get across what's happening over the summer period in Darwin and of course that wet season and what all that means for the fishing and obviously the hardcore locals will be out there catching them in drain coverts as they do along the side of the road that time of year.

Yeah, we look forward to look forward to all of that. All right, mate. We'll let you get back into it and enjoy your day on the water, eh? Righto, mate.

No way. Thanks for the call. We'll talk to you next week. There he is.

We will do that. We will do that, mate, if we can find you, which is getting harder these days. There he is. That's our man.

Glenn, Watty, Watt, from Barefoot Fishing Safaris up there in Darwin. Just back from a big remote trip out there in Mongolia. You believe that, right there, 40 K's from the Russian border. And mate, I tell you, he sent me through some photos and geez, I'll tell you what, he was rugged up, looked freezing.

Big fish, but anyway. But he's there back in the Top End, and if you want to go fishing up in the Top End, you need to get onto him. Barefoot Fishing Safaris, he knows where they are, he knows where to catch them up there, and he's certainly our man on the spot in the northern territory Top End. We love it there ourselves, as you know, and it's good that we've got Watty up there from every week. And this week again, coming from the boat with his starlink, sitting on the front of the boat turned on, so we can talk to him out there catching fish on the radio.

How good is it? It doesn't get much better than that, does it? Anyway. Barefoot Fishing Safaris.