Tall Tails Fishing Podcast
Welcome to The Rodcast!
The unfiltered, salt-crusted fishing podcast based out of The Wild West of Australia
Fishing runs deep in our blood—passed down through generations, shaping who we are and how we live. It’s more than just catching a feed; it’s about the adventure, the laughs, and the wild places it takes us. But above all, it’s about the storytellers—the salty sea dogs, the trailblazers, the madmen with experiences so wild they’re almost unbelievable.
Join Mark LeCras & Jake Rotham as they dive into raw, unfiltered conversations with WA’s most seasoned fishos, uncovering legendary Tall Tails from the wild west and beyond.
No filters. No fluff. Just fishing, good banter, and real stories from the people who’ve lived them.
Cheers for Tuning in to the Rodcast!
Tall Tails Fishing Podcast
Ep.21 | Sam Birch - Birchy's Fishing Tours | The Barra King!
In this episode we’re joined by our mate Sam (Birchy) Birch aka The Barra King who is the man behind Birchy’s Fishing Tours.
Birchy might be known for catching monster barra, but the story behind the man goes much deeper. Sam (Birchy) Birch is a Balanggarra, Kija & Jaru man born & bred in Wyndham.
In this episode Birchy opens about his upbringing, his culture and the challenges he faced as a young bloke. He shares how he turned a life shaped by violence, trauma and anger into one driven by purpose, vulnerability and faith. He talks about how fishing, country and culture became his escape and his identity. This one is powerful, honest and full of heart.
- Tagalong tours explained and what guests can expect on a day out with Birchy
- His journey from violence and anger to vulnerability, growth and purpose
- How he reads a river, the signs he looks for and how he hunts big barra
- Tides, bait selection, lure choice and when to change tactics
- Lure colours, retrieves and what actually works in dirty water
- The wild story of a croc launching up a bank during a night bait run
- A venomous snake incident involving his daughter and how he handled it
- Barra behaviour broken down including feeding patterns, ambush tactics and water temperature
- A preview of the Lecca & Rothy’s upcoming Kununurra trip
- Listener questions
- Plenty of stories, laughs and hard earned barra knowledge from someone who lives and breathes the country he fishes
If your looking to get out for a cultural experience & land the fish of a lifetime in WA's north, make sure you book a tour with Birchy below! ⬇️ ⬇️ ⬇️
WEBSITE: birchysfishingtours.com.au
INSTAGRAM: @birchys_fishing_tours
FACEBOOK: Birchy's Fishing Tours
TALL TAILS!
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INTRO TUNE
🥩 Red Bellied Black Snake - The Beefs 🥩
Courtesy of Sam Smith
Click here to listen to The Beefs on Spotify
For all enquiries about Tall Tails Fishing Podcast, please contact jakerotham@gmail.com
Welcome back to the Rocky Cupist, everybody. We are back for another episode, and both Leck and I are super pumped for this one, man. I reckon uh you can do the honours for this one. One of your great mates.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, one of me, one of me really good mates in the hot seat. I've been keen to get him on for ages now, but the best way to describe this bloke is Barraking. That is about all that needs saying. So that one of Australia's most iconic fish, the Barramundi, has been an obsession of mine for ages. And I met this bloke in 2022 doing the Gib River Road, and uh I did a booked a fishing charter with my son Rex uh and pulled up at the gates at Home Valley Station and rocks up Birchy uh with his son Patrick, and it was to this day one of the most memorable fishing days I've had in my entire life, and from there sparked a wicked friendship with with my man Birchie. So, Birchie, welcome to the hot seat, mate.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, good morning, boys. Welcome, brother. Stoked to have you on, mate. We've been talking about this for a very long time, or not a very long time, but since we started this podcast, Let was always adamant that he wanted to get you on, man. So welcome. Um, mate, we start every podcast with the last fish he caught. I'm pretty sure we're all gonna know what what the last fish he caught was, but was it a batter?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I mean uh my um last bat the last fish I caught was a meter 26 other day. Just a meter 26.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, cool, mate.
SPEAKER_04:That is what he's called the barricade. We'll have to get a photo of that. So you did send me yeah, I send you that one. Yeah, so where were you fishing out of? Uh, let me set the scene in. Set the scene for a spaghetti.
SPEAKER_00:Don't have to give away your exact at Paris, yeah. Yeah. Um that's a little creek next to Windham. Yeah. Um I I took you guys there. Um, yeah, and it's one of my favourite spots on a on a neap tide. Yep. Then again, fish it on a smaller tide. Um, you can't get in there. Big tide. Well, how come you can't get in there on the blue? Marsh is wet. Yeah. Because your big tides up to 8.3 metres a day, cover everything. Yeah, right. And what did you catch it on? Uh chunk bait.
SPEAKER_04:So this yeah, we're straight into it here, guys. Because this is something I learnt very quickly with with Birchie is he, as you can hear, he knows how to read a river, but um the techniques, like with Barramundi, I'd always been like you have to, you know, I felt like oh, you have to dot every I and cross every T and you need live mullet and all this sort of stuff. But given the right circumstances, um you actually get big river mullet and you cut them up into chunks, similar to like a cutlet, and you'll throw a big 10-0 hook in it and throw it out on a handline and it's effective, eh?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and a lot a lot of people say, uh, you'll just catch catfish on it, but yeah, that's my go-to secret. Yunk baits.
SPEAKER_04:So even even if we've got live bait, you always throw it.
SPEAKER_00:Even on that day that last day we went fishing, we had about four live ears out that never got touched. Never. And the chunk bait did. Chunk bait had just gone off. We got 10 barra and three was over a meter. Yeah, wow. Because 126, 109, and 104.
SPEAKER_01:Hell yeah. Well, we're up there at the end of the month.
SPEAKER_04:I got my notepad here. You'll see me and Rothi just giggling and smiling throughout this whole episode because yeah, we're we've got a trip booked in about two weeks' time.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I've been lucky enough to get an invite on the boys' trip that you guys do over here with uh who we got coming on that trip.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, so we got we got um Luke from from Mount Hart, Reese from Westerberg, myself and Nate Robb uh do an annual trip to uh the home valley station in in the off season, so everything's shut and Birchie shows us around his country, and um we call it the King of the Pentecost. We got a trophy made up last year, Birchie who won. I won it. It was the worst thing I did because I was like, uh Birchie's gonna we're gonna go up there and um it's he's gonna shove us around, and then I was like, Birchie, I got a trophy made up for the King of the Pentecost, and then give it a minute. He's like all of a sudden, like 10 handlings coming out of the cannon, and he's like, I'm winning that cunt.
SPEAKER_01:It is funny. Nice. Uh Birchie, just for our listeners, we obviously know where you're based and all that, but you're you're in Kananara, yeah?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so I'm based in Cunanara and also Home Valley Station. Yep.
SPEAKER_01:Home Valley Station, tell us a little bit.
SPEAKER_00:Home Valley Station is uh 120K south of Cunanara along the Gibber Road. Um odds, but now it's all bitumized. Yep. Right at the gate. So um like Lecker. Yeah, it's softer, yeah. Yeah, yeah. So um, yeah, it's down the Gibber Road just past El Crestra across the Pentecost. And um, yeah, I operate at uh those two places. Um tour-wise, we got a variety of tours. We do full-day fishing um from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. Um and then we also do night fishing from 3, 3 p.m. till late. And then we got the hunting side of it. We got two hunting trips we do. We do uh just us um just a normal fishing, uh fishing and hunting. We do uh smoking ceremony, turkey shooting, and then go fishing all day at from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. And then we got the full experience as a smoking ceremony, turkey shooting, fishing, then we go shoot a cow. Wow, people and how we do it and how we live off the land and um provide for our family, give them that experience of a lifetime that no one else has ever offered on another tour. And then we got the tag-alongs that we do, we do overnight camps. Um, we do three-day tag-alongs, and we do do a um a three-day, five-day, and a ten-dayer.
SPEAKER_01:So when you say a tag long, that's when someone can bring their own vehicle and their own gear, own gear, everything, yeah. And you basically guide them through your country.
SPEAKER_00:You just guide them through. Um, we just set on the three to five day tour, we do we just set up a big base camp, had a fish at it and hunted it out. The 10-day 10 days it's all self-sufficient. We do the Umburgari track. Wow.
SPEAKER_01:Up the Carson River, yeah. I've watched the boys from Fall Drive 24-7 do that trip. It looks pretty incredible.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah, that's awesome, bro. Yeah, one of the best I love that doing it 10 days because out in the country where I grew up in, it's awesome.
SPEAKER_01:So full full experience is what people are getting when they come out on a tour with you. It's it's uh the best, mate. Yeah, so it's exactly how you'd be doing it if you're out with my family on your own.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, even everyday fishing is just uh I'm it's just like taking my family, it's very raw. I don't change anything. Yeah, you jump in a car with no dashboard, bullet holes through the door.
SPEAKER_01:So it really is a culture experience. So obviously, to give that culture experience, Birchie. You're you're you're a man of culture. I want to know a bit about you, man. So tell us about your upbringing and where you grew up and sort of how this all came to be.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so um people who came on my tour already, they know what I do on the way out on a on a normal day. I share my life story with everybody just to give it a history of what I've been through to get to where I am today wasn't easy. I went down a road that I never thought I'd come out of, and um I also shared to raise awareness for men's health and just to also inspire everyone women, men, kids, whoever listened to my story that I shared with. And I for me doing that, I look at it as it's um it's a way of letting that person know who they're with, make them feel comfortable, let them know, you know, so they feel a bit more safer once they hear a story like that. Some people you know you don't know who you're going out fishing with, so you sort of break barriers and stuff. Yep. So yeah, I start from I start from my mum and dad. My mom and dad were stolen generation, they were taken away from the parents from the aged three-year-old. Um, they weren't allowed out of out of a mission until they were 14. Um, my dad was he was uh in the Forest River mission. Now it's a community established as a community called Umbulgari. Um now it's all closed. Um my mom was at Mullabullah Mission near Hall's Creek. Um and yeah, my like I said, they were my dad's 78, uh, my mom's 70 now. Um so lucky I still have mum and dad still around. Um and my upbringing, I'm one of eight kids. I got six sisters, one brother. All my sisters are older than me. I'm the oldest boy in the family, um, and my youngest, my younger brother's 30, 30, 32. Um, my upbringing was the best upbringing ever. My you know, in the household, we've never seen drugs, we never seen violence, we never seen alcohol. Mom and dad never drank or smoked or none of that stuff. We didn't never witness any of that stuff. Mom and dad always worked hard all their life. My dad, from the age of 14, he's still working today. Um my mom did 33 years in the Department of Children's Protection. Um and like I said, yeah, my my household was the best, my best household ever. I couldn't uncomplain the road that I took down. I went down this road that I choose to go down the road um that I went down. But um, yeah, so myself with schooling, I pulled out at a very young age, at a 10-year-old. Um I used to get bullied a lot. So being a young man, you get taught mentally and physically not to show weakness, otherwise, they just keep picking on you. So I told my mum, um, I was too frightened to tell my dad, because my dad was a straight-up guy. He would have told me to stand up and fight. And um, yeah, my my mum said, like every other parent would say, Um, you know, it'll go away, we'll talk to the teachers, but it just got worse and worse. So I said, nah, I'm gonna go back to school. So my dad said to me, if you don't go to go to school, you come to work for me. So I I grew up pretty much out on country. I never grew up in town. Um, schooling wasn't for me, I pulled out. I went out in country, learned how to master cattle, learned how to operate machinery. I'm not a qualified mechanic, but I know myself running a car and I'm the best bush mechanic ever. I've been told, I've been told, I've seen some videos. And um, yeah, just you know, the life skills I know today for my dad and my uncle, just you know, fishing and how to read river systems and country and how to manage country, how to look after it. Because, you know, if you don't look after country, the country don't look after you. Um, and yeah, I was out there from the age of 10, 11, 12, 13, 14. I came into town. Um, we came in for a break, and uh, I met my first partner back then, um, and she ended up falling pregnant. Um, I had my first child when I was 14. It's very hard being a parent. And wow, um, you know, I didn't know anything about being a parent back then. It's just young and dumb love. You're a kid yourself at that age. And then um, yeah, she went we went our separate ways. I went back out on country with my dad for the you know the rest of the bit of the just closing up on the season for mustering. And then one of my cousins came up from Perth and um he's like, bro, come to Perth. You know, a lot of chicks stand there. Dumb chasing girls. So I come in here meant to be for a two weeks' holiday. I ended up staying there with three years. Um when I got to Perth, I got introduced to boxing. And now looking back at it now with a healthy and clear mind. I knew what I was doing. My my trauma started when I was 10 years old. I came down here, I got introduced to boxing. I did three years of professional boxing. I came back home, I got I got all my skills up. I knew what I was doing at so all this rage inside of me. You were sharp with your hands. Yeah, bro.
SPEAKER_01:You got that rage, and so so I can relate to you a little bit here, man. I grew up boxing too. Yep. That's your outlet, and not having that control when you got that skills a bit, that's a dangerous thing, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, it it is, yeah. Look back at it now, and it's just um, yeah, with all that rage, very, very dangerous. Recipe for disaster, really. Yeah, and I got back home, I still remember like it was yesterday. I was just turning 17. Um and I got off the plate, and my mum and dad told me, don't get involved with your cousins. Because my cousins are still family feuding today. Forty, fifty years just passed on, generation to generation to generation. Um sorry about you. You say family feuding is that family fighting with each other. Yeah, just different families, bro, just fighting. Um and you get to you're hating somebody from as soon as you're born, you get you get taught to hate somebody that you don't even know for about us up because your family doesn't like them.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, okay.
SPEAKER_00:And then it just passed on passed on trauma and stuff like that. And I I was totally involved as soon as like I said, my as soon as my mum said that to me, I said in my vision back then, it is like these guys did it to me, I'm gonna do it to them. You know, I thought violence was the cure. There was no they didn't get into trouble bullying me or picking on me. I and like I said, I I knew what I was doing. Um like when I came home, I was fit. I knew no one could beat me back then. I was fit as a fiddle, I was hitting my targets, I was training every day. And um here we uh got it back to Wyndham the first night, bro, since I went down the street, I became a bully of the Kimberleys. I used to fight every day. And I look back at it now, like what a life. Like now I could walk around without worry. I can before I used to look over my shoulder, I used to I couldn't go to a town to enjoy myself because I love basketball, I used to travel around everywhere for basketball. As soon as you get to a town, someone someone would just come to you and just want to fight you because of your reputation. And like, I don't even know you, and then like uh let's have a smash. I said, nah. And then it go on, then next thing you know, then I'm fighting the whole 10, 15 blokes that was in front of me. But um, I got addicted to fighting, like it is a drug. The standover tactic, balling. Um I could walk into a party and if I didn't have alcohol and stuff, I just grabbed somebody's SC and walk out with it. I wanted somebody's woman, I could walk over and say, I'm I'm taking home tonight because I knew they wouldn't fight back. And it is very like I look back at it now, it's scary. Like you look at it now, um you know, it's things like happen these days. If you hit somebody, people drop dead. Um and yeah, we uh I got it like I said, I got addicted to fighting. Like it is a drug, and um we were I met my wife who I'm married to today. I met her in 2005. Um I'll just tell you a funny story, this one. Um how we met. We was at the basketball courts in uh in her community at one arm point north of Broome. Uh yeah. All these kids, like, oh god, there's blood jumping around, dunking around, I was showing off. And yeah, I met I seen my wife, I met her, and yeah, oh, what's your name? I was like, I'm LeBron James. But yeah, that's what Billy says out there, bro. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I was running a muck there, and then I um yeah, here we are married today. We've been together 20 years, but um, yeah, then 2006, going in 2007, uh I uh ran away with her back to Windham. She stuck back to Wyndham. My mother-in-law didn't like me back then. Um I ran away with her daughter and she's like, you better bring my daughter back. Now my mother-in-law loves me, but um yeah, we uh got back to Wyndham and um we uh we were at the shops one day um and four guys tried to jump me. So I got stuck into them and um and Wyndham is like the wild, wild wasp, bro. If the pol if the crowds are too big, the police tell you to take it out of town, sort it out. On the marsh, and then um yeah, this day I had a fight in the marsh and we uh one thing led to another. I had four fights that day, and in that incident somebody passed away when we were fighting. And um I did four enough I did four and a half years in prison. Um 2007, 2011 I came out. I spent my 18th birthday in prison and my 21st. And um yeah, came out in 2011. We uh had our second son then. We had Patrick, um, my my big boy that Mark talked about earlier on. And then um yeah, we 2012. I I forgot to mention earlier on I I I got six kids. Um I'm only 36, but yeah, a few more coming. The big star a few more coming. I need I need a junior. Um but yeah, and then I came out in 2011, and 2012 I had a terrible, terrible accident on the driveway. I reversed and I um my little nephew, I call him my baby. Um, he's under my car, and I reversed and I killed him. And uh I went down this road that I never thought I'd come out of. Um I turned to drugs and alcohol as a cure. I thought there were there was a cure because every time I got on it, like when I'm in drugs and alcohol, I used to do ice. I used to sell ice, I used to drink 11 to 10 cartons a day. I pushed all my loved ones away. Um and uh yeah, we that was my life. Just doing drugs and drinking alcohol every day, every night. I used to drink myself to sleep, you know, always on the gear. Um I can say, I can vote to myself, I never ever did anything bad on it. It's just to blur my mind out, and escape. And escape, yep, just lock myself into that that world. And every day I was on I was on 2011, uh, 2012, 13, 14, I came home, and then I realized what I've lost when my life my wife left me with my with my big kids. Um she left restraining a lot on the table saying, See you later, I can't do this anymore. It was never a happy home. We always blamed each other and um always arguing. And like I said, I never ever did drugs around my kids with my wife. I was always away with the boys, hotel rooms and other places. And then we uh I hit rock bottom. And then my my wife went back to one-on-one point broom, where she's where she where her mum was living at that time. And then we uh started I just keep it in rock bottom, but I just kept you know on the drugs and alcohol. One of my young uncles that plays a big part of my life, young Uncle Daniel. He um came up from Port Headland. He used to live in Headland. Um, on the mine, I used to work on the mines, and seeing the state I was in, he's like, Come to Headland, I said, you know, clean yourself up. This is not you. So I went to Port Headland to change my life and I did that. I I gave up drinking, gave up drugs, started hanging with positive people. It wasn't working, I was just in the training. You know, I got fit again, I was 85 kilos full of muscle. I got to head, I started training again in 2014. And then I reached out to my partner who I'm married to today. She said, nah, I don't trust it. Still fresh of it, so it's the time to move on. So I met another woman in Headland, had another baby, and that wasn't happy, wasn't happy home. Um, so didn't work out for us. So I um I got I was told I said I'm going back home. Back to Katinara. So I went back there in 2006, middle 2016, I went back home to Katinara and I was doing alright, and then I reached out to my wife, um, and she said, Alright, let's give another kid another crack for the kids. I said, Alright, so I moved back to Broome, and then I got caught up with the wrong group again, started smoking drugs again, and started from a weekend. I just have a pipe. Actually, you know, I'm fully into it again. Selling drinking again, and then my wife sort of gave up and said, I'll live with you, that's your life. But that's you. So then um 2017 we moved back to Kananara and I was fully into it then back then. I was just fully selling that. That was my lifestyle, drugs and alcohol. You know, I was the dealer and everything. Um and skipped the New Year's Eve, we're sitting on the driveway. Um, I like to be honest with everybody. I was on the driveway, I was awake for about five days, and we're getting ready to go out to the New Year's Eve party at the pub. And um, in that five days, you know, I drank a lot of alcohol, I put a lot of drugs in my system. Um and yeah, we're sitting on the driveway and the kids playing around the yards, and you know, through a drug drink, a lot of money and stuff, and you know, I always had the crowd, always had all the fake I go back at it now, all the friends, all the fake friends. Yeah, bro. I used to have a driveway full of them sitting on, oh that's got a birch, yes, he's got the alcohol, he's got the drugs, he's got the money. And I was blindsided by that. I was caught in a bubble, you know, just oh yeah, they're my friend, bro. I just feed them out. Yeah, I'm the man. Yeah, I'm the man, I'm the big dog. Yeah, and then we uh just honestly, my kids are playing in the yard, and like I said, I was wake for about five days, a lot of alcohol, a lot of drugs, and my kids are playing, and this breeze, this breeze came through me, and in that breeze, there was a message. I I look back at it now, that was my old people telling me to you know that's enough now. Wake up, fight this demon inside you, and that message made me look at my kids and said to myself, What do I want to do for the rest of my life? Do you want to give my kids the best future I can or still sell drugs and be an alcoholic? And my wife caught me looking at my kids. He said, You're right, I want. I said, uh I said, I'm giving up tomorrow. She said, Fuck off, yeah. You'll never give that up. I had six, seven kilos of that stuff in my possession. And I said, Look at that. You'll never give that up. The money is too much for you. That's your life. I said, I'm giving up tomorrow. I heard it before. So I went to the pub for the last night. I came home the next day. Bring the boys up, come get all the drugs. We kept the money. Didn't mean fuck all to me. We spent that money like wind blows, man. Quicker quicker the wind blows, quicker the money went out of my pocket. I went 14 days in my room. Um I did all my healing myself with my wife and my family. Um, I went 14 days in my room. The hardest thing was alcohol. Drugs I was offered three days. Alcohol was the scariest withdrawals I'll ever go through in my life, I reckon. I've heard that before. I could I could see myself sleeping, bro. I had out-of-body experience. That is the most scariest thing ever. My wife said I used to be screaming in my sleep. I used to have air con on, and I used to be sweating, bro. I could be just soaking sweat. Um I used to sleep 23 hours a day, get up for a feed, shit, shower, get my kids and kids sitting back in the room, and just I just fought all my demons in there. And like I said, the hardest thing was alcohol. Because even after I came out of my 14 days in my room, you drive around town, the first thing you see is somebody's drinking. Um, you walk outside your house, someone's walking past with a can. And um, yeah, then I would I was just a stay-at-home dad in 2018, and then 2019, um, one of the boys he uh kept pestering me to set helping go set this camp up. I was like, ah, yeah, yeah, no worries, let's go. And then 50 tens later, I was like, what the fuck's this camp, bro? Oh, it's a men's camp. Ernie Dinga running called Camping on Country. I said, ah fuck. Ernie Dinga. Yeah, yeah. He was running a camp, it's a social emotional being camp for every general men. And I said to them, I don't want to be here. What the fuck I'm here for? I just come to set this camp. He's like, no, let's just stay here, see what it's all about, bro. I stayed there, went for a week. Um, like I said, it is a social emotional being camp for Aboriginal men. So on Ernie's crew, Ernie Dingo had a white follower. They had four indigenous campaigns, had an indigenous doctor and an indigenous counselor. And um they created a safe place around the fire every night sharing a yarning session. Um you can share if you want to share, but you just gotta sit down. There's a first night I didn't share, second night didn't share, then third night everybody started feeling, you know, you feel comfortable, you feel safe, and other men start opening up. I was like, oh yeah, I'm fucking ready. I'm ready to share my story. I see the funny side of it now because the first time ever sharing my story went for 20 seconds. You gone for 20 minutes. I'm Birchie, I'm Birchie.
SPEAKER_04:I met my wife by telling her LeBron.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, no, um, it was funny because you know, sitting there in the circle with 50 other men, and you do you try get up, your hands get nervous, it's coming around to your spot, and I didn't know what to say. I didn't, I wasn't like I couldn't open up like this. Yeah, it's a massive moment of vulnerability. I was like, my foot's shaking, sweating, my hands are moving, and you try to get up, it's like you sit down, even if you just gotta listen. And I I I shared my story over 20 seconds, like, my name's Sam, blah, blah, blah, and that's it. And then on that night, that cancellor scene, I had a lot of stuff bottled up. So late on the after the yarning session and dinner, we went night fishing, and that counselor seen me. I had a yarn with me, hey brother, how you doing? And you know, asked me a few questions. If I'm working, I said, nah, I'm just a stay-home dad. And I told him patches of my life. He said, You want to work for us? I said, Ah, yeah, fucking hold. I'd love to work for you guys. Um, but at that time I thought, ah, yeah, they just fucking crap, trying to build us up, make us feel good. Two weeks went on, no phone call. I said, Ah, they're full of shit. My third week, my phone rang. He said, Hey brother, you still want that job? I said, Fucking hold, I love that job. So this was my life turned for the positive reasons. I went traveling all northern Australia doing social and emotional well-being camps for Aboriginal men. Um, when I was over there um up in Queensland, I I gave myself to the Lord. Um, you know, I don't go to church every day, but I believe in Jesus Christ. Um, and ever since I gave myself to the Lord, my life has uh never been any better. It's just been amazing. It's just awesome. It's uh you know, his guidance and um the message that he passed along every day to me and every night with my family is just amazing. Um the best thing I've ever done in my life was seen a professional counselor. Talk to somebody about my problems and I would be here today sharing talking like this fluently with that. Um, you know. Especially talking about my little baby and um the the trauma that I've been through.
SPEAKER_01:Oh mate, uh I I can't imagine what that's like. Yeah, yeah. You to sit here and share that, man. Like I admire.
SPEAKER_00:I cheered right there. And um, yeah, we uh I got professional help over there, gave myself to the Lord, um, and each camp, you know, the biggest camp I've run, because I ended up being the heck camp manager over there, um, we run 120 men camp in Mariba, and I had to get up and share my story in front of 20 120 men that I didn't know for a bar of soap. And like I said, I was still going back to Jesus where he gave me the strength to stand up in front of 120 men and share my story and to inspire every other man that if I went through this and I'm here now making a change. And that is my first my actual our first year, our second year coming through all this stuff and recognizing it and after I getting professional help and it was just straight out of cancelling. I did that two days before it, like opened up and then I just started talking fluently, like just talking about all my stuff to other people and sharing my story every day and just inspiring them and opening their eyes and you're thinking, holy smoke, like you know, I might have a story, but the fellas next to me after they got up, I was like, just made me stronger and stronger listening to their story. Um opening up, and I was like, nah, I have to keep sharing. There's something here that's telling me to just keep sharing my story every day, trying to inspire everybody just to, you know, if you ever be down, all it only way is up if you ever hit rock bottom. And um, yeah, I did that. Or 2019, I came back Christmas time, and my wife, this is how I got into tourism. It's funny, this one. I was sitting around the dinner table, my wife said, Oh, what do you do now? I said, Ah, I'm gonna be a stay at home dad. She said, Fuck off, you're getting a job. So this is yeah, Juno, we gotta give her a shout out, man.
SPEAKER_04:She is special, she is a special woman, and um obviously I've heard this story, like your story, multiple times, and it never gets any easier. But man, I I I'm like shaking. I know, man. Like and and so this next what story that you're about to tell is like how important a woman she is as to where your life has is turned around. And yeah, keep going and tell us how you got into it.
SPEAKER_01:Just pull that mic over the leck a little bit, bro. Yeah, just just this way, just fold it in a bit. Yep, there we go. Yeah, see your face.
SPEAKER_04:But yeah, the the like honestly, she is just an absolute superstar. But tell so tell us how you got into these tours, man.
SPEAKER_00:She's uh she's my backbone, and you know, I wouldn't be here without her. Um, I wouldn't be sitting down where I am now without without my wife. Um, she's stuck by my side, you know, even when I went to jail, four and a half years with my family. So and you know, I used to be a run-amuck person. I used to cheat, I I used to run up, run a total fuck. Yeah, you know, I'll just leave her home when I was younger cheating on her and fucking around and she stayed by my side. And now we are married and happy and put all that stuff behind us, but yeah, I wouldn't be here without her. But um, yeah, we came home and getting a job. And then I went, we're looking around wet season up home because we come back in November, December, and you know, shitty jobs. The wet season's quiet, right? Quiet, yeah. That's summer. Yeah, uh up home is wet for us, yeah. Yeah. November, December, and no jobs are gone, and this cold job was gone. I said, Well, I'll go and stack some shells. I did that for three months and that there's no for me. And then we and then the same thing. Back at the dinner table again. She said, Oh, what are you gonna do now? I said, uh, stay home. He said, Fucking you doing something. So we sat down and she said to me, Why don't you do, why don't you start your own business up doing something you love? And to be honest, guys, I still struggle on reading and writing today from pulling out of school at a very young age. I said, It's gonna be hard. I said, You know what? Give me a day, I'll think about it.
unknown:Fucking.
SPEAKER_00:So I went to bed. Next day I got up. I said, you know what, fuck it. Let's just go to it, let's get an ABN, let's just send it. Let's just do it. If we fail, we'll fail, we'll get back up and do it again. If we succeed, we'll just keep pushing on. And that that punt you took, was that your tools? That's my tools, brother. That's what I own and run today. Well um, how long you been gone now? Five years now. So yeah, when when Dan got an ABN, um, you know, we started with nothing. Um, you know, we started with I started with 70 bucks in my account and a busted ass harlucks. And was that the love luck? The love. Oh, I still got it. I still got it. It it's a weapon of the rig. Um, and like a lot of people say, Oh, you gotta have this, this, this, to start up a big thing. I did it. The things like when you come up next week, Rother, you you'll see um there's no fancy dishes. I I make fun and I'll say there's no fancy dishes around here, there's no red carpet. It's I could try and give people that rawness of a tour that upset that mate. I want nothing more, nothing less.
SPEAKER_04:Dude, so exactly what Birchie's talking about. We took the love lux out. It was me, Rex, Patrick, and and Birchie. And it was like, oh, we'll try and go get a bush turkey in the morning. So we go out. You just did his face on this one. Uh yeah, go out and then We're on the marsh and bush turkey flew off. We never actually got it. But um Birchie's turned the car off and we're in the middle of nowhere. And then he gets back in the driver's seat and just on. And he just looks over at me and I'm sort of like, what's going on? He's like, car's fucked. And then he's like, bonnet up, and I was just sitting myself going, I'm like, fuck, we're meant to be catching fish and doing all this. And then he's like, pulls a screwdriver out. Then it was a starter. Start a screwdriver and a hammer. A screwdriver and a hammer. And he's like, just starts tapping under the bonnet and he's like, turn that key over now, brother. And then starting all the locked up, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, no, no. Well, yeah, as soon as he I said, Oh, we're walking now, bro. He's like, huh? Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:But yeah, um Grixie only would have been young too, eh?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah. And then um, yeah, so I start went down and got my ABN, and um, yeah, that's when my journey started. So that that's that's a bit that's that's my uh now I'm five years into my business. Um living my best life ever. I'm married, I'm happy, meeting awesome people along the way, like Lekka, you know, come along as a brotherhood, and we grew friendship for the first day. Like it is just real. I'll tell you funny. So when I first when I when so Benny from uh what's it what he does? Uh Kimberly Dreaming. Kimberly Dreaming rings up, hey Berchie, your brother doing uh Lekas looking, he's Lekka's in town, he wants to do a fishing chart. So I will send him my details, you know, this and that. And then I told my wife, because my my wife's a mad West Coast fan. Oh yeah. You're a Geelong supporter, too. Oh Geelong supporter, and you're like, fuck that guy. He's not coming on my tour. And yeah, Lekka was probably one of the first, I don't know, popular people that I ever became on business and came out on tour. And my wife said, You better give him sorry, you better you better give him, you know, do extra with him. I said, Alright, no worries. And then she said, You better do, you know, like this and that. So we went out, we did the day, we got a Rex on Rex onto a big barrel with his popper and um stuff like that. And uh yeah, well, came home and my wife said, like, he's waiting at the door like a you know, kid at the candy. She said, What happened? Tell me about this, and and this and I said, uh, he he hated it, but bullshit. This is a fucking don't lie to me. He said, No, he loved it.
SPEAKER_04:And then, yeah, we uh What about the cows? Tell you you gotta tell the story about gum rolling back into El Questro, remember? You dropped me all the way back in there.
SPEAKER_00:So yeah, he he's like, Hey bro, uh where he shot the cow and cut it up and uh went back at the highlights because so how we do our beef, it's uh we just shoot it, bone it out on the ground, and we use gum leaves as as like a canvas sort of thing, and it helps protect the dust and dirt and you lay that underneath. Yeah, and then you put it on top. Yep. He's like, M's not picking up, bro. Can you drop me back? Yeah, yeah, no, always, bro.
SPEAKER_04:Come back in and I'm staying at I'm staying at the caravan park, which is like jam-packed, full like peak season. We're in there with our caravan right in the middle of it, and I've got Birchie M's not answering the phone. Can you drop us back in there? Anyway, so you keep going.
SPEAKER_00:And yeah, we got back in. It is like the perfect time. We rock up and it's like packed in like sardines, just jam-packed. Like, oh, so where are you staying? It's like I just got in this way, bro, and driving past people. And couldn't be any better. We pull up near the bus stop. He's camp right near the bus stop, and this big bus pulls up with all these tourists and they're looking up top, looking down in my car. This cat laying in the back of the car. Just butcher. Uh and they're walking, what is that? And I mean him with a big rib cage and juggling blade and the cage mangle and some backstroke, and they're like, Oh, poor cow, but then we asked, 'Where are you going?' They're walking to the steakhouse. Like, I said, uh, they were just out of touch. And then he walks up at them and says, 'Where are you guys gonna put that?' And he's like, 'It's gonna hang off the awning tight, let's air.' She was like, there's no idea.
SPEAKER_04:She's like, You better put that in the ski, but we ate like kings for the whole Gibb River Road, mate, mate. Fresh baby, fresh baramandy.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so I'll finish up with my story. Um, it's not like I said, now like now I've got my AVN and stuff. And now, like I said, I'm living I'm five years now in my business, I'm living my best life ever. I'm married, I'm happy, my kids are happy. Um, home's always happy. Um, like I said, I never thought I'd be on TV. I never thought I'd be sitting in here um doing this. Um I never thought I'd be traveling in Australia doing four drive shows and you know, inspiring and being speaking on stage. Speaking on stage, bro. Um this weekend I got a I'm gonna finalist for for awards night here in Perth. It's amazing. Um, I got Lekka coming along with me and my wife. Um, yeah, I can't wait. I've learned if I take it out or take it out. If not, I'm just happy to be this. That's for WA. Oh, huge, man. Congratulations, man. Cheers. Awesome. And um, and then on the side of my fishing and hunting business, I run my own men's camp now. I do social emotional beating camps, but for all race, no matter if you're black, white, African, Asian, Chinese, everybody's welcome to come along. Biggest camp I've run so far, 61 men. Off my all of my own bat, even still today with my business. We never ever got funding for grants, never got anything. Everything's just my blood, sweat and tears go into my business. Um, and that's the way I wanted to be. I wanted to earn it. I didn't want to eat it given to me. I wanted um, I wanted to just you know, everything's my blood, sweat and tears go into my business, my even also my men's group. You know, we go out and just go out in the country for a week. We um swag it, um live off the land. I I build that brotherhood very quick out of men's group. We uh I take no food. We take uh like rice and all the potato, pumpkin and stuff. But if we need to eat, you gotta work protein. We gotta work together. And I say to them, I said, uh no food, boys, you know. We gotta build this brotherhood very quick. We gotta like um on the big trip last year we did with the with the 61 men. Uh I just take two packets of bullets and here we are, boys. We have to build that break those barriers, you know. Work to eat. And you know, the first days are uh always a bit quiet, but bro, the the third, fourth day, man, you kind of shut them up. They're opening up, they're talking, they want to change their life, they actually see things like you know, uh brighter side of things. Um I also use Home Valley as a work facility. I have a few men through my men's group working at there now. Um been there for two, I've been there for a year and a bit working a few of a few of them. Um but then I just I just ran a big forum. Uh I was a spokesperson in Karnara a couple of days ago for a men's group and sharing my story in front of the men that I grew up with that they didn't even have a bar of soap. They didn't know anything about me, what I've been through behind closed doors. They knew me who I used to be and seen uh outrage and stuff like I used to do around town, but they actually didn't see my story. And I got up the day and I I broke a tear, bro. I was crying, I was um just because I just seen everybody's face like holy smoke. And even other men like we grew up with this man, we didn't know this about him. We then used to see what I used to let out when I was uh drunk and stuff, but um yeah, that's a bit about myself, bro. If you have any questions, don't be afraid to ask me.
SPEAKER_01:Mate, I I'm sure I'm gonna have so many questions. I'm about to spend you know a good week with you after, and I I cannot wait, mate. But I just want to say, like, you you that touched me hearing what you just said. That's so brave for sharing that story, man. No, cheers, brother.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, yeah, but mate, I appreciate it. And one one thing that through all the mental health side of things, and obviously there's a lot of youth crime and trouble up in Kananara, and and talking to Birch, he he's he said we need leaders up there. Yeah, we need so part of his thing with getting people up and sharing their story in these men's group is trying to help the the older generation up there to be you know for the for the young generation to be able to look up to and take them out on country and all these sort of things, and going through what you've been through to be able to come out the other side of it, set up your own business, be successful and be able to do all the things that you do, mate. There's no greater leader up in the East Kimberly. I feel like you you've done an unbelievable job so far and still got plenty of good stuff to do as well.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, you're an example, mate. Cheers, brother.
SPEAKER_04:That's a pick. I want to pick your brain about some of the fishing stuff. Yeah, let's go.
SPEAKER_01:You're gonna your story's gonna be shared with a lot of people through this podcast. Definitely right now, but the the reason that they are really here is the fishing. What do we start with, mate? So obviously the barrel, where you got anything that you want to touch on first, Leck? I've got a few notes here.
SPEAKER_04:Birchie, I I like so the country that um you have access to, so your tours um it's it's something that no other sort of charter operator that I've found has in their possession. Like you are a traditional owner around the Pentecost River and Home Valley Station. So talk to us a little bit about the river systems that you fish and you have access to. One of them's probably the most iconic, most well-photographed river just about in Australia. So um tell us a little bit about the exact country that you you you fish on.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so I'm a traditional owner of uh the Bollongara country. So we got the top half of the Kimberly, East Kimberly, sorry. Um from like the whole Gibb. So if you look at Derby from Derby onwards up towards Clumborough, Canadara, um, I'm a traditional owner of all that area. Um the rivers I fish, and my favourite river is the Pentecost, the mighty Pentecost. We call it the home of the monsters. Um I pulled majority. Here we go. I pulled majority of all my big fish out of the Pentecost. Um I do fish to Perry's. Perry's still on Bolangara Country. But um just around home valley, like I mainly fish out at the Pentecost and the Durac River, the Wilson where I got lack onto his biggest bar ever. Um there's the the scale right behind me of the of the of the biggest barrel I've got 111.
SPEAKER_01:Put a photo up.
SPEAKER_00:But yeah, um yeah, we do all that, all fishing and hunting it on on Bollangara Country. So if you look it up, shows on the map you should have Bolangara Country, it'll come up. Yeah. Pretty amazing, pretty big.
SPEAKER_04:Um what so so if someone's going up there and they can't have access to a Birchy's fishing tour, what what are some of the key things that they should do? If they want to catch their first ever baramundi and you're driving through the East Kimberly, couple of things that you might need to know.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, learn how to I can first thing learn how to cast that cast net. Yep. You know, you can flick lose all day. Sometimes they'll just look at the lure. You should say Matron throwing it. We're gonna find that. Yeah, day one, you just need a lesson. Cast net. Learn how to throw a cast net or even just talk to a local. Actually, pick try pick a local brain, he'll tell them surely they'll they'll let you know some secrets and where to go and what to use do what to fish and stuff. But if the reason why I say use a cast, you get some bait, so then you get everything's covered. You can fish with live bait, dead bait, and you can flick a loo around so you get more chances. Like I said, when I go fishing, I have 20 lines out. And what about tides? They play a they play a big role at that. Big big role, yeah. So um I like to fish where there's no water, like no tide or or a smaller tide. Bigger tide, I'll fish up up a river where there's no current. I don't know, like there's current, but not not a lot of current. Um night fishing as well is very very awesome, it's very good. Fish barrels feed more at night. Yep. Um but then also during the day, if you get the tides right and you hit it perfectly, you'll be spot on.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. So when you're when you're going up the river birchy, what's a telltale sign that you're going, all right, this is worth putting a line out of here.
SPEAKER_00:I look at the marine life. If baits if they're so if there's a heap of bait around and if they're tucked up against a bank, okay. That's uh secret there's big fish there. Right. There's there's no bait the barer pushing the bait up. Yep. And it's mullet. Your mullets are very scared to go back out in the middle, they get smashed. Gotcha. Even if you if you're fishing and you see a mullet swing in the water in the middle, get up, there's no fish there. Yeah, right. That mullet's not frightened or anything. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:He knows there's no big fish or no fish around. So are you looking at conditions or anything before you go? Are you checking out, you know, weather forecast or anything like that? You just get out there and sort of use your instinct.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, no, bro. I just I don't bother looking at the rain or anything. It's just you get to the spot. Once you get, I'm very, very connected to my country. Um, you know, I can pull up, like I took out a brother boy's other day from Beagle Bay. Never went fishing. He does fishing a lot, like blue water fishing up up north of Broome. Yep. Caught a few barrels and that. And he went camp fishing with me other day. He got his first meter barra, meter 10 he got. And then he I said, Alright, that's that's enough for you. You got your fame. Then he and he's like, Why is that? I said, I'll show you. And then I sat down and I was like, Come on, come on, I was mucking around. Bang! He's like, You got your pets. He's like, Something's wrong with you. I said, What do you mean? He said, Someone touched your line there, you got something. I said, No, I got that's just me. Yeah, I got three over a meat in 10 minutes. No way, you know, someone try to come there and try to take the barricade frame. I said yeah, that's the one thing you don't do when you go up north is try and climb. Yeah, just showing them boys, and like you know, people don't actually see um in what what actually happened goes along, and like we don't put stuff up in the background of getting bait. Like we went that morning, we walked for 40 minutes to get bait. People don't see that, they don't see that hard work. He's like, Oh, we don't see this. Come on, get the bucket, walk it across croc-infested waters and you know, risking it for the biscuit.
SPEAKER_04:So so I I've I have warned Rothy about this, and and I know he's up for it, but I said to him, I was like, it you gotta come up and do this Birchy trip. I was like, it's we we go for three four or five days. I was like, it is hard. It's like you're running on fumes, you're running on no sleep, you're standing out in the stinking hot weather, you're walking 40 minutes to get bait. I was like, you catch awesome fish and everything like that. But at the end of it, you are you've you're absolutely stuffed, you know. Like it's this is not a holiday, yeah. And and um, you go hard, you're in the mud, all this sort of stuff. You're getting bogged. Last time I went up with Birchie, the wheel fell off the 80 series in the middle of nowhere, so we're fixing it in the heat, yeah. Redoing like the radiator.
SPEAKER_01:Um Reese couldn't cook all the rest of Nate said, he goes, the first thing we'll be doing when we get up there is probably fixing a car.
SPEAKER_04:Is fixing a car, and and like it is hard, but that we've had this conversation on here before. The hard experiences are just the best. That's the one you remember. And Birchy he says this this thing with like sorry, connection to to country, it's and being able to read the you know the rivers and the conditions. It's um it is something that you walk away from from down here, it's really hard to have like a connection and a spiritual connection. Yeah, but when you get up into the Kimberley and you're sitting there and you can see every star in the sky, and Birchie tells you stories of you know the generations gone by and and you actually you you you you do feel like there's something more to this. Like I get it, and the the smoking ceremony is one thing, which I want to ask you a little bit more about Birchy in a second, but um, I'll just tell you one story. Like we were we were sitting on the riverbank um last year, and a ton of rain came through and it sort of came around and wrapped around behind us. And we'd fished this same spot a couple of times already over the previous few days, and Birchie said tonight in in a f in a couple of hours, this creek, and it was just this tiny little drain that we were fishing. He's like, You'll hear it coming. He's like, You'll just hear this roar. And we're like, What do you mean? He's like, There'll be a roar, and that river's bank's just gonna break. Like, well, and he's like, Yeah, give it a couple hours.
SPEAKER_01:There were no visual signs that nothing.
SPEAKER_04:The rain wrapped around the back of it, so he's like, There's probably been enough rain over the past few days, but this thing, and it would happen once every year. Once a year, I reckon it would happen. And within two hours of Birchie saying it, you could just hear this like this roaring coming, and we were like, No way, and this fuck like this just like ravage of water, like a rapid, like a rapid of water. It was like a the Moor River breaking or something like that. Everything just broke out into the river, and there's crocodiles and everything coming up, and it was just jumping. And I was like, mate, within like he just knew it was gonna happen, and it's just experience and being out the crocs and the fish, they knew it was happening. Everything they mate, the crocs started coming up the river up towards it as well. So it's like Birchie's like one of the crocs or the barrows, like a dinner bell going off. But he he just knew that it was gonna happen, and they they they're sort of experiences that you have out there, and it's like, mate, he didn't look at a phone, a tide chart, a you know, weather map or anything. It's just like experience of living on the land. Oh, and yeah, yeah. Tell us about so I I want you you kick every tour off with a with a smoking ceremony, Birchie. Tell us about that and why that's so important.
SPEAKER_00:But smoking ceremony is um very important to us, just passing a cultural and welcoming or we welcome we say, you know, welcome to our country, you know. Um it's just mainly on Bollinger area where we do we would we would do our welcome viewers on to Balangar country to um you know I speak to my ancestor, my great grandfather. He was the last king of all kings in our tribe. His name is Amos. And um he he look after us, he protects us, he and the people we welcome on to our area, he looks after them and make them safe on on on the area. Reason why we do that, um, you know, to protect you in the spirit spiritual world. You know, we still believe in spirits. I've seen a lot of spirits in my time. And um it's also a healing when you're sitting in the river my ancestors will talk to you and speak to you and clear your mind and look after you. And when you leave my country, you come home, you'll be a happy, clear mind, and you think fuck I want to get back up there again, or I don't want to leave. You'll you'll you'll feel that bro when you come back. It's amazing. And you know, just when you it's very he he will always be present as well when you're doing a smoking ceremony. You get goosebumps like I got goosebumps now. Dude, I got him too, literally. It's uh when you go through that smoke, bro. It's you just feel it like the presence of him and um our other ancestors as well. And just welcome you to that area and then you just feel at home. You walk around and he'll they'll give you signs, bro. Like I can be sitting down, uh like a sort. I can be sitting on my line could be 20 meters in the grass, I'm I'll get up and run. I said, What are you running for? I said, I'm a line biting. But things like that, bro. Even even just sitting down and you look at the Coburn Rangers and you're thinking, Where am I? Like it's just just clears your mind, you're relaxed, you're just sitting back and thinking, yeah, you don't want the day to end.
SPEAKER_04:And you only you if once you do one of the smoking ceremonies, you're welcome in that country.
SPEAKER_00:Welcome, yep. And they like in this they'll protect you in the spiritual world, look after you and you know, keep you safe. You know, once everywhere, everywhere.
SPEAKER_01:There's there's more to it than just rocking up and catching a fish. Yeah, place like that.
SPEAKER_04:It's like as much as this is like a fishing experience, exactly what you just said. Like it's a it's a full experience. Like you go, you walk away from there and you don't and you feel something else. It's just like that. That was unbelievable.
SPEAKER_01:We're talking, we're talking about it for the listeners, so they've got some sort of context, but I think we just need to we'll report back.
SPEAKER_04:We've got to do another podcast after, yeah, especially with a few of the boys. So last year, it's it's like I said, it's not been easy. Like Reese went that whole trip and donutted. He he didn't land a barrel. We all caught barra, but Reese from Westerberg kept dropping barra and he was landing big ones. I reckon he was using massive mullet and just this the hooks weren't setting properly, like they were mouthing it a bit. Yep.
SPEAKER_01:But Nath as well, it was a little they're an implosion feeder too. I mean, Birch you might be able to touch them. Well, do you use circles or J hooks or what's go?
SPEAKER_00:Just a J hook. I don't use circles.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, okay.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, and uh on the last night of our of our trip, five days, um, the rod goes off, and Nath, Rob, who we've had in the hot seat from the bully butcher, the one that you blame for losing your well haven't and Reese hadn't caught a fish, and Nath had caught about 10 barra, and the rod went off, and they were sitting next to each other, and Nath bolted over and he's it's like set the hooks, and we and then Reese was sort of half getting off his chair, and we all looked over and we're like, Nath, you fucking dog.
SPEAKER_05:It would have been cracking hard.
SPEAKER_04:So this trip, we're taking the boat up as well. That's one thing we haven't mentioned. So we're taking the the the fish trap up, and we've got a sneaky little addition, but we've got live scope going on the front of it.
SPEAKER_01:So what do you what do you reckon? I'm a fan of love scope. I thought you'd say this. Yeah, not the purest way, but I think we need to get more into the juicy stuff with the fishing now, because yeah, that's what people are here for. Um, so barra tips. We've already spoken about tides. We've spoken about baits earlier on with your chunk baits. Um, what about lures, Birchie? You throw you said you throw lures in on as well. So, what what are some of your lure techniques and some of your lures of choice? My go-to lure is a alcohol rooster popper. Little fella had a rigged right there. Nice.
SPEAKER_04:So that's a that's a 80. That's the size that you use mostly, right? Yep. The goat popper, eh? Yeah. So this is the first popper that wrecks this exact colour, is the popper that Birchy tied on um when I did the fishing charter. And I told this story before, but I thought we were just sitting there to kill time. We had live baits out, and it looked like a sort of shallow bank. And one thing you do, if you go on a charter with Birchy, don't try and tell him how to fish, all right? Because he knows his country, he knows what techniques.
SPEAKER_01:If you get on any boat or go on a trip with anybody, don't tell him how to fish.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, this is this is their, you know, like go along for the ride and learn tips off them, don't be an expert. And anyway, he he tied on one of these poppers on on Rex's line, and Birchie cast it out. Rex wasn't young enough, old enough to cast, and he was like, Righto, just pop this back, like teaching him how to bloot a popper. And I was thinking, he's like, We'll do this while we're waiting, and and hopefully we'll hook up. And I was thinking, Oh, he's that's awesome. You know, he's teaching my son how to work a popper. And um, I was thinking, we're killing time. Anyway, on about the third cast of Rex working this popper back, he's like, No, pause it, wait, pause it, wait, yep, now work it again. And he started getting the technique. I'm sitting back in a deck chair alongside him, and an 80 centimeter barra just heart wheels on this popper off the surface, and like Rex by himself, I think he's five or maybe five years old, has landed an 80 centimetre topwater barrel as his first ever barrel on the bank of the river. And I was just sitting there like with my jaw dropped, like the proudest moment of just about my life, and um Birchie's just like looked over and he's like, That's that's fun, big fella.
SPEAKER_01:It would be a proud moment for you, watching your oldest boy get his first barra, and also, too, for anybody that you know doesn't know when we're off air, you haven't met Lecker when we talk fishing. It's somehow we could be talking about Dewey's down south, we could be talking about Mulloway and the river, and the conversation always comes back to Barra. Always finds a way to bring it back to Barra.
SPEAKER_04:So that lure right there, Birchie. If you're gonna have one lure in your tackle box uh up in the East Kimberly, it would be the Helker Ruster Popper.
SPEAKER_00:I was definitely it'll be the first lure in the box, and that colour, it like colour um also blue. I I like that I love that one, and also the green and red. Oh, yeah, yeah. There's a green and just the contrast. Yeah, just the contrast, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Similar to that lure that's on the wall behind you there.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah, yeah. And red bottom here. Um also soft plastics, um, they they go pretty good. Different colours, like blue, green, red. Yep. Um some darker lures like black. I use um black and red as well. Yep. They do they work pretty good. Contrast, yeah. What I'm picking up here.
SPEAKER_04:Well, I've I've actually go on, sorry, just before we we move on, and working poppers at night, you really like that as well, because at night time you have a theory with what the barrage do, particularly on that stretch of the river where you fish.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, bro, yeah, definitely. Um they like I said, they more they feed it at night more and they're more aggressive, so and you just work it slower. Like very like I look at the marine, like when I pull up at a spot, I can fish any river system. I'll I'll take 10 minutes just to look around, see how the mullet swimming around, and I'll make my lure swim exactly like that mullet. Yep. So if the hatch, if the mullets are swimming fast, you work your lure fast. Mullet just cruising around, especially the popper or the soft blessing, just slow, steady.
SPEAKER_04:And the barra at night time, you reckon they come up and feed in the shallows? Like riding the shallows.
SPEAKER_01:We'll get a couple of night sessions in short. I'll be fishing only in the night time.
SPEAKER_04:It's gonna be 45 degrees during the night. I'll be sweating our house.
SPEAKER_01:So I've I've actually started shopping already at Birchy, so I've picked up a few, just you know, the only education I really got from Barra is what Leck tells me, and then also what I've seen on TV, right? So you need to know, mate. Picked up a few. Um, I've gone for the paddle tails here. This I think this Ira Kanji Sicaria. Yeah, it's so good, man. Yeah, we were throwing them. We Leck and I were actually in the pool. So something like that is that you'd have a bit of confidence in that. Yeah, that's sick. Couple of trebles and the big hook on top. What do you got this? So this this is a mullet, so station mullet, yeah. So you're obviously quite familiar with them, but is it Shane Company that makes it? Yeah, so these look unreal. And this I I every lure that I get, whether it's a a a bibbed minnow or a sinking stick bait, a popper or whatever, I like to kind of have a bit of an understanding of how that lure works before I throw it, right? So that way you know how to work it, some intricacies of that lure. This thing looks amazing.
SPEAKER_00:What works what's works what I've found out, what works good for them when you're on the pause, because you can pull it. When you pause it, it just sinks down and it swims by itself. Yeah. That's when they smash it.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, that be like that paddle tail, there's so much weight, you can feel that, but the vibration.
SPEAKER_00:I never ever got a hit on the retrieve, only on the pause. Yeah. Okay. So you pull it and they're swimming, and when you let it stop, it just goes down and then bang. Sounds like a mile away.
SPEAKER_04:That's so that's super important with Barramundi, right? Because they'll follow it that way. We're going to the four-wheel drive show after this, and we've got a tank full of Barramundi, but we're able to cast lures, and you'll you'll see them, and they got their eyes on top of their head, and they'll just sit there and wait and follow it. That first little movement. And unless and and as soon as you stop that lure, they'll go, All right, something's wrong. And then as soon as you go to go again, bang. Are we talking a pretty long pause or uh like two to three seconds?
SPEAKER_00:I guess. Yeah, right. So it's that's relatively long in fishing speak. And yeah, it'll just once you go down a bit and then you sort of dig it back up again. Uh mainly on the pause, they smash it. Yeah, okay. It was like like I saying, they come some even with the poppers, they'll follow it to the edge right at your foot. And then I always say pause next to the bank because they'll follow it, follow it, and bang, like right there. Last barrel I caught up, yeah, mate.
SPEAKER_04:Last last barrel I caught was was literally where that camera is from the bank. And that that fish could have followed the popper in from yeah, 20, 30 metres out.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. So I usually with a popper, I usually do cast it out and then wind four pops, pop, pop, pop, and I'll pause, pop, pop, pop, pause, and then the next cast I'll mix it up, I'll go fast, pause. Yeah. Well not very fast, just speeder, I'll go back slow again.
SPEAKER_01:What what's your theory about how barra hunt? Do you reckon they're like quite a visual fish?
SPEAKER_00:Because the water is dirty up there, right? Like for me, barra mundis are scavengers. If they're hungry, they they'll eat I caught baron catfish, on red meat, on anything. Yeah, it comes down to water temperature up there as well, right? The water temperature plays a big part. Like in the dry season, as soon as the temperature gets under 24, you're you're finished. As in the water temperature, yeah, under 24 degrees. Yep. As soon as it starts getting cold, the barrels shut off. You can put a mullet or lu in front of them. And they won't eat. Unless they're hungry, they'll eat. Then we just fish the tides because the tide bring warmer water up. Okay. And then you fish the tide, then you get some barrel.
unknown:Right.
SPEAKER_01:So you're saying they're a scavenger. Do you think like when they're hunting in that hunting mode? Are they eat anything? You reckon yeah, okay. Anything they're just just kind of like the garbage truck of the river almost. Yeah. Yeah. And are they are they an ambush predator, you think? Do they sit behind structure or anything like that?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah. Like they do be on like snags and stuff, they feed around the bottom and stuff. Yeah. But like when they're on the move and hunting, they you'll hear them busting up on the top. Like even as another tip, if bears are buffing, chuck your popper out. Yeah. That's like you'll you'll see it when it comes. If they're hitting surface, then I'll throw them a popper out.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. I've noticed these as well, you've thrown your popper over the live baits that you've got set just to bring the noise the noise to bring the fish in as well. Oh, yeah. But it's so that tactic. Yeah, so it's like the barrel will hear it and they'll come in and then there's baits there and everything as well. Yeah. In in in noise and stuff like that, Birchie. You have one of the most unbelievable videos and experiences. I hope we can share, we've got to share this video. Of pulling up at a spot and it literally sounded like gunshots going off.
SPEAKER_00:Tell us what that is up with the um Umbulgari track. Um, we was up there last year in um in May and I knew this spot. It was just crazy. Like we're back. Don't give away the location, but it's crazy, bro. You walk through this spot bingrobbing and you could hear them. Just sucking mullet off the surface.
SPEAKER_01:Bro, it was just popping. Have you seen the video? Uh you've showed me, yeah, but I've also seen a couple of other videos on uh social media of the thing.
SPEAKER_00:They jumped on the bank, didn't they? One jump on the bank, just by itself, just flopped up there. We ended up pulling it 45 out of there in 20 minutes. No way, bro. It's just unreal fish.
SPEAKER_04:Mate, you are selling it to me. God, we good. We can't keep going for much longer because we are we are gonna get on the on the on the The road in a minute, we've got to go to the full drive adventure show for the day. We got all the stage. Yeah, it's gonna be sick. But Birchie, before we we've got some more listener questions and stuff, but I want to talk. Uh tell us a little bit about the dangers up there because there's obviously plenty of crocs. Um have you had any encounter with crocs?
SPEAKER_00:Sergio Window questions, Sergio Croc attack and Wyndham. Yeah, I've I've been attacked 2018 um by a crocodile there. We can't skim over that. You gotta tell us that story. Yeah, too much.
SPEAKER_01:How the hell did that happen?
SPEAKER_00:So it is a local barracomp weekend up in Wyndham um in April, and uh we were getting we were getting ready for the night before like the night before getting all our net and everything ready. And it was like uh 12 30 at night. I said, you know what? Fuck it, let's go get some bait. Let's load up. So four o'clock in the morning when we sign up, let's just send it straight out. So we went down to this creek on the side of the highway. We've been going there all our life as kids. Like it's be it, it's you know, you could see my front door, 5K's on the house. See the lights, everything, see the whole town. And I was running through the cast net, got some bait, not even knee-deep water. And a second when I do the second cast, bro, this croc come flying out of the water. So when I cast it, it spread out and hit the middle of the net and it landed on top of me. I didn't know what far from the water are you? I'm in the water, not not even knee deep. So it's like, and the roads from from here to the front of the driveway. So I mean highway with the culprit. Wow. It's on the side of the highway, cars gone past everything. And um, my wife and my other brother was there, and this croc come flying at the water, like water splashed every other head toward you on, and I fell down in the water, and this croc's on top of me with my net, and meaning rolling around, he's scratching me up trying to get out of the net. And then I got up and I walk on back, and somehow he got out of the car's net. I don't know how he got out of the net. How big was his croc? Two and a half metres.
SPEAKER_01:So, like it really, it's a small croc in the scheme of things, but you don't want to fucking have a big thing.
SPEAKER_00:The power, mate. The power behind it was I didn't know what was happening. I I was like walking back, and then he got up from what he hit the cameras away, and then I threw the net and I missed him again because I was fear away at like on the pulpit. And I walk back, and then the third time I hit I hit the culprit and I was like, I'm bugging, and he got up again and like thinking in his head, like, I got you now, you you're fucked. And then my brother grabbed my collar of my shirt and yanked me because I couldn't get up, I was I was panicked. Panic, bro, I was panicking, I was staged right. And my brother grabbed me and that croc jumped and scratched me. I'm all healed up now. He didn't get a hold of me in his teeth, but he scratched me all up. And you know, I sat down there and then my body just within 10 minutes, man, my body's like a balloon. All the bacteria, it's just dirty and stink and don't look to your left right now, it would give you a Yeah, that's right there. That's buffer in its mouth.
SPEAKER_03:The green and red buffer in its mouth.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and then we um yeah went to the hospital and yeah, got seen to and there's an actual news article on it. So if you look, Sam Birch up. Oh, yeah, old for it clear. Yeah, and then um, yeah, uh he's he's in croc heaven now. He's he's not a ball edge. He's not a well ledge, but yeah, like now you might if you follow me on on social, you'll see me running in the water with the cast net the other day with Justin on tripping a van. Oh, that was we were laughing about yesterday. We replayed it about 10 times. I was running like Usain Bolt.
SPEAKER_01:You got to pick that back to Bitch.
SPEAKER_04:You got that black. Yeah, he goes, Yeah, I was Usain Bolt, and I was like, Oh fuck, I thought it was gonna be the perfect circles throwing it. Would have been a weekend video. He goes, he goes, net was packed.
SPEAKER_03:I still got mullet.
SPEAKER_00:I did that's good, bro. It um yeah, crocodile. Now I'm you know, I'm more caught like before I had no fear. I could I would risk my life for my cast net and now I'll just rip it, leave it there. You know, I'd jump in a water underwater, get my net out, and everything it's just worth it.
SPEAKER_04:Birchy at snakes are the other thing you've had an experience.
SPEAKER_00:Tell us about that. My daughter, my daughter got bit by a Western Brown um at a at the Pentecost.
SPEAKER_01:Which that like I'm pretty sure that's the second deadliest or the deadliest snake in Australia.
SPEAKER_00:Same thing, another barricomp weekend, about 30 of us family members sleeping along the river. There's five of three different fires and camps in different areas, all the kids are playing around. A lot of noise um got me still thinking today, why was a snake there? A lot of vibration, everybody moving around, you know. Um, I got back on the little tinny with my daughter, uh filleting fish for dinner, and she said, Oh dad, I'm gonna go change. I just had a shower, I'm gonna go change our snow worries. She went around behind next to the Lovelocks and changed, and um came back very calmly and she said, Oh dad, I think a King Bran bit me. And I was like, How old's your daughter at this age? She would have been 10. Wow. Oh no, sorry, 11, 11. She would have been eleven. She would have been 12 years old. Yeah, four years ago. And they come up very calmly, and I mean wife just dropped everything, sucked in the car. That's why I'll never ever sell my highlights. Like we call it the love luck. It saved your life. Yeah. It took me 14 minutes. Hour uh 120 K's. It took me 40 minutes from sending it. Panic, eh? Panic, yeah. I hit the panic house in third gear, mate, the quickest I've across it. Yeah. Took me 40 minutes from Home Valley to the hospital in Kanara. And didn't you you have a cop mate that you rang? He came out and you're like I rang my brother up on the way in, one of the boys, and he's he's uh he was an inspector up there, and I said, bro, um my daughter just gets bit by a snake. I'm breaking the law, I'm speeding. Can you give me an escort? When I hung up on him and he met me in the road, he's like, What the fuck is sitting on? I was lying, Raven broke the speed up. You overtook him, didn't you? I overtook him, bro. I was born. I got to the hospital. I was very, very thankful for the nurses up there. They're very switched on what they they do and their job. And I got there, they wouldn't, first off, they wouldn't believe us. Like, oh, we can't find the entry hole. So before you go here, talk that's because you guys are wrapped everyone. Yeah, so at there, as soon as we told us we wrapped her leg, strapped everything. Compression, bro, everything. We strapped her up and the main key if you ever get bit by a snake is just try and be calm as tight as you can. Wrap it real tight. And wrap it really tight and just be calm. Um, you know, a lot of people say, Oh, you gotta lay down or sit down. Like the best thing to do is just sit up and just be very calm as much as you can. I got there and they wouldn't believe us because they couldn't find anything. And as soon as they took blood, she had full venom in her body. But the bandage is just saving her life. So as soon as they gave her the anti-venom and they took the trapping off, she had she felt more sick from the anti-venom. And then um, she had to stay in four days to flush all her kidneys out and stuff. But it's very, very scary.
SPEAKER_01:Wow. One of the boys at work got bit um bitten by Brown recently. Yep. Yeah, he I I asked him, I said, Oh, are you alright? He goes, Yeah, I'm all good. I said, Where's the snake? And he goes, It died of alcohol poisoning. He been on the beers the day before, and that's a crazy story. So, fuck man, so yeah, where do we go from here? This has been absolutely amazing to talk to, yeah.
SPEAKER_04:Mate, there's so there's so much more that I want to talk to Berchie, but I think we should save some of it until after we've done this trip. Like, oh, you've got a love affair with 80 series, so you can maybe touch on it. So, um, a couple of your cars, you've got you've got quite a few of them now. Um, they get you to where you need to go. That's it the key. We spoke about the love lux a little bit, but I want to know just quickly why you love the 80 series, and actually tell us as as well your biggest barrage and that tell us that experience.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, well, my 80 series, I got seven of them. Which one? Um, they're very reliable, unbreakable, um, easy to fix, easy to maintain. Um, you know, you can carry everything in a toolbox to fix that whole car. Yeah. Um Big Barry's still running for us. Big Bears is half running at the moment. Yeah. Um, she's wait waiting. We got all my oh, it's funny. All my cars are named of the porn stars. So I don't name them.
SPEAKER_01:Well, you are on the casting couch, yeah. Exactly.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah. All all the boys name them. You got Big Barry, Big Johnny, you got Shane Diesel, you got uh Johnny Johnny, name of the Johnny Sinds.
SPEAKER_01:You're gonna have to name one Jake Rothson.
SPEAKER_00:I thought a client quickly, a client said a lady said, Oh, why is the name of the Big Johnny? So I ect on movies. Oh, what movie? I don't know.
SPEAKER_01:He's my doctor.
SPEAKER_00:Don't know, don't know. You don't know, yeah, yeah. Yeah, so and like I said earlier on it about Panicos and why it's my favourite river. I caught all my big my biggest fish out of the Pentecost, and this year I got five of a meter 30 out of there. Um my biggest is a meter 37. All on hand line.
SPEAKER_01:Um hand line, and um, yeah, it's do you reckon at that length, like I've heard a theory, I think we were talking about it, like a a Jew fish, like a West Australian Jew fish, right? Like, as the length gets uh it gets to the bigger end of you know their growth cycle, the length says a lot about them, but they actually start to grow out, like they don't grow that much longer, they just get taller and wider.
SPEAKER_00:So when they go past a meter 10, bro, it just goes boom.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, like my meter 11. But honestly, if you if so if you catch a small barra, they jump out of the water, your full body jump and everything like that. The the moment you know you've hooked a big barra is just a head, they go all of a sudden the rod tips like a slow, it's the same as probably a big mull away. Yeah, uh they they down to you, but then the barrage jump is they're so big you get half a body out. It's like a marlin. You know, in a big marlin, like you see the big ones come out, it's just a the head, and then when you actually get it on the bank, you put your hand in its mouth and pull it up, it they are I've never seen one meter twenty plus, but the the one that Birchie got me up to the mate, the meter the meter um eleven, it was just like you you stand over it and you're just literally in awe of these fish, mate. Because you know how that small they come from to how big they come from.
SPEAKER_00:Even when you hold it up, people say, Oh, they like you know, you hear bullshit stories, oh I got meter 40 or whatever. And they say, Oh, I'll hold it up with one hand, like fuck. No way. Yeah, uh other day that meter 26, bro, I couldn't even I was struggling to hold it up. Yeah, you look like you're about to shape pants. Hurry up, you know. And um, like even with the with that meter thirty five I got this year in Janu in January, man, that thing the mouth is just like opening a bo grabbing a bucket. Yeah. But when it came out of the water, like, oh yeah, good battery jump, like a big head. Like, oh yeah, good dollar twenty here. And then it's just got come out of the water, like, what the fuck is that? Huge aye. And I went down and grabbed I couldn't even carry it up the bank. And just mess around, like holding it up, and river monsters, river monsters, bro.
SPEAKER_04:And that that that mate, so that that is the obsession that you get. You have slack, like nice calm water using small light gear bait casters, lures, all that stuff, and every cast you have the opportunity to catch a fish of a lifetime with like this amazing backdrop. Yeah, that that is why Barramundi for me are just the top of the list.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. I've I've got I know I'm about to become all sorts of addicted. Yeah, I can't wait to do this trip.
SPEAKER_04:Should we do some listener questions?
SPEAKER_01:We have to do some listener questions. We got some absolute bangers. So quickly, Birchie. Well Like's trying to bring these up. Um, where can people find your business, mate? So Instagram, Facebook, Instagram, Facebook, my website, my website. Right, what is your website? Uh Birchy's Fission Doers.com.au. Yeah. Cool. And your Instagram handle? Uh Birchie's Fishing Doers. Beautiful. And Facebook as well. Sweet. So we'll link um down in the description, both on YouTube, podcast, and stuff. If you want to book a trip with Birchie, which obviously I can't speak from experience, but I'll report back in a couple of weeks. It sounds like it's a must-do life experience for you. So get on, get on there and uh book a tour with Birchie. Birchie.
SPEAKER_04:All right, so we have got we've got quite a few questions here. I'll ask you a couple. All right, this is probably a good one for the listeners that are keen on going up there. Let us know who asks questions. Yeah, so Tom Cahill won is his profile. Um, what's the best time a year to catch a WA barra?
SPEAKER_00:Um, two times of the year. Uh the best time is now the build-up from September to December. Yeah. So we talk build up, is that the run up? Like the hot is getting build up very hot, very muggy mosquitoes. Um, because the water temperature is lovely and hot, and the big fish are now pushing back up the river to breed and stuff. And also the runoff uh March, April, May. Yep. Yep.
SPEAKER_04:All right, this is so this is from John O. Ellis. Do you guess the size of your fish or measure them? I measured, is this a dick? Yeah, that's a fish. That's it. John I should know me. Yeah, he's yeah, so John O catches a shitload of fish. He loves the live scope, eh? He does live scope, live scope, sniper. He's a good friend of mine, yeah. Yeah, he's a he's a gunfisher. He actually would be a good chat, I reckon. Um fish is a lot more around broom and that, eh?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, broom, yeah. That's all that stuff comes up to Pentagon's when you see me start reading them in. He gives me a text where they're biting, brother. I'm coming up.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. Um, so Jack Hawkins, deep tides or spring tides? I think yeah, it's Neeps, bro. Yep. All right, what do we uh this one's from What Mug Crab? Can you put a pink hat on Leka and see if it has the same magic as yours?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, well, funny you say that. I was I was gonna bring my lucky hat down and wear it on stage, but um, I got a few pink hats for the boys when they come up. Oh, yeah, nice.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, so why pink? This is funny, it's funny. Because we went up and um fished with Birchie and you wear crocs up there, they're probably the best set of footwear that you can have. I apparently I gotta buy a pair, unfortunately. And I was like, Birchie, you got pink crocs on, mate. What's the go? Well, your brothers want to steal it. That's the first thing.
SPEAKER_00:But also, um, I love pink, pink's my favourite colour.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, you got a pink on a bit of pink on now.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, yeah, I love pink, yeah. Yeah, he was like, if I wear pink crocs, no one will steal my shoes.
SPEAKER_00:And go back to that pink hat thing. Um, my sister, my sister-in-law from Hall's Creek, um, that's all her brand and stuff. And I love pink. I was always after a pink hat, and that'll suit me. And I went into the uh warehouse and I was like, I'm grabbing 50 of these fucking things. So I put them on like bang. And then but the funniest thing, ever since I got that hat, every time I go fishing, bro, I get meteries every day. Like lucky hat. Like even before that, I used to get you know one or two, but that hat I only wear it when I just go fishing. Right now it's in my cupboard sitting pretty with all my little new clean hats and that big dirty thing. Yeah, you've you've actually I never washed it, it's just dirty as fuck, and it's just the best.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, nice. You've actually uh that was like me with my hand wraps with boxing A. I never wash my hand wraps as gross as that was because if I wash them, I'll lose my touch. That's like me with my lucky jocks in putty. I'll buy them off you for five bucks and I'll sell them with that photo that you put up behind me on eBay. Yeah, that actually has red. There's one question I want you to ask on there, Lect, from a Gromit who um was in Cununara. So I don't know, my phone on me. Here we go. Lucas Dines. I'm a local in Cunanara and I'm 13 and love fishing. I just can't seem to break the meter. Any tips?
SPEAKER_00:Uh come up with me, I'll take that. No, just keep trying, brother. It'll come. That day will come. Um that just keep doing what you're doing, depending if you're low baiting or lures or wherever you're fishing in the river system.
SPEAKER_04:Yep. Um, it'll it'll come. So big rivers or small rivers, or any like, is there a yeah?
SPEAKER_00:So if you're if you're chasing a bear around uh kind of be like the mainly the audver, but just be very careful of crocs, that's all. The aud rivers like that's Jurassic Park.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, can't wait to get it. That's Jurassic Park. Hey, hey, one more thing, you just mentioned your lucky hat. I want you to touch on very quickly because we are in a rush, your lucky handline that you were meant to bring today.
SPEAKER_00:My little red, I I had it on the table. So that little red that's caught my biggest bear on it. Yep. Meter 37. And I don't usually use it anymore. That's retired. Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:I think my wife's bringing it today, so beautiful. So yeah, we we obviously do. Oh, we can hear everything that we just ran. That's all right for a sec. Yeah. You gotta hit the kids. Alright, so nah, it's not coming through the microphones anyway. Sweet. Um Wall of Fame. Obviously, we've got this new Wall of Fame thing going on where all of our guests can bring in a lucky lure or a hook or whatever. Birchie was meant to bring in Little Red for the for the wall, which says a lot, man. Willing to let go of Little Red, that's that's saying something. So nice. We'll get that on there. Uh I think Birchie's wife's flying down and uh she'll bring the the handline down. So we'll show you on the socials. But let's go to quick fire like hang on, we gotta do the wood duck moment. Well, I think we just heard the wood duck moment, didn't we?
SPEAKER_04:With the croc. It's gotta be your biggest fuck up, isn't it? What's your biggest fuck up, Birchie?
SPEAKER_00:Oh, and I wouldn't say the croc. Oh Jesus Christ, it could be a big one. No, yeah, I'd say that, yeah. Crock, yeah. Getting bogged as well. That's probably if the mud ain't flying, you ain't dry.
SPEAKER_03:We need to get some quotes in here, though.
SPEAKER_04:We gotta we gotta get some quotes on the wall here, but yeah, one thing I reckon um that Birchie said that I picked up on is if the if you don't look after the country, the country doesn't look after you. That's it. Well, I'm hooked.
SPEAKER_01:That is a hooked, that is a very, very good quote, that one.
SPEAKER_04:Birchie, we do the we finish with quick fire, yeah. Um and let's go. First thing that pops into your head top three eating fish. Barra. What about what about Dewey? I took Birchie out for a Dewey, he spewed his ring hole. Where do you rate that?
SPEAKER_00:Oh, that's that's up there. Yeah, and also that pink snapper. Oh, that was good. That was lovely. So bar but barra, barra, and barra? I love barra.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, all right. Darwa or shimano? Oh shimano. Yeah. You love the Calcutta's as well, ain't nice.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, or depending on what rod. Like what are we fishing? Uh Dawa for the casting, but for live bedding, the Shimano Calcutta mate. Yeah, because of ratchet. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:One lure for the rest of your life. Wobba. Very simple. Best but best boat snack or best bank snack? Ribbones on the coals. Oh, ribbones on the coals. Oh yeah. Yeah. And bush turkey. Um bucket list destination.
SPEAKER_00:Um bucket list destination. Um go fishing. We go fishing. Umbrella's Island. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. My best mates, um, one of my mates' best mates, Peter Ba Peter Bailey. He's done your tours and that hasn't. He's coming back next year. Second time doing Doomby.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, um, if you could have a this is have a beer, but you don't drink. If you could have a meal with any fish o, dead or alive, any fisherman.
SPEAKER_00:Um Malcolm Douglas by Dave Passer.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Well, that's part of it. Yeah. That's very common. A lot of people say that.
SPEAKER_04:I've spoken to Owen, we've had him on here as well, his grandson. Really keen to come up and see your country still. You met Owen before? Yeah, I met Owen. He's good there. Yeah, he'll be at the show today.
SPEAKER_00:And any advice for a young fisherman. Just have a crack, mate. Just keep it up. Keep doing what you're doing. Um, and also always like I always say, always ask locals. Yep. Some locals you might walk past them, but they'll have the knowledge that you'll never ever know about that area that they're on.
SPEAKER_01:Well, it's the whole concept of what we're doing here, isn't it? Yeah, very special.
SPEAKER_00:Always ask a local. Um, you know, ask any like if you walk past an o anyone down the street, like especially up in the Kimberley's, they all been out in country, they might not go out there every day, but they'll just tell you something that they do and you might go do it then bang. It's something that you won't do. Like even like myself, people look at a spot, ah, that's not fishy, yeah. But I'll I'll pull up in fishy because I know they'll be fishy because people look at it and say, ah, it's spot, I don't have structure, don't have this, don't have this. I'll just pull up there and pull six, seven meters out of there.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, you you love fishing those real hard to get muddy, uncomfortable fishing spots that no one else fishes.
SPEAKER_00:I always say no bugs, no bites.
SPEAKER_01:So there you go. That's the trick, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, like like it's saying, like, I'll push in a road. Like I just is I always say I was just around the corner, but yeah, we're still an hour later. Yeah, we bogged with the guts or you know, but the places that we go to, it's all un it's just untouched. Yeah, majority of the spots.
SPEAKER_01:I cannot wait. Oh, I cannot bloody wait to get up there and get out with your Birchie.
SPEAKER_00:Just a quick one. Did I think one of my brothers send a message to ax? Did Brent Simmons send? Let me have a look. Did he ask a question?
SPEAKER_04:Brent Simmons.
SPEAKER_00:Nah, he's full of shit. Nah. Nah, uh what did he say? I don't know. He said something.
SPEAKER_01:He might have put it to the DMs. Yeah, he might have.
SPEAKER_00:Here we go. I know he would like something stupid.
SPEAKER_04:Alright. Mate, absolute epic trip. Um ahead of us. Ahead of us, yeah. Like and appreciate ya you um coming in here. Did that just turn off? Possibly. Yeah, just turned off. Um, appreciate you coming in here, mate. Like, I can't wait to send it up there with you. It's gonna be a week.
