This is Australia, what else was he expecting.
Ben Stack, owner and runner of the 'Cape York Guide to Explore, Hunt & Fish' Facebook page, relayed a terrifying story to his followers this week in which he came 'face to face' with a salt water crocodile.
Stack had been enjoying a typical day out fishing when things took a turn for the strange. We'll leave it to him to tell it.
It was another beautiful day on the water and the fishing was good. I had hooked up to a little Threadfin and while I was slowly gaining some line, I was admiring the excellent fighting ticker of these fish. The fish had another run and went straight under the boat. Then everything stopped, no vibration, no kicking or head shaking, no fight, just a heavy dead weight. “Damn, he’s run under a log”, I thought.
Us fisherman and women know that fish run for cover under snags all the time, so I began slowly winching the heavy dead weight to the boat. My 60lb leader surfaced and I leant over the boat and grabbed the leader with both hands. Leaning over the side of the boat, hand over hand, I began pulling the leader in. By this stage, I was expecting to see a large branch or log come to the surface from under my boat. The water was a bit murky so I was really hanging over the side to get a good look.
What took place in the next few seconds felt like a lifetime. Or was it that I felt like my life only had a few seconds. First, I saw a bit of silver, then I saw my lure with the fishes mouth wide open. I lifted the leader some more and leaned over further to see what the fish was hooked up on. It was at this moment, I realised I was staring eye to eye with a solid salt water crocodile. We were face to face and no more than 20 inches apart. Fright kicked in, I released the leader and flew backwards into the boat.
We don't know how he had time or balls to take the following photos, but this will give you some idea of what he was looking at.
The takeaway from all this? "Be careful while fishing creeks and rivers with crocodiles in them because one may be hiding under your boat." Or you know, don't go to Australia. Ever.