An angler in Australia caught more than he bargained for on a fishing expedition: a large crocodile.
Trent de With went fishing in Northern Territory near the border with Western Australia last week. He was reeling in his lure when what should he find on the line but a crocodile, Fox News reported.
De With took a video of his catch and shared it online. He is the manager of Rod & Rifle TackleWorld Katherine, whose account posted the clip.
“Here we were just trolling along with a classic 200 and this fella decides he wants to have a crack at it,” de With captioned the video. “Managed to get the lure back! Although it doesn’t track as straight as it use to.”
De With had been fishing for barramundi at the time, the Canberra Times reported. There have been border closures in the area, but anglers have still been flocking to local waterways due to the Million Dollar Fish competition, the paper reported.
The competition is sponsored by the Northern Territory government. Its goal is to draw tourists to the area during the off-season. Anglers are jockeying to catch a tagged barramundi worth $1 million, according to the Times.
So far, anglers have caught six tagged barramundi worth a collective $65,000 in the competition. About 95 tagged barramundi worth $10,000 remain in Northern Territory waters.
De With was not lucky enough to catch a tagged barramundi. But his crocodile catch has rocketed him to Internet fame.
The angler told the Daily Mail that it’s actually not that uncommon to catch crocodiles in some parts of Australia.
“You can accidentally hook them, this one seemed like he actually tried to eat it,” de With told Daily Mail Australia. “You just fight it ’til the line breaks or the hooks let go. That rod and reel are good quality stuff – which makes all the difference, especially when you hook a big barra, you don’t want your gear to fail.”
