[troppo]

Been wondering if the warmer weather increases the chances of seeing a croc in my regular haunts. ABC Internet news said a Darwin man was shocked when he had a wander in his backyard and saw a 1.6 m croc half under a deck and in his goldfish pond. In the Top End today, 4 crocs were caught by Parks and Wildlife workers 'cause they were getting in people's way.

That is NOT the sort of news I want to read. Someone who waterskis in the Fitzroy river up where I paddle for exercise asked me if I had seen the dead cow in the water. I had not. She said she wondered what killed it and was hoping to go back another time to see if it had been eaten. Oh, great, that's all I need.

 

[paffoh]

LOL :?

Take care mate...

Who knows what the day will bring tomorow, or the next day... or the next. The world is heating up and Earth as we know it will cease to be as familiar ( Ie : Crocs were there were once none :shock: )

 

[RedPhoenix]

Unfortunately, due to the change in ownership of this web site and the lack of response by the owners to my requests to remove my email address from all administrative-level notifications and functionality, I have decided to remove my posts on AKFF. Thank you for the great times, the fantastic learning experiences and the many many fish. If you are desperate for the old content of this particular post, it is available below base64 encoded and bzip2 compressed.

Red.

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[Les Lammers]

In the spring and summer the Gators here are very active. I try to avoid
narrow creeks and Mangrove tunnels during this time. They can be very aggressive during the mating season. The problem is compounded by the number of people that find feeding them amusing.

Troppo, I would have a chat with a park service biologist and perhaps get some advice about what to do if threatened and possibly which areas to avoid.

I do realize that your Salty Crocs are much more aggressive than our gators and crocs.

 

[Russ]

:shock: Christ thank god { Occy } :lol: we dont have them down here.

All we have are DIOXINS and ya dont ever see them :shock:

fishing Russ

 

[Dodge]

Troppo, ......... get some advice about what to do if threatened.

Troppo, in my minds eye I have a picture of what you would do if a croc came close....and it isn't pretty :lol:

 

[Geejay]

Last year an unlucky fella was taken on the Daintree (l think) from a canoe, and l think he may have been fishing :shock: The scary thing about a croc is its intelligence to see someone paddling as game and not just your yak. Its not right to compare, but atleast when a shark would bite it would go the yak then hopefully see it not as food.

Living in north Qld has concerns for yakkers. l know my yak fishing may be disrupted soon because of those blastered irrikanjii jellyfish.

l go a short way into creek systems in my yak for jacks and grunter. Does anyone else in croc country do the same?

GJ

 

[yakfly]

and just to add fuel to the fire tropp
crocs have been seen out on the reefs around summer,i remember something about a yachtie getting taken out on an island somewhere in the nineties.truth is theyve been always been around its just they were too dam cunning to be seen.locals south of sarina told of hearing them "barking" at night in breeding season up some of the creeks in summer.
add to that early this year a guy got chased by a 2m female while crabbing down zilzie bay way.
if you ever go to Bowen theres signs up on the esplanade warning of crocs right in the middle of town
the guy that got taken up the daintree had apparently hooked a barra and had it to the canoe when the croc had a go at it.story i heard was it tipped the canoe up and the bloke and his missus went in the drink.
anyway im off to paddle in the pumicestone passage where the only biteys are bull sharks

 

[Guest]

Last year an unlucky fella was taken on the Daintree (l think) from a canoe, and l think he may have been fishing :shock: The scary thing about a croc is its intelligence to see someone paddling as game and not just your yak. Its not right to compare, but atleast when a shark would bite it would go the yak then hopefully see it not as food.

Living in north Qld has concerns for yakkers. l know my yak fishing may be disrupted soon because of those blastered irrikanjii jellyfish.

l go a short way into creek systems in my yak for jacks and grunter. Does anyone else in croc country do the same?

GJ

Heya Geejay,

We spoke to a well known local guide who we booked a fishing charter on the Daintree River with and the topic of crocs naturally came up.

He took us on a little tour during a break from fishing and we spotted half a dozen crocs sunning themselves in a 2km stretch of river.

He mentioned the incident about the man taken from a canoe last year, and said the version published in the papers was a little different to what had supposedly actually occured.

The papers reported that the pair were fishing, but the locals up there say the couple were well known 'naturalists' who had been making regular trips to that area and were feeding the crocs from the canoe in order to get better photos. One person baiting the croc, the other with the camera ready to take some happy snaps.

Our guide said that the croc eventually figured out the better meal was IN the canoe rather than what was being offered by its occupants, and lunged and grabbed the fellows arm, capsizing the canoe in the process.

Ironically the man who was taken had often joked with people up there that one day a croc would get him..........as he had experienced a close call in the past I think our guide said.

Not sure how true story actually is, but this is what this guide had to say about it :?:

 

[troppo]

Take care Troppo. Sounds like you are even at risk in the bloody fish pond in the backyard mate. Not much of a paddle is it.

Good advice as always Occy. I will avoid fishponds like you say and just stick to the good ol' mangrove creeks where I'll be safe.

 

[Geejay]

l must say l feel pretty safe too.

l have not seen a croc in the 7 years since l moved up here from Melbourne. The mangove creeks l hit are usually fairly clear and shallow with strong runs.
GJ

 

[yakfly]

whereabouts are you based Geejay

 

[Salty Dog]

But have they seen you Geejay? :wink:

 

[beefs]

Were you there on the weekend when Freckles said he wouldn't yak fish in Corio Bay because of the crocs Troppo? Its not a big swim from Corio to Fishing Creek is it... :?

On a related topic (maybe Troppo could scan the paper article if he has it, i don't) but a bloke was wading out to in chest high water to check his crab pots in fishing creek last week when he was grabbed on the leg by strong toothy critter - thought it was a croc. Pried it of his leg to have it grab his hand. Short tussle ensued and the bloke eventually got free and found a monster Pike Eel half caught in his pot! The paper has a shot of him with the eel - he kept it to use as crab bait :lol:

 

[troppo]

Scotty Beefs, Fishing Ck is about 6 hrs paddle from Corio Bay, depending on the tides. If it is one of those tides with 4 m difference between low and high and ya going against the tide, then it would take 6 hrs or so. The current rips across the sandbanks at maybe 6+ km/hr or so. Take forever going against that. If you were going with the tide, it would take practically no time considering one flows into the other.

If I was paddling from Fishing Ck into Corio and I knew there were crocs in Corio, I'd go against the tide 'cause that would give me an excuse for not getting there .

I'll post the pic of the eel in a new topic in the non kayak section. Good thinking Scotty Beefs!