Fishing abroad can be dangerous

[Beachcomber_Bar_Mojacar]

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f309/Beachcomber_Bar_Mojacar/Croc011.jpg

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f309/Beachcomber_Bar_Mojacar/Croc019.jpg

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f309/Beachcomber_Bar_Mojacar/Croc022.jpg

[PanamaJack]

Horrific! That's not by any chance where you'll be fishing in April in Botswana is it John?

I guess increasingly though, as we get to more and more remote locations, the possibility of encountering crocs increase. And it's not always in freshwater! Off of northern Australia I know they've found big 'salties' up to 100 Ks offshore. And I've encountered smaller freshwater crocodiles in saltwater in both the Caribbean and the Pacific coast of Central America.

I have to say after my friend hooked this one in the base of the tail, just 30' off a jetty we were fishing on on Turneffe Atoll, 30 miles off the coast of Belize, I was somewhat wary of wading for Bonefish, especially near drop-offs.
Dave

[Beachcomber_Bar_Mojacar]

Horrific! That's not by any chance where you'll be fishing in April in Botswana is it John?



Dave, I will be keeping tight inside the boat while fishing the Zambezi for Tigers.

They are dangerous enough themselves, John Beachcomber.

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f309/Beachcomber_Bar_Mojacar/tigerfish.jpg

[PanamaJack]

I recall a 'Zim' friend on mine used to fish from the bank for Tigers and be somewhat dismissive of 'flatbacks'. There was an element of bravado he'd cast flies at the 'babies' to provoke a reaction. But big ones can easily 'ease' into remarkably shallow water undetected and then launch an attack VERY quickly.

I recall reading a book on big game hunting where the 'great white hunter' saw one 'take' an antelope that had been grazing 30' from the water.

Then there was the shock of seeing that one in Belize. My friend had assured me it was a shark he’d hooked, and I was spread-eagled on that jetty with a small release gaff in my hand when it came into view – mottled brown and sinuous – um … not like any shark I’d ever seen. But there's that assumption’s that it’s a shark. It was foul-hooked in the base of the tail (you can actually see the small yellow jig in the picture, just sub surface) and it was only when I reached out that I spotted its feet. I suspect Linford Christey might well have had trouble keeping up with me at that moment of realisation!

Mind you, if you look closely, you’ll see the guides are easing it up with a snake noose. They get really big constrictors in the mangroves!

What amazed me most though were its ‘death rolls’ that succeeded in breaking the wire. An animal would have no chance of maintaining its grip and being dragged to a watery grave! I gather, and it’s fairly macabre, but they’ll drown their prey and leave the corpse trapped under an overhang or in a submerged tree until decomposition sets it. That’s when the ‘death rolls’ enables them to pull chunks off and swallow them whole. Not a pleasant thought.

Those big ones though, unless they’re drawn together through something like an animal migration, are extremely territorial. So I suspect the guides had got the ‘culprit’.

Just then a bit of light relief this is one from Oz at the other end of the scale - http://www.scbi.org.uk/pages/News_WhatsNewNfc200404_D.asp . It took a popper.
Dave

[Ken L]

Strange that they seem to have no problem with dressing the beast for the skin and meat despite it's apparent diet.

[fishiee29]

This is a shot I took from one of the places we fish in Uganda. Some of these must be 7m or more. Needless to say we don't stand a good few m back from the waters edge when fishing! They go well when hooked if they pick up a bait I can tell you!

Believe it or not people do actually wade across some of the bays in this place. They are idiots!


http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/johnbogle/BC/crocs2.jpg


Actually, when we fish here I'm more concerned about the hippos than the crocs. They can move much faster over land!

[Mike Wheeler]

Is it true that you can run away from crocs, fast as they are, if you run zigzag? Someone told me their brains are so small that they cannot readjust their movements quickly enough to a new situation.

Great reading lads, many thanks! Sobering though...

[Beachcomber_Bar_Mojacar]

Is it true that you can run away from crocs, fast as they are, if you run zigzag? Someone told me their brains are so small that they cannot readjust their movements quickly enough to a new situation.

Great reading lads, many thanks! Sobering though...

Naa its not true, they just get to you faster and end your misery quicker, :wheelchai, John Beachcomber.

[Mike Wheeler]

:g:Even more sobering! Suppose hipos are worse as regards mortalities.

[BillyFISHING]

http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/26/26_11_7.gif (http://www.smileycentral.com/?partner=ZSzeb001_ZNxdm824MXGB) Some great snaps and the pictures are not bad ether.