Cairns angler hooks crocodile, twice - Guardian.co.uk

October 25 2007
An angler trying out a new lure in the shallow waters of a storm drain in tropical North Queensland, Australia, got a bigger catch than he expected when a crocodile went for his bait.
The two metre long crocodile emerged from the murky waters as fisherman Stanley Leszczewicz was trying out some new equipment.

"It went for my line but I retrieved it," Mr Leszczewicz said. "I didn't want to hook on to him."

As onlookers gathered in amazement, the crocodile sat calmly on the bank near the mouth of the drain opposite the angler's panelbeating workshop in the city of Cairns, before sliding back into the water.

The drain, which catches excess rain water, leads to a creek that is sometimes used by children as a swimming spot, prompting a reporter and photographer from the local newspaper the Cairns Post to come and hear Mr Leszczewicz's story.

As he showed them how he cast out the line, the crocodile resurfaced and lunged for the lure again. The astonished fisherman said the reptile, one of the world's most dangerous predators, was obviously a "well-fed fella" and accustomed to moving around the drainage system.

Local people said a larger crocodile, estimated to be three metres long, had also been seen lurking in the drain recently.

A spokesman for Cairns city council said that the crocodile would be removed if it was deemed to be a threat.

Crocodiles living in storm water drains in Australia are rare but not uncommon and other creatures have also found refuge there. Startled workmen discovered a 55kg alligator snapping turtle living in a drain in Sydney in 2000.

The turtle, a native American species known to use its tough, beak-like jaw to bite prying hands, was believed to have been one of a batch of babies stolen from the city's Australian Reptile Park three decades earlier.

Nicknamed Leonardo, after one of the characters in the children's cartoon television series Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, it is now a well-loved exhibit in the city park.