Dumbest anglers?
Croc bait: Are these world's dumbest anglers
April 03, 2009 09:40am
FISHING fans have been photographed risking life and limb by wading in a river which is home to the world's largest concentration of crocodiles.
These pictures - taken at the Shady Camp barrage on the Mary River, about 150km east of Darwin - show the reckless behaviour of some daredevil anglers at the popular fishing and tourist spot.
Gallery: When crocs get hungry
One man was seen in neck-deep water trying to retrieve his lure while another man was laying back in the shallows nearby with a fishing rod in hand waiting for his next bite. The photos also show a girl sitting on the fast-flowing barrage wall where one slip and she could have ended up downstream where large crocs lurk.
A shocked Darwin mother, who took the photos, said all this was happening moments after she snapped a monster 4m saltie gliding through the water to curiously approach a Diet Coke can about 600m away.
The mother-of-two said she was horrified to see so many careless anglers in the main barrage on returning from a day out fishing on Sunday afternoon.
"I couldn't believe it - what they were doing was ridiculous," the woman said.
"If that girl slipped she'd go straight down the stream where there are crocs absolutely everywhere. After having that little girl taken just a week earlier.
"Then I saw the guy up to his neck in the water and he was apparently just trying to fetch a lure that is probably only worth $15 - you'd have to ask yourself is it worth it?"
Parks and Wildlife have been warning people to stay clear of waterways following the death of 11-year-old Briony Goodsell, who was taken by a croc as she swam with her sister and two friends in Black Jungle Swamp in Lambells Lagoon.
Parks and Wildlife crocodile management ranger Tom Nichols said an extensive survey conducted in the Shady Camp region in 2007 along 41km counted 523 salties - equivalent to almost 13 crocodiles every kilometre.
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