When Fishing Takes a Wild Turn

Ben Stack, a 40-year-old fisherman from Canada, was left astounded last week while fishing in a small creek in Queensland. The bait on his fishing line had been swallowed by a salmon, but as Stack began reeling the fish to shore, he felt an enormous weight on the line. When the salmon surfaced, it brought along an uninvited guest: a crocodile gripping it in its jaws.

Stack later recounted the incident on his Facebook page. "It felt like forever," he recalled. "At first, I saw a silver flash, and then the open mouth of a fish with the bait, so I started pulling the rod and leaned forward to see what was caught in the fish. At that moment, I realized I was staring into the eyes of a large saltwater crocodile. It was just 51 centimeters away from me."

Stack admits he was scared to his core, abandoning the rod and fleeing to his boat. Despite the quick escape, he managed to capture the extraordinary catch: his camera was ready to shoot whatever would come up on the line, and it captured the salmon – with the crocodile. "I'm glad I have the picture," he wrote. "Even I can hardly believe what I experienced, and I didn't think anyone else would either – luckily, the camera indeed captured the moment."

The salmon and the crocodile