scary stuff

[barkers creek]

went fishing up the callipe river at the secret land bassed spot at about 11 at night.was dark and were getting a few little fellers then BANG!! i swear its the loudest i have ever herd baitfish scram rite infront of me bout 6ft away i grabbed the touch from under my chair as it was pitch dark i couldent see a thingh i looked straight down to notice 2 beedy eyes looking at me a 8ft croc was in front of me 6ft away...man did i ran fast.just go to watch these lads eventrally it come up the bank abit towords the car and bait so i grabbed rocks and threw it at them (may sound mean but imgaine my thoughts and what was running through my head)

tight lines

[ffejsmada]

Scary stuff all right.
Is that an unusual occurence in that river or are crocs common there?

I would have soiled my pants!:o

[3rd degree]

Did you get your rods that you threw at him back?

Cheers

Jim

[sarg]

Man I don't think your mean, I like crocs though I don't have to live with them, but if one was coming towards me I would throw the biggest rocks I could find!!! I think your very lucky the loud bang wasn't it crunching you I wonder if it was dark did it know you were there before you shone your torch?

Andrew

[ffejsmada]

Hey Jim, He threw rocks at the beast, not his rods.

[scottym]

I have heard that there are a few large crocs in the Calliope. Did you report this incident at all?

[bundylundy]

Barkers Creek,
Just out of interest, what was the general area of the river were you fishing. Fished the Calliope Sat. evening and didn't see anything like that. Damm scarey stuff. Warning signs up at the boat ramp but have never really given it much thought. Might have to in the future. Cheers.

Jeff.

[GregM]

Barkers Creek,
How far up the river are you talking? I fish the Calliope River landbased all the time, day and night. Hearing something like that makes me think twice about future night time fishing forays on the banks of the Calliope.

Cheers,
Greg M

[jim_bream]

I hear the crocs up there like Gulp Powerbaits in Sh1t-my-pants or Night-up-a-tree flavour. Had a croc nail a freshwater bream (on the end of my 4lb line) in Zimbabwe. Net was n't big enough or I woulda had the bugger!
jimbo

[tin arse tony]

Don,t now about crocks but i seen big bushpigs in tha pub 1 night tha made me run.

[barkers creek]

Barkers Creek,
How far up the river are you talking? I fish the Calliope River landbased all the time, day and night. Hearing something like that makes me think twice about future night time fishing forays on the banks of the Calliope.

Cheers,
Greg M


you know the main bridge near the power staion in gladstone its the next bridge up i think they call it the anibranch bridge.so yer not very far at all,but speacking of it have u tried the calliope old bridge rite out at calliope were they have supossed to be getting jack and barra?

cheers

[barkers creek]

Barkers Creek,
Just out of interest, what was the general area of the river were you fishing. Fished the Calliope Sat. evening and didn't see anything like that. Damm scarey stuff. Warning signs up at the boat ramp but have never really given it much thought. Might have to in the future. Cheers.

Jeff.


you know the main bridge near the power staion in gladstone its the next bridge up i think they call it the anibranch bridge.so yer not very far at all,but speacking of it have u tried the calliope old bridge rite out at calliope were they have supossed to be getting jack and barra?

[Rainbowrunner]

fished there alot growing up , lotsa crocs up there mate,

[jackson4300]

sheesh aye, lucky very lucky, sorta same thing happened to me and a few blokes with me, was at the two mile at kakadu in darwin, going from a billabong to the next, about 1ft of water where the two billabongs connected(trying to get as far up towards the 4 mile as there seemed to be no barra down at the 2 mile) and yea was pushing the tinnie when and having a look around when holy sh*t. Would've been about 5-6ft about 4-5 m away from us, how fast have u ever seen 3 blokes jump in a tinnie ???? :o
And being in only about a ft of water it started to fall over to one side.......
Was there for about 20 minutes until we finnaly got the balls again to push the tinnie back out, Think we all had simultaneous minor heart attacks ;)
Back at camp some blokes pulled up maybe half an hour after us, they said they had just gone through there :o

[Plastic_Magic]

Now I would have s###t my self. I have heard of them up there and down the Boyne River where it runs through benaraby but have never experienced one yet and dont want to. Did ou catch any fish while you where there?

[barkers creek]

Now I would have s###t my self. I have heard of them up there and down the Boyne River where it runs through benaraby but have never experienced one yet and dont want to. Did ou catch any fish while you where there?


just little stuff bream,mosses cod but im going up to the old bridge this weekend near calliope heritidge village there i here there have been jack and barra running through

cheers nath

[GregM]

you know the main bridge near the power staion in gladstone its the next bridge up i think they call it the anibranch bridge.so yer not very far at all,but speacking of it have u tried the calliope old bridge rite out at calliope were they have supossed to be getting jack and barra?

cheers


Well I'll be buggered. I have spent a lot of time on the banks there fishing. Sometimes even knee deep in mud with the cast net, never at night but. I think I will be keeping one eye on the water and one eye on my rod from now on.
I not really sure where the old calliope bridge is out at calliope but I am really keen to give it a go if there is the chance of some good fish. Can you give me any more details of how to get there. is it off the dawson highway somewhere? Cheers mate

GregM

[rando]

If you know they are in the area I would not be taking any chances Day or night, there is a reason they have been around for a couple of million years..... they are bloody good at sneaking up on things!!!!!

[Kayak1]

GregM,

The Old Bridge is on the Old Bruce Highway. Easiest way there and not to get lost is turn off the highway just north of the Calliope River bridge and go past the Historical Village and head down to the camping ground.
Fishing can be very patchy as it gets a lot of attention. You need a tidal run through to stir up any action. A 3.6mtr tide will just run through the causeway up stream, so plan your outing to co-incide with a suitable tide. Incidently, tide time is approx 1 1/2hrs behind Gladstone depending on the size of tide.
Local nasties besides crocodiles (several confirmed sightings last summer) include Box Jellies (personnally sighted as big as 2ltr ice cream containers), Bullrouts, Happy Moments, broken bottles, tangled messes of old fishing line, plastic bags and various other rubbish left behind by inconciderates. Yeah, I'm a local and the mess makes me cranky.
BTW, no barra at present and the jack have gone quiet. The old story--- should have been here last month, I got 5 barra and a number of jack with the best red toothy at 52cm.

Regards,
Steve.

[GregM]

Steve,

The old story--- should have been here last month
Aint that always the way it goes with fishing. Thanks for the info mate, I might have to go and check it out one weekend.
Cheers

GregM

[mudskipper]

just came back to brissy from up there and was just talking about the very same thing. 20 years ago i remember a photo in the local paper that showed 2 crocs lying on the bank of a farmers dam down towards miriam vale and bloke that worked at the smelter did all his prawning around mangrove jacks in the boyne, said it wasn't uncommon for him to get small ones in his drag net and at the time i thought nothing of diving in the river or wading chest high across at the gravel bar up at benaraby in the middle of the night. how big does a little croc grow in 20 yrs? and how many to a hatch and successive hatches?. a friend that lives at tannum told me of a young bloke fishing at mangrove jacks at night awhile ago got chased by a sizable one- his mother said it had to be true as he ran all the way home leaving all his gear behind. if you see those signs i'd take heed. i did a lot of camping/fishing up in NT back in the 80's and the same place we set up camp was also where they chose to sunbake at certain times of the year just cos you don't see them doesn't mean their not there and my guess is you'll hear more of this occurance.

[Murph77]

those snapping geckos certainly stain the jocks when they sneak up on you like that. i've had a few close calls in my time growing up in nth qld, time to start turning a few into handbags again i think!

[WhiteKnight]

Any updates on the fishing at the old calliope river bridge at the moment? Im keen to try it.

Thanks

[Dirtysanchez]

Wow, what a story..I'd have thrown my underpants at him - that would have turned him back towards deeper water.

Seems to be an explosion in population in the last few years !

[Little grey men]

Wow, what a story..I'd have thrown my underpants at him

I'm sure that would be deemed as cruel and unusual punishment.;D

[Dirtysanchez]

I'm sure that would be deemed as cruel and unusual punishment.;D


Now why would you say that ? :)
I have no doubt they are ecologically sound...:-[

[Whitey81]

holly,
Have skied, fished, crabbed, camped that river for 15 years, never even thought about a croc. There has been a lot of rumours over the years but no evidence in Gladdy or further south for a fair while. Sure it wasnt your dog. Have seen heaps in the northern narrows so I wouldnt doubt it. I just thought there was a magical line they didnt cross.