Cattle Creek saltwater crocodile: Fisherman relives croc attack ordeal

A North Queensland man says he has been left haunted by the speed, ferocity and silence of an attack by a monster saltwater crocodile.

A North Queensland man says he has been left haunted by the speed, ferocity and silence of an attack by a monster saltwater crocodile.

“I’ve had a few close calls with death over the years, I’ve dealt with near-death experiences a few times but this one seems to be the one that’s haunting me the most,” Stephen Wood said of the attack north of Townsville on April 18.

“I was watching for him, I knew what to expect but it got the better of me: that speed of him coming from the water with no sound, zero sound, the first thing I heard was the sound of his jaws thumping together beside my knee.”

The retired Yabulu truck driver said he was returning home from a funeral in Ingham when he made the ill-fated decision wet a line in Cattle Creek, a place he had fished countless times before.

The experienced fisherman who grew up in Ingham and is well aware of the dangers posed by crocodiles, said he was standing two metres from the bank as he reeled in a lure.

“I lifted it up and next thing I knew there was a croc right there, at my feet, out of the water, at my knee basically,” he said of the more than four-metre long beast.

“He snapped at my knee and I pulled my leg out of the road and he snapped at the other knee and I pulled that leg back and took a few steps back.”

Yabula man Stephen Wood said that while conservation places such as Billabong Sanctuary near Townsville were doing wonderful jobs educating the public about saltwater crocodiles. “The public needs to be aware that the speed the crocs are showing at Billabong and places like that is nothing like the reality, they can move at lightning speed and there’s no sound, you will not hear the water move.” Picture: Supplied

Mr Wood said he did not panic, which he believed saved his life.

“It’s mouth was wide open, it looked at me and charged again so I just whacked it across the eyes with my fishing rod … and he slipped back into the water,” he said.

“The whole croc didn’t even get out of the water, what was out of the water was 2.5 metres of monster.”

Mr Wood said a less experienced fisher would have been taken and dragged into the water in what would be a slow and painful death.

“I don’t mean a kid like a baby, I mean a 15- or 16-year old monkeying around fishing, he’d be croc s--- by now,” he said.

“That’s what frightened me, that’s why National Parks got called and that’s why they are trying to trap this croc.

“This fella was aggressive, he was hunting a human.”

A remote camera has captured the moment a man ignored Crocwise messaging and risked his life by interfering with a crocodile trap in Cattle Creek near Ingham on Anzac Day.

Mr Wood said he was disturbed that a person had been photographed standing atop the crocodile trap laid at Cattle Creek.

“The idiot walking on top the trap, I hope he’s got good life insurance for his family,” he said.

“That croc is aggressive and fast and for that bloke – he thinks he’s some sort of hero – I just hope his family is aware that he needs good insurance, this croc’s not mucking about.

“I just hope he realises how much danger he was actually in.”

Mr Wood said that while conservation places such as Billabong Sanctuary near Townsville were doing wonderful jobs educating the public about crocodiles.

“The public needs to be aware that the speed the crocs are showing at Billabong and places like that is nothing like the reality, they can move at lightning speed and there’s no sound, you will not hear the water move.”

Originally published as Cattle Creek saltwater crocodile: Fisherman relives croc attack ordeal