Two eyes, a rare specimen and one lucky fisherman.
After spending two hours fighting the swordfish, Gary Cooper finally got it up on the beach and realized what it was.
“I thought I'd hooked a big, big, big fish and I thought sharks were following it. I knew straight away it was going to be a catch of a lifetime."
"It came in on a wave and that's when I saw this eight-foot thing come out of the water," said Gary Cooper. "Then all of a sudden I saw eyes in the water ... and there's a croc sitting there where I'd been up to my chest about two seconds before - I nearly s*** myself!”
We would have too, but luckily, nothing untoward happened and Mr Cooper after realising the rarity of his catch, carefully took the hook from its mouth and released it back into the water.
Living in muddy water and in estuaries, the Green Swordfish would have been at home in Port Douglas this week after all the rain in North QLD. Despite the perfect conditions it’s extremely rare to see one of these fish, after their numbers declined sharply in the 1900’s. Part of the Ray species, the Green Swordfish typically has between 23 to 31 pairs of teeth on their snout and can be characterised most easily by it’s flat, ray-like appearance.
Casey, TAS
