This Guy Caught a Fish That Had Already Been Caught by a Saltwater Crocodile

Getting a fishing lure stuck on a log can be frustrating, but it is nothing compared to what happened to Australian fisherman Ben Stack, who during a “few seconds that felt like a lifetime,” found himself “staring eye-to-eye with a solid saltwater crocodile.”

The Queensland native thought the Blue Threadfin he had nabbed off the Cape York Peninsula had “run under a log.” After reeling in the fish, though, he leaned over the boat and suddenly realized this “log” was in fact a crocodile.

“We were face-to-face and no more than 20 inches apart. Fright kicked in, I released the leader and flew backwards into the boat,” he said in a first-person narrative posted Tuesday on Facebook.

Incredibly, he had the presence of mind to snap some very impressive pictures.

Stack told TIME that the event, which happened “a little while ago now,” hasn’t stopped him from fishing.

“I continue to fish. Things like this do happen in croc waters and I am simply spreading the awareness to be croc savvy,” he said.

And the fish? The crocodile won that battle.

“I wasn’t disappointed to lose the fish but I don’t like the idea of that croc knowing he can come to a boat for a free meal.”

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