Toe-biting 'lake monster' caught in Darwin

20 August 2009

By Jano Gibson

It had been billed as the "Loch Alexander monster" - a giant fish that had bitten an unsuspecting woman on the foot and forced the closure of a popular swimming spot in Darwin.

But the toe-biting monster was today revealed as an 80 centimetre estuary cod, which rangers have named "Clary".

"I'm pretty certain this is the one," Roger Matthews said after luring the fish with baby octopus bait.

"It's a ripper. You can certainly stick your foot in this thing's mouth."

Following the biting incident, Darwin City Council closed the lake for two days to allow rangers to catch the rogue fish.

"It had her toes and the front of her foot in its mouth, so it was a big fish," the council's chief executive, Brendan Dowd, said at the time.

Today's catch is estimated to weigh about four kilograms.

"I wouldn't put my hand in its mouth, put it that way," Mr Matthews said.

He said the cod put up a 15-minute fight, made more difficult after the rangers' outboard motor stopped working.

"All good in the end," Mr Matthews said.

"Doesn't matter if we row, swim or helicopter our way to it - we would have done anything [to catch it]."

The fish was caught about 15 metres away from where the woman was bitten.

Rangers will continue to monitor the lake for the rest of the day, just in case there are more cod out there.

Clary will not be going on the barbeque, Mr Matthews said.

"We'd get some nice fillets off it if we were that way inclined, but we're not."

Instead, rangers have relocated it into the ocean.

Additional reporting: Melinda James

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/08/20/2661587.htm