IS THIS Australia's own "Loch Ness Monster" - an elusive 8m giant that would send a shiver down the spine of any angler?
Fisherman Clint Spry was left dumbstruck when he ran into the huge croc in the Norman River, just upstream from the far north Queensland township of Normanton.
"It had locked jaws with an albino crocodile and was just throwing it around like a rag doll," Mr Spry told the Sunday Mail."The tail on it alone was as long as my whole boat."
For the past week, Normanton, population 1500, has been awash with speculation that a monster croc is lurking nearby.
Pastor Elton Thompson started the ball rolling when he photographed huge slide marks and claw prints on the banks of the Norman.
He put the images on his Facebook page and relayed a story of a crocodile recently spotted at the same location that was "at least as big, if not bigger" than the legendary 8.63m savannah king that has a life-size replica in Normanton's main street.
As national media outlets picked up the story, locals debated whether the croc really was that big or, well, just a crock. One publican deflated the story.
"It's a wives' tale. There are no crocs that big near Normanton," he said.
Others are adamant an oversize croc exists and that it had been in the area for some time, growing bigger with every year that had passed since Queensland banned commercial hunting in the 1970s.
Herbie Harold, 52, who found the original slide marks at his favourite fishing spot and alerted his pastor, said he had seen a massive croc in the same spot once before.
"It was easily the biggest I've seen," the born-and-bred Normanton resident said.
Mr Spry, who is a tackleshop owner, estimates it was at least 6m - more than 1m bigger than the typical mature croc.
In an almost identical description, butcher Chris Hughes says he found himself in the Norman River alongside a croc with a tail as long as his 3.8m boat.
In the local library, residents Terry and Darline Cummings, have an impressive photo album of crocs from the area including one picture taken this year showing apparently two crocs, which turned out to be a single, very large croc.
Asked whether there could be a croc as big as 8m, Mr Cummings didn't hesitate: "I was here in the '50s and saw them that big."
http://www.ntnews.com.au/article/2010/11/28/197061_ntnews.html