The answer was WINCH !!!!!!



Once on shore and laid flat it was apparent that this was a good Croc (size wise) he was a little thin (having emerged from winter rest recently and in need of a meal) but looong....







...and to be honest the size just can't be appreciated from these pics...or from the Croc on the ground....!!!!

There is also an alternative version of how I killed this Croc, it is saved for those nights when a gullible crowd is present and the beer is flowing freely....





But the reality is..



As we were toiling at the riverside one of the locals stopped by and thanked us for taking the Croc !!! Just a few weeks before a 12yo girl was taken from the edge of the river about 100m downriver from where we were here. She was "lucky" that, unusually, the Croc grabbed her leg and just swam away (no rolling or diving etc). A boatman paddled out and beat the lizard with an ore and it released the girl. She lived, but lost the leg. There is no speculation that this was that Croc, be they were happy none the less...