Sometimes the thrill of the chase is the best bit about dropping in a line, but for two Territory fishermen, it was role reversal when they nearly became bait for a monster NT saltie.

Key points: Two Northern Territory fishermen had to relinquish a big barramundi to a hungry saltwater crocodile

Two Northern Territory fishermen had to relinquish a big barramundi to a hungry saltwater crocodile The pair filmed the incident as the huge 4-metre croc moved fast to take their "absolute donkey" of a catch

The pair filmed the incident as the huge 4-metre croc moved fast to take their "absolute donkey" of a catch After the video attracted millions of social media views, one of the fishermen said he just wanted to get back to catching fish

Darwin anglers Dac and Daniel were fishing at a Top End billabong when one of them hooked onto an "absolute donkey of a barra".

Unfortunately for the pair, their excitement was also shared by what looked to be a 4-metre saltwater crocodile watching their endeavours from nearby.

"[The barra] had gotten caught up in a bit of weed, and [Daniel] was putting a bit of pressure on it," Dac told ABC's Tales from the Tinny.

"[Daniel] decided to move location on it and sort of hopped around a little bit around the bank, to get a different angle on it.

"He eventually got it free, and started slowly bringing it towards him, I think with a bit of weed still tangled up on it."

The billabong's reptilian resident had been keeping a steely eye fixed on the pair's endeavours.

As Daniel kept reeling his catch towards the bank, the crocodile "started moving in on the fish" and Dac started filming.

"Everything escalated from there pretty quickly," Dac said.

'Run back bro, run back!'

Vision of Daniel attempting to pull in his barra is accompanied by the cries of his mate yelling: "Run back, bro!"

"He started bringing the fish faster and faster towards the bank, but the croc sort of matched the speed," Dac said.

"I wasn't looking at Daniel, I just sort of hoped that he was running."

The unfortunate fisherman was "skull dragging" the barra along the bank, running backwards as the saltie took its opportunity for an easy feed.

"Run back bro, run back!": The 4-metre crocodile that snatched the fishos' catch. ( Supplied )

"He just kept moving back until he couldn't really go anymore, and at that point the croc sort of caught up to it," Dac said.

"I remember yelling 'keep the pressure on it!' to hopefully in between the chomp try to retrieve this fish, but it was too big."

Fishos lament their loss

In the video, Dac can be heard yelling: "The whole thing's gone down his gob!"

"Down it went, the lure, line, all. It was gone," Dac said in retrospect.

"I think it snapped off on the teeth."

The pair can then be heard on the recording lamenting the loss of an "absolute beast of a fish".

"We wanted the fish, we wanted the photo, then we wanted to let it go," Dac said later.

"We were shocked, we were sad. I was disappointed for Daniel — it was a good fish."

Croc got a feed as pair climbed a tree

After their exploits were branded "crazy" on social media, Dac defended their actions and said they had exercised "a fair bit of caution".

"We moved back, as it was sitting there digesting this fish, we made our way up a tree," he said.

"We weren't hanging around for any other sort of explosive action.

"I think it went to sleep. It didn't move a muscle for ages."

But the pair didn't attempt getting too close to the beast after it had taken their catch.

"We went through the long way round," Dac said.

"We were excited about it, it was an experience, probably an experience of a lifetime."

Video of their encounter with the croc was later uploaded to social media and was viewed millions of times and shared by tens of thousands.

But Dac said he and Daniel were not looking for any type of online notoriety.

"We love fishing, we want to catch fish, that's all we want. Hope there's many more fish," he said.