Jumping Fish Dangers

The recent case of two Plant City residents injured when their boat crashed after a sturgeon nearly jumped aboard on the Suwannee River is not nearly such an isolated incident as it seems.

In fact, there have been numerous cases of sturgeon jumping into boats on the Suwannee, including seven just this year.

The incidents are likely on the rise because gulf sturgeon have now been protected from all harvest since 1991, and appear to be making a strong comeback on a number of north Florida rivers. The species was commercially harvested to the brink of extinction in the early 1900s, with the slaughter including destruction of a large population in the Hillsborough River.

The fish live for decades and attain huge size, up to 200 pounds. They spawn in the headwaters of coastal rivers, according to biologists at the Florida Wildlife Research Institute, but live most of their lives in the middle and lower reaches of the rivers.

Why they jump is not clear - it may be, like mullet, just because they can - or it may be that fish lazing on the surface are frightened by fast-approaching boats. In any case, the impact has caused a number of injuries for Suwannee boaters, and anyone boating there would be wise to keep a sharp eye out and keep their speed down.

To be sure, sturgeon are not the only jumping fish that can cause problems for boaters. Flying fish are notorious for jumping into fast-moving boats, particularly after dark. Captain Tommy Butler of St. Pete, who runs offshore charters in a high-speed boat, built a "dome" over his console to protect his customers on the pre-dawn run out, so frequent were the impacts.

On a trip I made with Butler a few years back, it sounded like someone was throwing baseballs at the dome as we raced offshore at 50 mph. When we arrived at the continental shelf, we had our bait already collected - there were dead flying fish all over the deck.

Several years ago in the Florida Keys, a hooked barracuda jumped aboard a charter boat and sliced open a lady angler, requiring dozens of stitches to repair the damage. The "attack" was accidental according to local skippers - 'cudas frequently make long, arching jumps when hooked, and this one just happened to find the boat in its way.

There have been similar cases of king mackerel, which sometimes "skyrocket" as they attack bait on the surface, landing aboard boats and injuring anglers.

Tarpon at Boca Grande Pass are famous for landing in the boats of the closely packed fleet during the May through July season there. In a few cases, the 100-pound (and larger!) fish have landed on top of anglers, gave them a bloody, slimy pummeling, and then jumped back over the side.

Their problems were minimal, though, compared to the problems of Bermuda angler Ian Card, as reported in August in the London Times.

Card, aboard his father's charter boat Challenger, was standing about 8 feet from the stern when a hooked blue marlin, estimated at 800 pounds and 14 feet long, leaped across the boat, impaled him on its three-foot bill, and took him over the other gunwale with it!

Card was pushed underwater, still impaled through the chest, but was able to push himself off the bill. He surfaced some 50 feet behind the boat with blood pouring from a fist-sized wound. He was quickly hoisted back aboard by the horrified crew.

Amazingly, after a fast trip to the hospital and plenty of surgery, Card survived the wound.

In short, while fishermen are obviously a lot more dangerous to fish than vice versa, there's always the possibility that the tables can be turned, sometimes with awesome consequences.