Hazardous Jumping Fish

The recent death of a popular surfer had me counting up the different fish that have jumped and harmed people. Free-jumping fish injuries are more rare than lightning injuries, and so most people don’t sweat the odds.

The Italian surfer who died last autumn was supposedly struck by a “swordfish” while she was surfing in Indonesia, local media reported. Giulia Manfrini, 36, of northern Italy, was in the water in Mentawai Islands Regency, an area that draws surfers from around the world, according to the Indonesian news agency Antara.

“Unexpectedly, a swordfish jumped towards Manfrini and struck her squarely in the chest,” said a local official.

A swordfish in the surf that speared only five centimeters into this unfortunate surfer sounds…highly unlikely. The authorities there sound unfamiliar with the habits of houndfish, which have been spearing people in tropical waters since man went to sea. Houndfish grow to four feet and have a bad habit of jumping for no reason, especially at lights used by native fishermen at night.

I have caught big houndfish off Key West, The Bahamas and Costa Rica, and know they jump with that spear for a nose, but never thought it could happen to me. Or surfers, for that matter. Years ago in 1989, I caught a big one at Sand Key off Key West, while our boat was anchored in four feet of water. Our young friend Kelly Asbury from South Beaumont was standing only feet away, and completely new to snorkeling. I had him duck underwater to watch it released, knowing that a big ‘cuda had followed the hound, was waiting nearby, and would probably attack. I tossed that houndfish in front of Kelly and wham! It was cut in half. Kelly stood up abruptly and his eyes were wide; it was his first real brush with Nature. He’d studied art under Jerry Newman at Lamar and then moved away to Hollywood and got into animation. Thinking back, that day might have ended badly but did not. Which is fortunate, because Kelly was a great guy; he went on to direct such movies as Spirit the Horse, Gnomeo and Juliet, Shrek 2, and a few others.

Barracuda. There have been numerous injuries from barracuda, which have the cruelest teeth of any fish, including many sharks. ‘Cudas have free-jumped into boats and maimed people for no reason, and will also sometimes jump into boats when hooked, chewing on the nearest fisherman with awful results. ‘Cudas are caught all the time, but few deliberately jump into boats when hooked.

However, after reading the story and seeing a picture of 13-year old Parker King in the hospital, a teenager who was maimed off Florida’s Atlantic coast, I’m glad we didn’t try to catch a monster ‘cuda that showed up one day under our boat off Port O’Connor. It was easily seven feet long and ate half of my hooked 20-pound kingfish and then hung around for more. That ‘cuda must have weighed 100 pounds and might have doubled the state record. One of those rare and dangerous fish we didn’t want any part of. With the high cost of helicopter flights and hospital care, it’s best not to mess with ‘cudas unless you have experience handing them.

Kingfish can jump very high and easily into boats, and their teeth and weight multiply the danger. Years ago back in the ‘60s there was a report of a fatality off Key West. Someone was hit in the neck by a jumping kingfish that was chasing a jig being lifted from the water. This was back when there were schools of kingfish stretching for a dozen miles, before the local net boats destroyed them. (Today, biologists say the Gulf’s kingfish population is down and out).

One summer day years ago, the captain of partyboat LaPesca out of Port Aransas noticed something odd, a disturbance on the water headed their way. It was hundreds of jumping kingfish feeding on baitfish. The whitewater headed straight for them. The captain ordered everyone inside the cabin. Within minutes, school-sized kingfish (typical 14-pounders off Texas) were flying past the windows. There were many thumps as more fish struck the boat. When the storm subsided, six or eight kings lay flopping on deck.

My buddy Pete from Beaumont watched a kingfish jump onto an oil rig’s lower deck some 12 feet above water, before flopping back in the water. I was hit in the neck by a jumping king off Galveston, while swimming alongside the boat taking pictures. Somebody was retrieving their white jig after casting it near a weedline. The king missed it, flew 20 feet and hit me in the back of the neck. Payow! There was a stunning blow and a blinding splash; the crew above me were stupefied after watching its soaring flight converge on me like a missile. Its mouth must have been closed when it hit me, because the only damage was a reddish bruise.

Eagle Rays: There have been a few collisions with people and jumping, spotted eagle rays, sometimes with injuries. In one incident, a ray estimated at 75 pounds killed a Michigan woman in March, 2008 when it flew from the water and struck her in the face off Marathon in the Keys. The impact knocked her head against the boat. The woman, Judy Kay Zagorski, 57, of Pigeon, Mich., was in a boat traveling at 25 miles per hour when the ray leaped from the water, said Jorge Pino, spokesman for Florida Fish and Wildlife (FWC). Ms. Zagorski’s father was driving the boat off Vaca Key, Mr. Pino said. “He had absolutely no warning, it just happened.”

The impact probably killed the woman, Mr. Pino said, adding that it was not immediately clear if she had puncture wounds from the ray’s barb. The ray died from the impact, officials said. Spotted eagle rays can reportedly weigh up to 500 pounds with a wingspan of up to 10 feet. They’re protected in Florida and are typically seen swimming on the surface. They are known jumpers, but not aggressive. They use the barb at the end of their tail as a defense mechanism. “Rays jump to escape a predator, give birth and shake off parasites,” said Lynn Gear, supervisor of fishes and reptiles at Theater of the Sea in Islamorada. “They do not attack people.”

Asian Carp: According to the EPA, boaters have reported injuries including cuts, black eyes, broken bones, back injuries and concussions from jumping Asian carp. The epicenter for that action centers on the Illinois River around Peoria. If you want to see serious jumping fish landing in your boat by the dozen, launch at Peoria and run an aluminum boat up and down the river. Aluminum really sets them off.

Fishing guides in that area have been running carp-killing charters for more than 10 years, using bow and arrows, baseball bats, even shotguns. I saw a video of one carp fly between an archer’s drawn bow and his bowstring, which is too close for comfort. The guides string protective soccer netting around the gunnels of their boats. They wear protective eyewear and even football helmets. They’ve towed water skiers through flying carp, the skier hacking and hewing with a samurai sword. They’re a crazy bunch, but then most of Illinois is a pretty tame place to live. These carp mostly jump near the back of the boat and I saw one video of two women with drawn bows at the stern of a bassboat. What appeared to be a 10-pound carp flew in from the side and sucker-punched one gal in the side of the face, breaking her jaw. These carp are said to grow to 100 pounds, but 6-12 pounders seems to be the average. There are videos of hundreds of carp in the air at the same time. Commercial fishermen have netted a great many, but they’re only paid 10-20 cents a pound. You have to land tons, to make it worthwhile. It’s hard, messy, wet work, and 2,000 pounds of carp is only worth between $200 to $400. Split between several guys.

Tarpon are one of the world’s best jumpers and there’s no doubt a great many have landed in boats while hooked. What about the free-jumpers? A guide friend reported anchoring in the morning in Pass Cavallo with a charter and made a single cast, reeling in a ladyfish. At boatside a hungry tarpon jumped after the ladyfish, hitting the guide in the head and knocking him out. When he awoke covered in tarpon poop and scales, every rod on his center console boat was broken. He wiped his face off and pulled anchor; that one cast was enough for one day. Not a hundred yards from there, anchored in a 14-foot jonboat during a swift, outgoing tide, we once hooked a tarpon over 200 pounds, which jumped only 30 feet away. It broke 50-pound line while in the air, landing with a crash. If it had landed in the boat, too bad for us. It felt like the Old Man and the Sea, and my jonboat suddenly felt like a joke out there.

While I was in Honduras, the locals told of a young woman meeting up with a tarpon. A panga full of people left the inlet and headed out to a passenger freighter anchored offshore in the Caribbean. Just off the beach, a big tarpon free-jumped into their boat. Everyone bailed out and when they climbed back aboard, the young woman, 20 years old, lay dead with a broken neck.

Sturgeon in fresh water have also injured and killed, especially on the Suwannee River in Florida. This national treasure of a river has no boating or speed limits, and the weekends are hectic with racing boats and bass tournaments. Running at 50 knots in a river where 100-pound armor-plated sturgeon will leap right into your path is flirting with death or serious injury. There are woeful tales of people knocked overboard, broken arms, jet skiers with their fingers cut off, ruptured spleens and worse. One five-year old girl named Jaylon Rippy was killed while riding on the bow of her family boat. That same sturgeon injured two other family members, who were life-flighted to the nearest hospital. There is a memorial for little Rippy at the boat ramp near where it happened, and boats still speed by there every day.

Spanish mackerel can jump high, often after prey, revealing their location. They have a wicked set of teeth, though thankfully small, and they’re also lightweights. However, a friend told me they were speeding along offshore of Louisiana when a friend suddenly yelled and clutched at his back; he thought somebody had stabbed him. Laying on deck nearby was a two or three-pound mackerel. Several stitches were required to close the wounded angler’s injury.