Attack of the leaping sturgeons

About a month ago, I spent some time along the Suwannee River in north Florida where a popular summer pastime is to watch sturgeon leaping into the air.  These huge fish, which are federally protected and resemble alligators with fins, come from the Gulf into Big Bend and Panhandle rivers during the summer to spawn. Here is the latest mishap of man versus fish:

Milton

brothers struck by leaping sturgeon

            Two brothers from

Milton

are the latest victims to get clobbered by a leaping sturgeon.

            Sam, 43, and Chris Parish, 25, were enjoying a leisurely morning of bass fishing on the

Yellow River

June 28 until a leaping Gulf sturgeon, estimated 5 – 6 feet in length, came over the bow and hit both men in their faces and upper bodies.  They escaped the encounter with minor cuts, scrapes and bruises.  The sturgeon ended up back in the river.

            Neither brother required medical treatment.

            Sam ended up with a cut over his left eye and a cut to his right forearm.

            “My wife said I should have gotten stitches to the cut over my eye but I didn’t.  It did leave me with the perfect impression of a pectoral fin in my right arm but it went away after a while,” he said.

            Sam said he was in the boat’s rear seat and the collision knocked him out of his seat and against the outboard motor.

            “If it hadn’t been for the motor, I’d have ended up in the river,” he said.

            Chris was operating the 16-foot boat and took a glancing shot from the sturgeon to the head. 

            The brothers said an elderly couple who were bream fishing saw the sturgeon strike them and came to their assistance.

            The United States Geological Survey (USGS) estimated the Gulf sturgeon population in

Northwest Florida

rivers in 2002 and 2004.  They placed the number of sturgeon in the

Yellow River

at 500 – 900 fish.  They estimated 2,000 sturgeon venture up the

Choctawhatchee

River

each spring.

            As scary as a single collision is on the Yellow or other Northwest Florida rivers, they pale in comparison to the number of collisions on the

Suwannee

River

.  In 2006 and ’07 one person was killed and 18 were injured on the

Suwannee

after being struck by the bony, armor-plated fish.

            Although a lot of suggestions have been offered, no one knows why sturgeons leap into the air.

            Gulf sturgeon can grow to 8 feet in length and weigh more than 200 pounds.  They are a protected species in

Florida

.

            To report sturgeon collisions, call 1-888-404-FWCC (3922).