Believe it or not this is true -
Last week I took my kids on a local river and had a 10 -12 inch Small Mouth Bass jump into our canoe. We had just portaged around a nasty log jam and paddled to the opposite side of the river to regroup and head on downriver when the crazy fish jumped right in the bow with me.
I’ve been fishing a couple of times in my life but I don’t bait my own hooks or take off my fish so this was no laughing matter to me. Although my nine year old thought it was. She was laughing so hard I don’t think she could have picked up that fish if she wanted to and I had no intention of trying. Fortunately we were not paddling alone that day and our friend paddled over to our canoe and came to my rescue and threw the fish overboard.
Laughter was good medicine that day. My friend lost his wife in a fatal car accident just a few weeks ago. We took the kids (his, ages 8yrs and 2 yrs) down the river to divert their attention for an evening. Everytime one of us thought of it we all broke into laughter. That crazy fish will remembered for a long time.
I thought you might enjoy this fish story.
Have any of you ever had a fish jump on board???
Kim
Yep,
when I was a kid, about 6-7 years old Dad and I fished all morning without a bite. When he cranked the motor to head back in I guess hs startled a little bass (10"?) and it jumped right in the bateau.
Some of our waters have been invaded by Silver Carp that can grow to be 40+pounds. They have a habit of making very athletic leaps from the water as a boat passes by and a couple of people every year are injured when they’re struck by one of these beast. I’ve seen them in action and had a few near-misses but so far my luck has held up. Sturgeon will do this too and if I recall correctly a guy in Florida was severly injured by one last year.
fish
Glad you had some laughter with all that happend! I have had herring jump into a boat that were being chased by big bass and blues, not a common sight, but not unheard of!
Funny you should ask,
I just sent in a story about that last friday. I’ll wait to see if Pnet uses it before telling.
Taj
mullet and mackeral
are common jumpers down here. squid and shrimp at night.and once a 150lb stingray ,jumped out of the water into a friends boat whole being chased by a large shark. it struck the backrest and spiked it, had to go back to the dock for a hack saw.
fish jump
glad you all had so much fun and gained a lifetime story. those kids will never forget it. my congratulations to you for taking the children, also my thanks.
Fish Story
Back in 1975 I was on the Papagalos River, a major tributary of the Amazon, near Leticia, Colombia.
I was with a group hunting for Cayman (like a small Aligator) at night, which was perfectly legal at that time and place. There was about five of us, including two native guides, in a 20’+ dug out canoe with a motor. A dug out canoe has very little freeboard with five passengers.
When a shiney little 8-10 inch fish jumps into the boat right at my feet. I was startled, and chopped it in half with my trusty, rusty machete…Greatly startling the young gringa aboard. I was chided by the natives for over reacting, but only after a good laugh…
Oh well, No telling what will come up when you ask for a fish story here on PNET…
ha ha ha…
Your stories were funny too. I read some of them to my daughter. It started us laughing all over again. Why a grown woman would be so scared of a fish I don’t know but after reading some of your posts all I can say is I’m glad it wasn’t a 40 pounder or more…or I probably would have jumped overboard!!!
Hopefully it’s like lightning and doesn’t strike the same boat twice.
Hapy paddling to all of you!!! ~ Kim
A few times
First, let me thank you for the story and am glad everyone had a great time.
Yeah, I’ve had fish jump into the boat a few times. Seems that canoes are so quiet that occasionally you can almost get on top of a fish before spooking them. My best story though, happened a few years ago while fishing with a buddy in his small boat. We were on a lake and started up a feeder creek. As we slowly went up the creek he began to tell me that the last time he was on this creek a bass jumped into the boat. Just as he was telling the story, guess what happened - another bass jumped into the boat!