Mackerel catches fisherman

A QUEENSLAND fisherman suffered the ultimate revenge when a mackerel jumped into his boat and floored him – and then got away.

In what he called a bad case of "fishy's revenge", Glen Hopper suffered bruised ribs, cuts to his face and arms and a dented ego when the 1.5m fish jumped out of the water and hit him on Sunday morning.

"It felt like I'd just run into a brick wall, because I was going 20 knots one way and it was speeding the opposite direction," the 43-year-old Sunshine Coast man said today.

Advertisement: "I remember it coming out the water and the next thing I knew I'm in the back of the boat winded, trying to get my breath."

Mr Hopper, who said he had set out to catch a haul of mackerel on Mooloolah River, was in his 4m tinnie when the "freakish" mishap occurred.

He said the mackerel, which he guessed weighed about 30kg, shot out of the water and into his boat, hitting him in the chin and chest.

It knocked the recreational fisher out of his seat and sent him tumbling backwards before spearing back into the water.

"I remember thinking `What am I doing back here and how come I can't breathe?'," Mr Hopper said.

Mr Hopper, a scientist, said he had taken the day off work to recuperate from his injuries, which included grazes to his chin and arms caused by the fish's sharp fins.

He initially feared he had suffered a collapsed lung but doctors believed he was badly bruised.

A sheepish Mr Hopper said he never explained to his boss exactly why he needed the day off.

But he admitted he was something of a joke among his mates after retelling his unusual version of "the one that got away".

"It's fishy's revenge I suppose. It's been a bit of a laugh with my friends," Mr Hopper said.

Big fish damage boats or fisherman fairly often. I remember about 8 or 9 years ago, when I was living in South Carolina and used to fish offshore a lot, one of the fellows who kept his sportfishing yacht at Georgetown Landing Marina was out fishing, and a 7-foot barracuda jumped into the air and through the window of his salon, and did several thousand dollars worth of damage to the boat before the crew could subdue it. On another occasion, a very good friend of mine (who was my offshore fishing mentor) had a group of people out with him on his 26-foot Mako. It was a beautiful summer day with very calm seas, and they were out about 50 miles offshore with the engines off, drifting while fishing. One of the guests on board was sitting on the transom, dangling her feet in the water and splashing a bit. A large barracuda came up and bit her on the heel--almost bit her foot off. They had to call the Coast Guard to send out a helicopter to pick her up. My friend is a dentist, and knows first aid, but he said she still almost bled to death before the helicopter arrived.

I remember also, a guide in Florida that I used to fish with told me about a friend of his who was killed by a houndfish (imagine a javelin with fins, if you've never seen a houndfish...it has a long pointed bill, like a spike bayonet). The unfortunate chap was zipping along in his center console, and the houndfish picked that moment to jump out of the water (like the mackerel in the above story). The fish impaled itself in the man's chest.

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