Ever Been Hit by a Flying Fish?

[Cheechako]

That's funny.... it did seem like he was showing off and then got embarrased....

[Robertcateran]

While poling tuna about 200nm out of Sydney, we ran into rainbows of flying squid being chased by albacore.. We got peppered by them and some even hit the skipper standing about 3m above the water,

[gosstyla]

On passage from southern Chile to Panama canal it became a standard morning duty to police the deck and clean off the dead flying fish and squid. I expect every night watch crew member got hit at least once.

[NoTies]

Originally Posted by Hud3

It scares the $#&! out of you, 'cause you're kind of in a zen state, grooving with the boat and the ocean, feeling the rythm of the swells and the pull of the wind. And then, WHAM! Followed by, flapflapflapflapflap all around your feet. The adreneline gets pumping!

How do you think the fish feels? Grooving along and whack, splat.

[NoTies]

Originally Posted by Cheechako

Had a couple of Boobies sailing with the boat one night for an extended period of time.

I always try to keep a couple of boobies on the boat at all times. Something to cuddle up to.

[scook1]

I had some friends who made it a habit to launch dead fish with an industrial sized slingshot. They never aimed at boats, at least not at sailboats anyway...

[seacap]

Was in the head doin my thang when a FF sailed thru the open port and whacked me....peed all over myself!

[Ocean Girl]

Around 3 am in the atlantic, I was on watch. I heard a thump thump thump coming from the bow getting closer and closer, I turned to see what it was just in time for the flying fish to smack me on the forehead and bounce back in the water.

Here is mr chirps. Or at least I'll try to add the pic, we get a lot of free loaders in the Gulf of Mexico coming from Mexico north to the states,
Mr Chirps visiting Tigger in the middle of the Gulf Of Mexico
Ate some bugs.......$free
drank some water....$free
took a nap.............$free
shelter 500 miles from land...priceless

[tackdriver]

This reminds me of a story from a hunting forum I participate on. A guy was spotlighting for foxes, sitting in the dark and whistling, and then occasionally flicking on the light. He flicks on the light and suddenly he is grabbed hard on the top of the head. In his own words he "screamed like a girl and threw the rifle on the ground". An owl had decided the top of his head looked like a furry animal!
You can imagine how freaked out you'd be if that happened.
cheers
James

[Ocean Girl]

Tackdriver
Thats a hoot!
Sorry couldn't help meself

[mesquaukee]

During an overnight sail my wife and I were talking in the cockpit. My wife was doing most of that when she started making a gargling sound. I thought she was choking on her words. She eventually spat out a flying fish.
Needless to say the rest of the night was very quiet.
Her breath smelled of fish for several days.

[George Wade]

Originally Posted by stevensc

Look on the bright side, Free Bait or, any body tried flying fish sashimi?
Steve

Both ! Sometimes literally. When there are only three or four fish you fillet them first for their sashimi: then lash the remains onto a hook as bait.

[George Wade]

I did once have a flying fish get entranced by the light in the galley: come through the open port light and bounce off the bulkhead down into the frying pan. You will know that this story is true because the pan was not already full of hot oil...;~)

[Reality Check]

A little over a week ago while anchored off Tortola a fish about 2 foot long took a long jump, hit my inflatable dinghy bounced off it and shot through the sugar scoop opening in the aft, hit the helm and went across my lap in the cockpit while I was on the phone. Damn thing almost went down the companion way!

I saw what was occurring but could not believe the odd chain of events as they were taking place. Fish appeared a bit stunned initially and we just looked at each other with similar expressions I suppose. Taking one of the snorkeling fins in the cockpit, I pushed it back into the water and it quickly swam away.

A guy on an adjacent boat (who was anchored too damn close) almost fell off his boat laughing at the whole event.

While at anchor and generally sleeping I've often had fish "torpedo" the sides at night. Guess they were chasing or being chased by something bigger.

I frequently find a wide variety of fish in the dink or in the cockpit and a few times on the deck. I have seen seabirds drop fish on adjacent boats when flying over them.

I try to use as many as possible as bate but have little luck with them.

[keelbolts]

I woke up with one in my bunk. I guess it hit the hatch over my bunk & dropped in. Is that what they mean by sleepin' with the fishes?