{"id":933,"date":"2015-06-24T15:18:41","date_gmt":"2015-06-24T19:18:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.greatflorida.com\/blog\/?p=933"},"modified":"2026-04-16T21:31:45","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T01:31:45","slug":"a-few-boaters-have-encountered-sturgeon-collisions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greatflorida.com\/blog\/2015\/a-few-boaters-have-encountered-sturgeon-collisions\/","title":{"rendered":"A few boaters have encountered sturgeon collisions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Florida is considered the, \u201cFishing Capital of the World,\u201d by saltwater and freshwater anglers. \u00a0The <a title=\"Visit Florida\" href=\"http:\/\/www.visitflorida.com\/en-us\/fishing\/why-florida.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Florida Tourism Board <\/a>reports, Florida has 7,700 lakes, 10, 550 miles of rivers and 2,276 miles of tidal shoreline- all teeming with fish.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFishing is a very popular recreational activity in Florida because we have so many accessible places to go, great year- around weather and a huge variety of fish species,\u201d said <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/dustyns\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" =_blank>Dustyn Shroff<\/a>, Vice President of <a title=\"Florida Insurance Agency\" href=\"https:\/\/www.greatflorida.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">GreatFlorida Insurance<\/a>. \u201cYou can make your fishing trip as simple or as elaborate as you want. You can charter a boat for an all- day excursion on\u00a0the ocean or cast from land into a nearby lake.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This year has been an unusual year for boaters and fisherman with some record setting highs and dangerous lows. A few boaters have encountered sturgeon collisions.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>In May on the Santa Fe River, a sturgeon jumped into a boat crashing the windshield. Thankfully the operator only experienced minor injuries.<\/li>\n<li>Another collision on May 31 occurred in the Suwannee River. It involved a four to six foot sturgeon jumping out of the water and into a boat, knocking a teenage girl unconscious. She was released later the same day from the hospital.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u201cBoaters need to be aware that these fish are in the Suwannee and Santa Fe rivers. We want people to enjoy the recreational opportunities in the rivers, but we also want people to realize these fish do jump and can hurt you,\u201d said Major Andy Krause, commander for the <a title=\"FWC\" href=\"http:\/\/myfwc.com\/news\/news-releases\/2015\/june\/02\/sturgeon-strikeii\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC)<\/a> North Central Region in Lake City.<\/p>\n<p>The <a title=\"FWC\" href=\"http:\/\/myfwc.com\/news\/news-releases\/2015\/june\/02\/sturgeon-strikeii\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">FWC<\/a> recommends going slow to reduce the risk on impact and being vigilant. \u00a0All passengers should wear life jackets and stay off the bow of the boat.<a href=\"https:\/\/www.greatflorida.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/11073112.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-951 lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.greatflorida.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/11073112-300x288.jpg\" alt=\"11073112\" width=\"300\" height=\"288\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.greatflorida.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/11073112-300x288.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.greatflorida.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/11073112-150x144.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.greatflorida.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/11073112.jpg 365w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/288;\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.greatflorida.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/11073112-300x288.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.greatflorida.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/11073112-150x144.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.greatflorida.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/11073112.jpg 365w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>According to the FWC, researchers attribute this phenomenon to this year\u2019s \u00a0low water levels. They have discovered sturgeon jump in order to communicate with one another and to fill their swim bladders to maintain natural buoyancy.<\/p>\n<p>This year has not been all bad for fishing enthusiasts. \u00a0It has also started out as a record setting year for fisherman.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A state record was set during a tournament on the Choctawhatchee River when a man caught a 69 pound 8 ounce blue catfish. This is the fourth freshwater record set this year after two shoal bass and a flier according to the <a title=\"FWC\" href=\"http:\/\/myfwc.com\/news\/news-releases\/2015\/june\/04\/blue-catfish-record\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">FWC<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0A black grouper was caught in the Gulf of Mexico at a charity event weighing 124.15 pounds. \u00a0It set a state record and the <a title=\"IGFA\" href=\"http:\/\/wrec.igfa.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">International Game and Fish Association<\/a> will need to verify if it is a new world record.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a title=\"Florida Insurance Agency\" href=\"https:\/\/www.greatflorida.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">GreatFlorida Insurance<\/a> provides<a title=\"Florida boat insurance\" href=\"https:\/\/www.greatflorida.com\/florida-boat-insurance\" target=\"_blank\"> boat insurance<\/a> for all types of vessels from Jet Skis to yachts. We also cover fishing and other recreational equipment on your boat. Contact one of our agents if you are in the market for<a title=\"Florida boat insurance\" href=\"https:\/\/www.greatflorida.com\/florida-boat-insurance\" target=\"_blank\"> boat insurance <\/a>or would just like more information.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Florida is considered the, \u201cFishing Capital of the World,\u201d by saltwater and freshwater anglers. \u00a0The Florida Tourism Board reports, Florida has 7,700 lakes, 10, 550 miles of rivers and 2,276 miles of tidal shoreline- all teeming with fish. \u201cFishing is a very popular recreational activity in Florida because we have so many accessible places to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1219,"featured_media":950,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-933","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boat-insurance"},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greatflorida.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/933","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greatflorida.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greatflorida.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greatflorida.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1219"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greatflorida.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=933"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.greatflorida.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/933\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13947,"href":"https:\/\/www.greatflorida.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/933\/revisions\/13947"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greatflorida.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/950"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greatflorida.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greatflorida.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greatflorida.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}