Here on the South China Sea we have skippers. These are fish that come out of the water and skip across the surface just like kids skipping stones. I have seen half a dozen species do this, each with their own style of skipping.

I discovered my favorite this morning when I was paddling in four to five foot swell. Two of them came out of the water in front of my bow so close I thought they were going to hit it. They were about ten inches long, very sleek and had very faint blue and gold longitudinal stripes.

These were the fastest I have seen and their first jump was about ten feet then a skip of twenty feet seemingly timed to coincide with the top of an incoming swell. They used the height gained from the swell to fly sixty feet to another skip of twenty feet. The show ended as they plunged into the face of the next incoming swell. Spectacular! Land lubbers never get to see this stuff.

Anyway, although I see skippers all around me at least half of them start right in front of me, which leads me to believe that I have surprised them due to the quietness of the kayak. This has gotten me to thinking of the Asian carp invasion in the Mississippi River drainage basin and how when they are frightened the carp jump high out of the water.

So here is a question. Have any of you mid-western paddlers had experiences of scaring up carp while paddling?