A FISHERMAN is recovering after being impaled on the bill of a 14ft blue marlin that leapt over his boat during an international angling tournament off Bermuda.

The 800lb (360kg) fish hit Ian Card with such force that its 3ft spear went through his chest just below his collarbone and knocked him into the sea.

As the fish dived, forcing Mr Card under water, he was able to push himself off the razor-sharp bill and swim to the surface.

His father Alan, 58, the skipper of the commercial angling boat Challenger, said: “The fish was airborne going across the full width of the boat and my son was standing about 8ft from the stern.

“It impaled him with its bill. In one motion, the fish flew across the cockpit and took him out of the boat. He landed about 15ft away. He was under water and had his arms wrapped round the fish as it was pushing him under.

“I lost sight of him for a few seconds. As a father looking at a son who has just been impaled, that is a sight I will never forget.” Mr Card, 32, surfaced 50ft behind the boat with blood pouring from a “fist-sized” wound in his chest. Dennis Benevides, a family friend who was on the boat, called the emergency services and stuffed a towel into the wound to stem the flow of blood.

Mr Card was operated on at the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital in Bermuda, where doctors said he would have died had the bill struck him a few centimetres on either side.

The Cards had been taking part in the Sea Horse Anglers’ Club Bill Fish Tournament and were in calm waters about 15 miles south of Bermuda. Leslie Spanswick, strapped into a fishing chair at the stern of the boat, hooked the fish at 11am on Saturday.

A 14ft fish would normally take up to two hours to reel in, but this marlin leapt over the boat after just ten minutes, while it was still strong.

After it impaled Mr Card, the line was cut, allowing the fish to escape.

The surgeon who treated Mr Card, Christian Wilmsmeier, arrived on the island from Germany only three weeks earlier. He said: “My home town is far away from the sea and normally I do not operate on such injuries. I was impressed by the dangerousness of such a fish.”

Dan Jacobs, the organiser of the tournament, said: “People have been hurt dealing with marlin, but it is very unusual for a fish to leap completely out of the water from behind the boat and come right across it. Ian is very lucky to be alive.”

The Cards are among the most experienced marlin fishermen in the world.

They were the first to hook a marlin weighing more than 1,000lb in Bermudian waters. Alan Card has hooked six of the ten largest blue marlin caught off the island.

The blue marlin, Makaira nigricans, is a huge commercial game fish that can weigh up to 1,800lb and grow to a length of 16ft (5m).

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