It's a fishing tale that packs a wallop boaters and others using Lake Chicot in southeastern Arkansas say they're being smacked around by so-called "flying" fish.

Fifteen-year-old Seth Russell of Crossett remembers little from when one of the Silver Asian carp leaped from the water as he cruised by on a large inner tube towed by a boat with two others.

The fish struck him in the face, knocking him unconscious, covered in fish guts and blood.  The teen has had oral surgery to wire several teeth together and appears to be recovering. However, his mother says he still experiences back pain which doctors attribute to whiplash from the high-speed collision.

Seth is among a growing number of people who have reported being hit and injured by the "flying" Silver Asian carp.

Silver Asian carp were first imported to the United States in the 1970s for a variety of reasons. During flooding in the late 1980s and early 1990s, many of the fish escaped and ended up in the small rivers that flow into the Mississippi River.

The carp then migrated upriver, where officials say they are now threatening to enter Lake Michigan and the other Great Lakes.

     
      (Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)

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