STURGEON STRIKE INJURES WILDWOOD MAN
Contact: Karen Parker, (386) 758-0525

A jumping sturgeon injured a man Sunday night, knocking him off his personal watercraft and into the Suwannee River.

Blake Nicholas Fessenden, 23, Wildwood, was traveling north on the river at approximately 30 miles per hour, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) investigators said.

Just north of the Hart Springs Sand Bar, Fessenden looked back to locate his girlfriend, Danielle Lowell, who was riding on another personal watercraft. A four-foot sturgeon jumped from the water, hitting Fessenden, causing him to fall from his vessel and knocking him unconscious, officials said.

Lowell, who went to Fessenden’s aid, held his head above water. Passengers on another vessel pulled Fessenden from the water and took him to the Hart Springs Boat Ramp.

Fessenden was airlifted to Shands Hospital in Gainesville. He sustained non-life threatening injuries, FWC investigators said.