Tackled--for No Gain : Court Rules Against Fisherman Hurt by Hook

If you go fishing, beware of flying hooks and sinkers.

The 4th District Court of Appeal has ruled that a fisherman should have known what he was getting into on a recent fishing trip, when a flyaway hook struck him in the eye, partially blinding him.

Sailing hooks and sinkers are inherent risks in fishing, the court ruled in a decision published Wednesday.

The three-judge panel upheld an Orange County Superior Court judge’s earlier ruling throwing out the man’s lawsuit.

The Orange County man, Joseph Patrick Mosca, was among 24 sports fishermen who boarded a boat owned by Newport Landing Sportfishing for a trip near San Clemente Island in 1992.

A fisherman standing next to Mosca got his line entangled in kelp. When a deckhand attempted to free the line, it jerked backward over the rail, striking Mosca in the eye and causing partial vision loss.

Mosca filed suit and even hired a fishing expert who declared in court papers that the deckhand could have minimized injury by pulling the line “at a low angle” not “in a higher, upward direction.”

Judge Dennis S. Choate dismissed the suit before it went to trial, ruling that the danger of injury from a flying sinker is an inherent risk in sportfishing.

“A participant who worries whether he is hooked on a fish or kelp, and what method should be used to deal with the line in either instance, will not be an effective fisherman,” wrote Justice Edward Wallin.

Stephen D. Roberson, a lawyer for Mosca, said he plans to appeal the panel’s decision to the California Supreme Court.

“I don’t think when people go fishing they expect to get a sinker in the eye,” Roberson said.

Russell P. Brown, a San Diego attorney who represented Newport Landing, was successful Wednesday in his request to have the justices publish the opinion, so it can be cited as law in similar cases across the state.

“The ruling is clear,” Brown said. “If you want to have the adventure, you got to take the risks.”