What started out as an ordinary training session for a university rowing team in the US turned out to be anything but when fish started flying out of the water – straight at them.

The Washington University team was paddling down a lake in Missouri on Friday morning when they found themselves suddenly under attack.

Video captured by a CNN reporter, who just happened to be watching the practice session, shows the moment the large school of Asian carp suddenly started leaping out of the water all around the boat.

Some of the fish leaped over the boat while others even landed in it.

"The fish was flopping on my legs. It was so slippery that I couldn't get a grip on it," team member Devin Patel said.

Patel said he screamed at his teammate Yoni David, "Yoni, get it off me!"

No rowers were injured during the extraordinary incident but the boat was reported to have smelled very fishy afterwards.