Seaplane pilot reported clipping a tree while attempting to land in the water.

Narrative:

I was returning to ZZZ from ZZZ1 and encountered a turbulent down rotor on landing approach to a seaplane base. As a result; the aircraft dropped abruptly and struck the top of a lone 120 ft. Tall tree with left wing; about 1/2 way out. There was no loss of control because of the tree strike; and despite damage to left wing; aircraft flew well; to an uneventful water landing. The damage is confined to the leading edge of the wing; invoking dented and torn skin between two ribs (about 2 ft.); and slight damage to the leading edge of both of those ribs. There were no injuries to the persons on board. Winds were 10-15 kts. Coming over a 500 ft. Hill; so no turbulence this strong was expected. A higher gust must have formed between the two adjacent ridges to explain the down draft. I have [numerous] years and 100's of hours flying seaplanes in the [area]; although I have done most of my flying in [state].as seaplane pilots we are taught to come in low over lake shore trees to minimize the distance required for landings; because there are no distance markers on water; and every 50 ft. Of altitude over the trees means up to 1;000 ft. Of lake needed to land. I believe I'll stay a bit higher over the trees in mountainous areas in the future.I apologize if this incident doesn't qualify for a report; but as is usual in seaplane flying; everything seems to be a 'gray area'.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Seaplane pilot reported clipping a tree while attempting to land in the water.

Narrative: I was returning to ZZZ from ZZZ1 and encountered a turbulent down rotor on landing approach to a seaplane base. As a result; the aircraft dropped abruptly and struck the top of a lone 120 ft. tall tree with left wing; about 1/2 way out. There was no loss of control because of the tree strike; and despite damage to left wing; aircraft flew well; to an uneventful water landing. The damage is confined to the leading edge of the wing; invoking dented and torn skin between two ribs (about 2 ft.); and slight damage to the leading edge of both of those ribs. There were no injuries to the persons on board. Winds were 10-15 kts. coming over a 500 ft. hill; so no turbulence this strong was expected. A higher gust must have formed between the two adjacent ridges to explain the down draft. I have [numerous] years and 100's of hours flying seaplanes in the [area]; although I have done most of my flying in [state].As seaplane pilots we are taught to come in low over lake shore trees to minimize the distance required for landings; because there are no distance markers on water; and every 50 ft. of altitude over the trees means up to 1;000 ft. of lake needed to land. I believe I'll stay a bit higher over the trees in mountainous areas in the future.I apologize if this incident doesn't qualify for a report; but as is usual in seaplane flying; everything seems to be a 'gray area'.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	1671702
Time
Date	201907
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Seaplane or Amphibian
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Landing
Route In Use	Visual Approach
Flight Plan	None
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying Captain Single Pilot
Qualification	Flight Crew Sea Flight Crew Multiengine Flight Crew Instrument
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 16 Flight Crew Total 4052 Flight Crew Type 3834
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe Inflight Event / Encounter Loss Of Aircraft Control Inflight Event / Encounter Object