Lightning while fishing?

[walleye365]

last year on a local lake couple of us were doin really good we had caught 10 or so had three in the box wanted that 1 more with the storm on top of ready to let loose any time nice and calm my line started to lift out of the water. we left

[JeffB]

I talked to one guy that go stuck in a hail storm on the lake, now that one wouldn't be fun.

[cbrooks]

After reading this post it didn't occur to me until now that maybe I had a expirence of getting shocked. A buddy of mine was fishing off the back deck of my lund fishermen. he was bare foot and every time he step on one those screws he would get a shock every now and then. Ten minutes latter a thunderstorm came through out of nowhere. Went back out there latter, it wasn't shocking him anymore.Strange.

[mainbutter]

Maybe it's the fact that I have a number of family friends who have gotten killed by lightning.

Maybe it's because I spent summers as a lifeguard.

Maybe it's just common sense.

If you hear thunder or see lightning flashes(ESPECIALLY if you see lightning flashes), get off the water. I have been on the water when storms came rolling in, and have always pulled onto shore.

[ikeslayer]

i haven't read all the posts but does anyone have any stories of fisherman fatalities? or actual lighting striking a fisherman. Lots of close calls here - makes it scary but i have only heard of golfers getting the blast and never a fisherman.

[JeffB]

The NLSI compiled statistics from 1959 to 1994. They discovered that forty percent of the accident locations were unreported. Twenty-seven were in open fields and recreation areas, fourteen percent were under trees, 8 percent were water-related such as boating, fishing, or swimming, 5 percent were golfers.

I think eight percent is enough to get me off the lake during a storm considering how few people are on the lake compared to shore during storms.

[ROOOOSTERFISH]

Lightning-related fatality, There were 3239 deaths since 1959 , and the last I see is 2006 there were 47 lightning fatalities, 9 more than the 2005 total of 38 in the US. Well I obviously do not want to be one of the numbers. What part of open water is not included in open fields or recreation areas?

[Finlander]

One October friday full moon night traveling north on hwy 169 it was lightning to the north. I noticed cloud to ground lightning going on when a little while later a highway patrol came from behind me with the lights on doing mach-5 as he went by me and my Pro-V.

Get to Eddy's to launch my boat and there are sheriffs, highway patrols, reservation police, etc.

Asked what happened and the dood at Eddy's told me someone got zapped and killed right out front while fishing. There were three people in the boat and the guy that got zapped had his pole pointing in the air when it struck. They had to fish him out of the water as he was thrown out of the boat.

When I hear thunder or see lightning, I don't waste a minute, i'm out of there right quick like!

[solbes]

Wow, that's crazy. Further affirms my decision to pull up the trolling motor and zip back to shore as soon as I see lightning or hear thunder.

Better to catch 5000 more fish in a lifetime than 5 more in the next 20 minutes!

[minnesotatuff]

this has happened to me more than enough and im not pushing my luck anymore.

ive had rods making a humming noise and sparking. caught fish shocking me when taking them off the hook, line from a bobber going straight up in the air at the bobber and parrallel to the water surface all the way back to the pole, everybodies hair standing straight out like the cartoons and the fried egg eyes to go along with it...

i had to laugh when i saw this post because its always an adventure eh?

regards,

minnesotatuff

[Raider4ever]

Wow, that's crazy. Further affirms my decision to pull up the trolling motor and zip back to shore as soon as I see lightning or hear thunder.

Better to catch 5000 more fish in a lifetime than 5 more in the next 20 minutes!

Yeah, especially if the "Next 20 minutes" are your "Last 20 minutes"

[metrojoe]

Had a similar situation happen last year. I was fishing with a buddy and our lines began to float up. The rod tips began to crackle. There was a storm in the distance however, directly above us was clear blue. We decided to head for shore and about 10 minutes later 30-40 mph winds, loads of rain, and insane lightning. Glad I tied the boat off closer in on the dock becuase after the rain let up it was sitting on the bottom.

I've had the line float up in the air, but I've never experienced any crackling or vibrating. There was no obvious sign of a storm, but it was cloudy, hot and humid. We pulled up and headed for shore once we realized what was going on.

[The Grebe]

I've never experienced the shocks, or the arced line, my son has, but not me. When the evil looking clouds come, or I hear the rumble of thunder, or see lightning off in the distance, that anchor is up and the boat is kicking up as big a wake as it can, heading for the landing!

Once, years ago, I was sitting on the river bank and there was a small island about a hundred yards out, with a large tree growing on it. One minute I was sitting there fishing, with a storm approaching and the next minute it was like a drone had put a missle right on that tree! "KA-BOOM!!" a big flash that knocked me back and half blinded me for a few seconds! That tree was smoldering and so was the trail that I left getting back up to the truck and the he11 out of there! That was close enough for me, lesson learned...homey don't play dat when the storms come!