What would you do?!

I remember fishing a walleye tournament on Mille Lacs in the early 90’s. We were fishing the mud with one other boat. The fishermen in that boat were legendary walleye anglers. I turned and saw lightning hit close to the big fish at Garrison. The winds picked up to 40mph with about 4-5ft waves in a matter of minutes. My partner and I made it to a harbor where we layed down in our boat while lightning was hitting trees 50-100ft away. I was terrified. The pro’s told me later, their rods were buzzing and their reels were crackling in their hands. The pro’s stayed out in it.

Question: If you were his co-angler, and he did not wish to seek shelter, what would you do?

I still think it wasn’t a smart move to stay out in those conditions.

Run or swim in this case. Not worth losing your life over a fish. Ok maybe a 30+ inch eye but that is it.

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Question: If you were his co-angler, and he did not wish to seek shelter, what would you do?

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Easy answer: Make sure he has on a good PFD and leave him.

The Pro is in charge.

No, I’m not kidding.

I’d kick his That’s just plain stupid. If you can see the lightning, it can kill you. My Dad used to say “You get to go fishing a lot of times, you only die once”

Rootski

I know Redneck and I fished through a storm during a tourney on pool4 that had most others seeking shelter. A little nerve racking yes but the odds of winning a tourney are better than the odds of being struck by lightning

I had a friend that was hit by lightning while fishing in a tournament a couple years ago. My partner and I had went to the tournament trailer to wait the storm out. My buddy that got hit was reeling in a rod that was in the rod holder and the the charge came up the leadcore line and knocked him to the front of the boat. Other that some numbness in his arm and having the hair burnt off his arms he was ok. I guarentee you he will head for cover at the first sign of lightning and so will I. There is no fish or amount of money worth risking your life.

Oh, and by the way…. My partner spent well over an hour waiting for the storm to pass and went back out and finished the day and won the tournament that day. There were guys that stuck it out and didn’t catch any fish while the storm was so bad.

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I’d kick his That’s just plain stupid. If you can see the lightning, it can kill you. My Dad used to say “You get to go fishing a lot of times, you only die once”

Rootski

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I agree 100%!

I remember the day you are talking about Jesse. You commented that the sky was getting dark and then that it had a strange green color—-I think my response was that there were no fish up there and to look down and you wouldn’t notice. That was a miserable day and my only excuse for my stupidity was that we were in the Back Channel surrounded by many tall trees. And for the record—yes I did take out a prop that day

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I agree 100%!

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Yea, you have to agree with your Dad. It’s the law or something

I’m a pretty stubborn guy, so it depends on how good the bite is I guess.

All joking aside, when the rods start to sing and the line starts to float off the water, I’ll normally seek shelter for a little while until things clear up.

Justin? Would you list me as beneficiary on your insurance policies please?

Pro or not, we start getting that rod singing and line floating and we’re off the water, pro don’t want to go he better not turn his back on me.

No tournament is worth dieing over and only the stupid stay out.

What tourney is worth your life? None? I think it’s pretty stupid to stay out. The Tourney folks should have it in the rules that you come off the water in those conditions.

I would worry that a lightning strike would take out my electronics in the boat. Got caught 10 miles from camp up in Canada once…once…now we watch it pretty close. When it goes from glass to the perfect storm kind of waves in a few minuites, you kind of take notice. Standing in pea sized hail in flipflops with the deck drains looking like small whirlpools and the bulge pump running hard is not fun !

If your really trying to to commit suicide by lightning strike, get the hell off the water and onto the golf course!
A bag full of golf clubs strapped to your back will really help up the odds.

Graphite rods an aluminum boats are a pretty good 2nd choice though.

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Question: If you were his co-angler, and he did not wish to seek shelter, what would you do?

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I would hire a dam good lawyer. Because he would have a heck of a welt on his head or been dead. I’m sure many of us have experiences that dang near made us crap our pants. I’m lucky to be alive and plan on remaining in this condition for a long time. Lightning is nothing to screw around with, and I don’t take chances with things that I can not control.

I’m off the water even if its lightning a couple miles away on a river. Got a story for you,,,My stepdad when he was in his 30’s broke down and pulled his car over on a gravel road. It was along walk to the nearest house and during that time a storm blew in and he had already been hit by lightning once before so he started to jog twards the house being he knew what lightning could do. It went from bad to worse in a hurry and it started raining and hailing. He was only a couple blocks from the house and he could see the lights on and thats all she wrote.

He woke up in the farmers house on thier couch and asked what happened. The farmer and his wife didn’t know and said they found him laying along side the road so they put him in thier car and brought him in and were hopeing he’d come around, he was still breathing. He cleared his head and sat up and tried to take his leather jacket off and couldn’t. What had happened is lightning hit him and welded his zipper on his jacket shut all the way the whole length of it. They got a pair of sizzors and cut next to the zippers teeth so his coat wouldn’t be damaged and after a few minutes the farmer gave him a ride to his car and it started and he went home. Hows that for a close call and my stepdad still thinks he’s a natural conductor with better odds then most of getting hit. We’ve all seen those big cottonwood trees with bark off all the way from the top limbs to the ground 2 feet wide, Imiagine what that strike would have done to a guy out on the water. I don’t mess with lightning.

Risk vs. Reward. I would guess more are killed in tourneys be waves than lightening… and I know alot of people who need a BIGGER boat, to stay out in the 4 foot swells…. I’d take the lightening over the 5 footers any day…. but I will say me and my brother were out one day… could be the day your talking about… time frame is right, and the rods strated humming… soon the sound of the motor followed that sound