Lightning Storms

While fishing with my bud Tom Gursky this afternoon, an approaching lightening storm cut our outing short. After driving nearly 70 miles to North Twin Lake, we could hear the thunder rolling on the Northwest end of the lake as soon as we stepped out of the truck

We fished for about 20 minutes around the Flagpole Bar before it became clear that the storm was not going to pass to the North of us. The deciding factor was the buzzing sound that my rod tip made when it was up in the air!!!

Initially I thought that the buzzing was water and wind whistling through the tip of my rod so, out of curiosity, I switched to a dry one that I had not yet cast and heard it again. The higher my rod tip was, the higer the pitch of the buzz. Once I realized that this was not wind, I fired up my 90HP Suzuki and we beat feet to the boat landing. Not long after we had the boat on the trailer, the rain started to fall and the lightning strikes were hitting very close by.

As fishermen, we all know that an approaching storm can really turn the fish on, but how long is too long to linger in front of a storm? For myself, when I have a good read on the path of the storm front, and/or see (as opposed to just hearing) lightening in the distance, I get off the water. After today, I am rethinking that strategy.

After doing a little reading on lightning, the best guess that I have is that the buzz that I was hearing was actually a “coronal discharge” aka “St. Elmo’s Fire” and potentially a precurser to a lightening strike!!! Here is the best article that that I could find that describes it. The article says that “coronal discharge can engulf tall sharp objects, such as powerlines, roof pinnacles, chimneys, and lightning rods” Add 7 foot graphite musky rods to that list!!!

http://www.weather-photography.com/techniques.php?cat=lightning&page=elmosfire

Has anybody else experienced this buzzing noise out on the water or is everybody else smart enough to get off the water before this can happen?

I saw my wife and her sisters standing up on a golf course with a storm coming , I made the rec. that they set their clubs down and lets exit stage left.

Don’t play with that stuff or won’t be around long saw what happens to a strike victum not prttey changed my thinking quick there will be better days

Pete, I had the same thing happen at Leech about 10 years ago, and again at Mille Lacs this year with the same result as what you describe!

I have had this happen quite a few times on Mille Lacs.I believe it is static electricity in the air and will make your graphite rods buzz and even give you small shocks.It will also make your hair stand up and fishing line do funny things.I have seen times where the fish really turn on when this happens but I have found it better to take the warning and get off the water than to stick around and fish.

When your on the water, some thing to think when your debating when its time to go. NASA has a very extreme storm tracking system so the can get people off the launch towers. They recorded a lightning strike that originated some thing like 34 miles away one day.
WarrenMN

Castaway mentioned fishing line will do funny things,he is correct,I have seen mono line start to bow upwards then seconds later all heck broke loose and we were lucky no one was hurt,there was no rain yet,but then lighting started hitting trees on the shore line and it was amazeing to see tree after tree on fire from the lighting strikes,then the rain came down in buckets.

This is all true. My buddies ring was arcing to the metal eyelet on his rod and my mono stayed up in the air after a cast. Needless to say we got out of there but almost too late,

I ALSO CAN SAY SOMETHING TO THIS EFFECT, A FRIEND AND I WERE CASTING THE STUMP FIELD IN LAKE ONALASKA WHEN ONE HECK OF A STORM BLEW IN, WE WENT BACK TO THE LANDING AND RODE IT OUT IN THE CAR, AFTER ABOUT 1/2 HOUR IT CLEARED TO BLUE SKY SO WE RAN THE WATER OUT OF THE BOAT AND WENT BACK AT IT, WE WERE CATCHING FISH (BASS AND N.PIKE) AT LEAST EVERY OTHER CAST, WE NOTICED ANOTHER ONE (STORM) BLOWING IN AND WE COULD STILL SEE THE PREVIOUS ONE SOUTH OF US.

THAN I MADE A CAST WITH MY LITTLE CLEO SPOON AND I GOT A SHOCK OUT OF THE ROD, I DROPPED THE ROD TO THE FLOOR OF THE BOAT AND MY BUDDY ASKED ME WHAT HAPPENED AND I TOLD HIM I GOT A SHOCK OUT OF MY ROD AND HE SAID ” WOW, LOOK AT YOUR LINE RIGHT NOW “, WITH THE ROD LAYING IN THE BOAT AND A SPOON ON THE OTHER END, MY LINE WAS HOVERING OVER THE WATER WITH IT BEING DEAD CALM OUT, WE STARTED TO WORRY, I PICKED UP THE ROD TO REEL IT IN AND RECIEVED SHOCK’S THE WHOLE TIME I WAS REELING AND MY BUDDY WAS STANDING AS FAR AWAY FROM ME AS POSSIABLE IN THE BOAT, WE KICKED A$$ TO THE LANDING AND THAT WAS IT FOR FISHING FOR THAT NIGHT, WOW THAT WAS WIERD.

NEEDLESS TO SAY WE STOPPED AT PUB ON THE WAY HOME AND FIGURED OUT THAT WE HAD A VERY CLOSE CALL.

SCARY

Don’t mess with it!

There was a very good article about this in the walleye insider back in ’98. The article was called: “When walleyes aren’t worth it”.

In that article, they talked of a guy getting struck by lighting. He died, because his foot was on a metal rivet on the floor. He was the conductor. Nobody else in the boat got hurt.

They claimed that specific lighting bolt came from 8 miles away.

It is also stated, as previously posted, that lighting will travel farther to the side, then going straight down.

A storm 8 miles away seems like a safe distance. The guy in the story died from it.

I have no time for lighting……But I have time for my family, as they need me…………Again, walleyes aren’t worth it…….

Well said Gary. That’s exactly what I was thinking about on the way home.

The ride home was pretty interesting as well. As we drove eastward, we managed to stay on the leading edge of the front and passed through some pretty high winds and heavy rain for about 40 miles. Looked like the sky could have spawned a tornado at any time. I felt like we were in the sequal to the movie “Twister”. The only differece was that instead of racing through the storm in a red Dodge Ram, I had a 17′ Crestliner in tow.

When I dropped Tom off at his driveway, I turned on the bilge pump. My house is about 3 miles away from Toms and I pumped water all the way into my driveway!!! Had some funny looks from the cars that were driving behind me.

I’ve had my line buzz and bow once. Fish were biting too. Luckily, we were right across from the landing and got out, the lightning wasn’t far behind.

I don’t like the stuff at all in a conductive boat sitting on water.

I had a friend who was having a smoke in his garage barefoot during a lightning storm. A blue arc went from the garage door motor to his head, knocking him unconscious for a minute or two. If thats what can happen in an enclosure due to a relatively small discharge, imagine a direct full force lightning strike. I love to fish in crappy weather, but I get off the water in a hurry at any little evidence of an electrical storm.

I seen a picture of a guy that was in the desert and a storm way way off in the distance. When this photo was taken it clearly showed a small length of lightening that ran from about his lower left knee to the ground right beside him. They figured this small lighteningbolt came from that storm miles away. I have a step dad who walking a gravel road one night after his car broke down and was walking to the nearest farmhouse to ask for help. He woke up on this gravel road not knowing whathappened to him from a guy shaking him to consciousness. They got to this guys farmhouse and he went to take his leather jacket off and the zipper was welded shut so the guy had to cut it from him. Lightening is very dangerous, it melts sand into crystals on contact.