[fish_on]

My wife wanted to go fishing today for her birthday so of course I took here. We were in the Columbia by St. Helens there was a lot of thunder and we weren’t feeling all that comfortable when we started hearing this buzzing noise. I looked around to see if there were any other boats..none..then I stood up. The noise was coming from my VHF antenna, I turned the radio off and the noise was still there, I hurried and dropped the antenna down and put the tip in the water figuring that the noise could have been electricity in the air gathering around my boat. We decided to get the heck out of there and when we grabbed our rods we were both shocked real hard. The hair was standing up on our necks and arms, and the dog was real quiet. We got the anchor pulled and off the river ok but that was quite an uncomfortable experience. Have you ever had anything like that happen or heard your antenna buzz with static electricity?

 

[Mojo]

That's the indication that you should have run for the boat launch 1/2 hour ago. Thank God you weren't hurt. It was really a close one.

I guess the crucial question is...Did you catch anything?

[ 08-05-2003, 03:29 PM: Message edited by: Mojo ]

 

[Ray S.]

Ok, but did you get bit????
Next time I hope.
Ray

 

[Hottamale1]

Fish_on

As a kid, our family went to Lake Powell to Water ski and a BIG electrical storm blew in.

We were on the water when lightning was hitting on the horizon...Next thing you know, ALL of our hair was standing straight up, like it would if you had static electricity....Unreal.

In Arizona, eletrical storms are much more frequent than they are here....Best to leave the water...especially in an aluminum boat.

Scott

 

[Hooker]

I took flight training and we often encountered this same issue when we flew in the clouds, especially near T-storms. The rain/moisture would cause static as it blew across the skin of the aircraft. We could actually hear the static through our VHF radio. This really wasn't a big issue though because we had static discharges on the outside of the aircraft.

It sounds like there was a lot of static on your boat! I'm not too sure if it had anything to do with the lightning storms in the area though. With the right conditions, just walking around in the boat on the carpets may generate enough static electricity to conduct when you touched the graphite rods. This is my best guess. How big was the shock?

:shrug: How was the fishing?

It sounds like

 

[fish_on]

We didn't stay long enough to see if the fishing was going to be good, the tide had just started to run when we high tailed it out. Hooker, we don't have any carpet in the boat, good thought.

 

[Hanapa'a Time]

Oooo Yeah, been there done that

Never to repeat, if I can help it.
Wickiup four years ago in May in my sled (aluminum of course). Could see the storm moving in and kinda wondered why some of the people were leaving the water, duh!!
Before we knew it the thunder was close and the air had that strong ozone smell. I was holding my rod and got bit from the reel seat, enough that I dropped it like a "hot potato". By then I realized that my hair was standing up and I better just sit down and keep my hands to myself (away from any metal or wet objects). My buddy thought my zapping was funny and isolated till he went to pick up his rod and received the same electro-shock treatment. All was not funny anymore and he followed suit in sitting and being a "good boy".
The buzzing around the boat reminded me of 115kV transmission power lines. :shocked:
Not a good thing, a very lucky/learning experience. :blush:
Glad you were as fortunate as we were.

Kurt

 

[The Overfishin Condition]

Sounds like you almost had enough tall things to generate a St. Elmo's Fire? Any green glow coming off antenna or rods? TOC.

 

[3022]

Once when bass fishing on Dorena with my ex and his brother we were feeling the same things. Hair standing up etc. T-storm coming over the hills out of the valley. I threw a cast and the line hovered about 6' off the water AFTER the lure hit the water. That was enough for us,... We were on the trailer shortly thereafter.
Glad you got off the water safe and sound.
Jamie

 

[Dr Strangelove]

Trout fishing Panguitch Lake Utah, 1985. Lightning storm rolls in, and I watch a cow take a bolt; turned it into a smoldering hollering dying BBQ less than 200yds away. Wanted to get the heck off the lake before same happened to me. Minor shock picking up the rod to reel in. Would've jumped overboard if my hair stood on end. Got stuck in thick grass with an 8 horse motoring in. Almost needed a shorts change. Finally made it back to dock and the sun broke. Gotta love days like these.

[ 08-06-2003, 01:17 AM: Message edited by: Dr Strangelove ]

 

[TideRipper]

I'm from Minnesota and have seen a lot of big thunderstorms but never had that happen to me until...

One day my brother and I were walking along this marsh and saw a storm approaching from the west. The sky was real dark and you could see a lot of lightning in it, but the thunder sounded far off so we just kept on walking. I was counting the seconds between the lightning flashes and the thunder and at first it was about 25 seconds away from us (5 miles). Pretty soon though, the count was down to 5 seconds (1 mile) and the thunder was becoming louder and much more distinct.

We began walking back up to the truck when there was a bright one right behind us and I think I got to about 1 second and then "Bang" the thunder cracked and we started running for the truck.

Thats about when all hell, or should I say heaven, broke loose. Lightning started flying all around us, above us, and in front of us. Just before a bolt would hit there was this crackling sound of static and then "Bang" a bolt would hit. There was no counting between the flash and the thunder. It was instantaneous. Several times the static built up around us as we ran and sometimes we dove to the ground out of fear that one was about to hit us. One bolt hit a dead tree and it exploded right in front of us.
I thought for sure that God was trying to kill us.

Finally, we made it back to the truck but it was all over. The storm disappeared as quickley as it had come upon us, and the sun even started to shine, but we were too paranoid to even go back down there. We just sat in the truck for a while.

 

[KingFisher85]

Dang :shocked:

 

[Sore Back]

That never has happened to me. It's always a good idea to find about the possibility of thunder bumpers and if forcasted, stay off the water.

Glad you survived.

 

[jokester]

I'm glad you guys all experienced this and not me :shocked: Fish_on, glad you made it back in safely!

 

[danger]

My dad and I had a similar exp in Sandy OR... we were crow hunting in a blueberry field when a storm rolled in. There was lightning in the distance so we hung out and then like a flash the storm was right over us and we were getting a little anxious. Suddenly we felt our hair stand up and the fence wires started to sing. Like a crystal wine glass, just a high pitched hum...we bolted (ha ha) and made it to the truck.

PS This is a serious topic but that BBQ cow is pretty dang funny. The line over the water would have freaked me out.

Dan(ger)

 

[Beerbelly]

I had it happen to me the same way on Silver lake every thing I put my hands on I got zaped I got back to the boathouse and in the house before the storme hit I was luckey because ligthting hit all over the lake. :shocked: :shocked:

 

[HOGTIDE]

Don't they say (Discovery Channel of course...) that lightening actually initiates at the ground and bolts up into the sky. The bolt striking downward is just an optical illusion/assumption. I wonder if the static energy was building up right where you were??? Glad you got off the water safely.

We had a similar situation later that day in a nearby spot.....but, baby the rods were going down! We had hooked our 11th fish when I made the call to "Pull in , we are headin' for the ramp NOW!" The steelhead seemed to like the storm...In my experienc a changing front usually puts them off the bite. But not tuesday.