Lightning Strikes while fishing question.

[Whitewolf]

I have always been told that when a storm comes in "with lightning" to get off the water asap. Yet I have never seen lightning strike the water in a lake. I know a couple of people were killed up here 2-3 years ago. Sadly young men fishing a lake. They ran and stood under a tree.....and guess what the lightning struck....THE TREE. (I realize some of that advice is aimed at the whitecaps that can swamp a boat, especially a low flying jon boat, and to get off the water quick. My bigger fiberglass boat isn't going to have that much trouble with the whitecaps I don't think)

I have never heard of a lightning striking a fishing boat on the water. Not sure what causes lightning to pick a target and short to mother earth. Water is a conductor....but lightning doesn't seem to just short to all the plentiful water in a lake.

I know lightning strkes commercial airplanes all the time and they are built to withstand it. That is one phenomena I don't really understand as lightning is generally electric charge looking for a path to mother earth.....ie ground.

So my question is this. I would think it would be dangerous to be fishing with a graphite fly rod in an aluminum boat on the water during the lightning phase of a storm.

Would it be dangerous.....or providing a path....since lightning doesn't seem to short to the water in a lake......would fishing with a "fiberglass fly rod" from a "fiberglass boat" be dangerous....or much safer? I don't see that as providing a path for an atmosphere discharge to tierra firma.

Any opinions would be greatly appreciated. Sometimes a storm comes up here when you are on the water....and it will soon pass and then be a great time to commence fishing again. Just anchoring and waiting out the storm....or even fishing during said storm....is that foolish?

[branhap]

one of the best conductors out there for lightning strikes is graphite. There are mutliple stories of graphite rods buzzing with electricity during or right before a thunderstorm. My wife is a meteorologist for the NWS and this is probably the biggest thing she cautions me on when I go fishing, whether it be in my boat, or along the river. Electricity will take the quickest path between the ground and sky.

Just always better to be safe than sorry. When thunder roars, goto shore...

Paul

[Ray Kunz]

You should remember that while you and your plastic boat are nonconductors your damp clothing, wet boat, moist graphite rod or even moist skin may provide a conductive path.

[DG]

You have to ask yourself, "Is it worth dying to test this hypothesis?" My answer to that would be a resounding "No".

http://www.texashuntfish.com/app/for...a-fishing-boat

Besides, it doesn't have to hit YOU to cause injury. We have an employee who was sitting in a vehicle during a lightning storm last year when a strike hit a tree about 50' away. She is still suffering from that.

[chewydog]

I wouldn't want to holding the end of this rod when this happened.

[dudley]

When lightning gets close enough to the ground, it's not looking for an insignificant wisp of graphite to hit.
That said, I have spent a thunderstorm or two curled up under my overturned beached canoe

[Kerry Stratton]

I would think it really doesn't matter that much what you are or are not holding during a thunder storm. Seems to me it would be simple common sense to get to the safest location you can whether your are fishing, taking pictures, or just out for a walk.

[sagefisher]

flyfisher7 is right, lightning will strike anything, mainly aiming for the highest point but on flat land, it doesn't matter, it will strike where it wants to. Any rod will attract lightning, if it wants to hit it, fiberglass, bamboo (think tree, bamboo is a grass which grows like a tree and lightning hits tress). When we are out on a river and a lightning storm hits us, we beach the boat, place the rods on the ground and get under cover as best we can. If I am out on a lake, I get off as fast as possible, again, I beach the boat, lay the rods down on the ground (don't lean them upright against a tree) and seak cover. Luckily most storms blow over quickly and we can get back to fishing after a brief period of time. They say lightning can travel 10 miles from where it is created before it hits the ground, just a thought.

Larry ---sagefisher---

[DeadDrifting]

I guide on a large lake in the Rockies. I HAVE seen lightning strike fiberglass boats on the lake on two different ocassions. Not a pretty sight. A couple people survived, though miserably burned and chopped up with burning fiberglass. The others didn't make it. Get off the water in any craft.

[John_N]

There's one part of this subject about which I think most people are clueless, and that's how soon you're actually at risk of being struck. The simple rule to remember is, if you're close enough to hear the thunder, you're close enough to be struck by lightning. As the gentlemen's wife who's the meteorologist can attest, lightning can travel laterally (sideways) up to 10 miles. Contrary to popular belief, you don't have to be "under" the storm cloud to be struck and there's no such thing as a safe # of seconds between sight of the lightning and the sound of the corresponding thunder. People can and do get struck under sunny skies, both ahead of and behind the storm. So the common practice of hearing thunder but thinking you still have a while before you're in danger is a fallacy. If you hear it, you are at risk, period.