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?
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…
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.
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.
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 :sad:
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.
Err on the side of caution. Lightning means get INSIDE. A single tree may be the worst possible escape & as already mentioned, let go of the graphite rod.
I think God’s fireworks are beautiful to watch…from indoors.
Mike
The material your rod or boat is made of is unimportant. Lightning will strike the highest point in the area. If you are in a boat on a lake, that would be you. An acquaintance of mine was killed by lightning some years ago, while wading a pond during a thunderstorm. FWIW, he was using a bamboo rod.
I do lots of 5 to 7 mile river floats in my canoe and when a storm comes up there is usually no safe place to be found. Several times I have seen trees and limbs fall from the high winds one of which was less than 100 yards from a pal. I usually find a shallow spot near the center of the river where I can lodge my boat in some rocks, put my rod and paddle down and wait it out. Yes, it is nerve racking but I figure it is better than getting crushed by a tree or limb. Never seem to have a cave or bridge handy to hide under.
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.
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.
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.
Several years ago, I was witness to and participated in an attempted rescue of a teen age boy who was out on Georgian Bay in a canoe (aluminum) when a thunderstorm came up. We watched as he was trying to make back to his dads boat, a cruiser not far off. The boy was paddling towards the cruiser when a bolt of lightning came down and struck him. It was as shocking as watching the second plane fly into the twin towers. Unfortunately, after dramatic attempts to save him, he died. Another young boy tried to ride a bad storm out here, not 50 yards from my house. ( A boy scout) He took cover under a lone pine tree in the school yard. The tree was struck and that boy died. I also know several people who have been struck by lighting and lived. My sister is one. She was sitting in the house watching TV, near a window. She was deaf for several minutes and lost the feeling in her left side for a couple of hours but was fine after a few hours. My uncle was stuck while sitting on the porch of his cottage. He felt odd and just wanted a drink after. No worse for wear…but he had a burn hole in his shoe and sock. A friend of mine was stuck while camping with a group of Girl Scouts. She lived but she was never the same after that. It effected her both physically and mentally, permanently. My mother was nearly struck on the golf course three years ago. She felt the hair go up on her, threw her club and hit the dirt. She to lost her hearing for a couple of minutes. Nothing worse than a new respect for Thunder storms. The closest I got was while filling my car with gas…I felt the hair go up on my arms and neck, I dropped the gas nozzle then a bolt came down and hit the light pole 20 feet away. I nearly loaded my drawers. It’s not the first time nor the last when I was really SCARED by lightening.
I leave the water when I hear thunder and take cover. Standing out there with a graphite rod is just asking for it. If I am in my float tube or canoe I also leave the water, put my rod flat on the ground and take cover. Finding safe cover has been a problem at times…and sometimes you just have to ride it out and hope for the best. I try to find thick bush inland several yards from the water, with a low lying depression, crouch down and hope it passes quickly. If I have a chance to make it to the car…that’s where I go. Call me scared. I won’t sit out there in a boat or wading while there’s lighting…period.
Great picture Steve. I’ll have to remember to save that in case I need to illustrate the point in the future. I’ll never forget a video feature I saw many years back on one of the network news magazines (20/20, Dateline, or something similar). Nothing like what Mato experienced personally of course and it wasn’t really describing anything I hadn’t learned before, but it was trying to draw attention to some of these same, little known facts. As part of the report, some home video was shown of a game between a couple of girls’ softball teams, with the girls being about 10 years old as I recall. It was your basic bright, sunny summer day and a scene that no doubt repeats itself countless times all around the country. At some point in the video, you could make out the sound of distant thunder. No big deal, sun keeps shining, chatter of parents in the stands and kids on the field continues. And then WHAM, the proverbial blinding light, followed by chaos. Although they didn’t show it, the girl who had been at the center of the scene was apparently felled and although she survived, she was hardly recognizable and her parents lamented that she was effectively gone, as she was left with no mobility, unable to speak or interact with her family apparently and unable to feed herself or attend to other basic needs.
There were many times over the years when I wished that broadcast was available to show athletic directors, coaches or others as I watched kids and fans either left on the field too long or returned too soon. Like everybody is saying, the fish will be there later. Make sure you are too.
That is a great picture. I have been shocked twice, and my wife once while with me. I was also a storm spotter for five years and we were trained in lighting safety every year, along with our usual updates on cloud ids and such. The lightning is not hittng the fiberglas boat. It is going through the boat to hit the charge in the water under it. Kind of like an AP round hitting a target on the far side of a wall. I used to build airplanes for Boeing and Cessna. The internal structure is such that the strike is conducted through the airframe harmlessly. These are unpainted and untreated areas that are sandwiched together to proved a conductive path, and are actually called "lightning strikes’'.
I think the answer is yes, but to protect the occupants, they would have to be completely enclosed. As long as a person can be part of the conductive line they are in danger.
I attended a seminar during a conference for arson investigators several years ago. The head of the electrical engineering department for the local university gave a good explanation of the why’s of lightning. He explained the lightning charge is searching for an opposite charge on the ground, or water, because they are well irrigated and fertilized with chemical fertilizers, golf course have a lot of electrical potential. Herefore, they are frequently struck by lightning. I would think that salt water would have a higher electrical potential than fresh and the cleaner the water the lower the potential. Water that grows healthy fish is not going to be pure and will vary in potential depending upon what the dissolved solids in the water are.
As I have explained before, I have a severe allergy to lightning and try to find a safe place (my pickup) as soon as possible after hearing thunder, which is caused by lightning.
I’m convinced. What strikes me…is the point that the voltage, or potential will go off to the highest point in the area. And on a lake that be you.
So…I also have heard of dry lightning. In other words not even any clouds or moisture…but still the potential charge builds up and strikes. Knowing this it is pretty clear one should get off the water as soon as they see lightning anywhere. Get off asap. Now I know that.
Not trying to be a twit…but another curious question. I reckon no one is going to do this. Especially when inside the vehicle they have the enclosed affect of protection. Forget what it was called. Anywhoooo…would one be safer UNDER the vehicle?
If lightning does strike your car while you are IN it what happens? If lightning strikes you car while you are UNDER it what happens. Hmmmm
I think that would ge pretty disastrous. If nothing else you would no longer have hearing.
I am grateful for those of you that took the time to post information. I was indeed planning on staying out in my fiberglass boat with a fiberglass rod and frishing during a storm. From what I have learned from this thread…NOT. "twas a stupid idea. I am now aware of the realism of it all.
Thanks loads everybody. Excellent information for me anyway. I needed that!
