Bad Experiences with Lightning

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Blunderer

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I got caught in a huge thunderstorm at 2am the other week and had to abandon a hectic barbel session for the car.

It got me worrying about the dangers of fishing in lightning. Carbon Rod, metal brollie etc.

Have you ever known anyone get struck or do you feel you have come close?
 
Graham Whatmore

Graham Whatmore

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There is only one action to take when lightning is about and that is to stop fishing, this also entails moving away from the rod or rods.

The chances are you won't get struck and I have never heard of anyone being struck but it just isn't worth the risk. Most storms are past in a few minutes anyway so its not as if you have to pack up for the day.

Ask yourself the question - "would I fish under electric power lines?" I'll say no more.
 
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Ron 'The Hat' Clay (ACA-Life Member)

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Talk to me about it mate.

I've had several narrow escapes from lightening in my life. The worst was when a bolt came through my roof making the most incredible little round hole, and then rattled around my lounge, missing me by a foot or so, and them slammed into the TV set - stuffing it.

I was out in a boat one day on a rather large piece of water. The bass were hitting a treat and we failed to notice a big black cumulu-nimbis cloud overhead. I was holding 6 foot of carbon fibre in my hand and all of a sudden the air around me started to crackle - I kid you not.

I dropped the rod, my mate got the outboard started and we high tailed it off that lake like jackrabbits. I couple of minutes later the heavens opened and the spot we had left looked like the bowels of hell.

I reckon we came close to tickets that day.

The safest place to be during a violent electric storm in in your car!!
 
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chris 2

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It was a bit scary on the upper Trent yesterday.Reeled in layed my rods down flat,sat under a tree for two hours.
 
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Ron 'The Hat' Clay (ACA-Life Member)

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Sorry to say this but never never never sit under a tree during a thunder storm.

If a bolt of lightning hits the tree, you are gone.
 
B

Bully

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Yup - I'd go with Ron. I studied weather at uni and I can promise you that you are better sitting in an open field.......steer well clear of trees.
 
S

Steve King

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Sounds like a close call you had Ron! I never had anything as close or as scary, but in my teens I was fishing at Gunton Park Lake in Norfolk when a tree on the other side of the lake was struck by lightning and that was nearly a brown trouser experience!
 
W

Woodys angle

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Here's a few interesting facts gathered for National Geographic Magazine in USA -

Chances of dying by:
Suicide 1 in 119
Firearm assault 1 in 314
Drowning 1 in 1,008
Bicycling accident 1 in 4,919
Accidental electrocution 1 in 9,968
Hornet, wasp or bee sting 1 in 56,789
Lightening 1 in 79,746

And that's in the USA where tornados and accompanying lightening strikes are perhaps 10 times more common than here in Blighty.

I suspect a a higher and more supreme being may well have it in for Ron if he's had that many close encounters. Didn't hear a voice shouting "Oh beggar, missed again!" did you Ron?
 
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Ron 'The Hat' Clay (ACA-Life Member)

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Several dozen people used to get killed in SA every year due to lightning. I remember a case where 5 cattle and two herdsmen were killed sheltering under an acacia tree.

Anyone who has never witnessed a full blown African storm will probably never believe me.

I've also witnessed 10 inches of rain in 30 minutes!!!

A whole town was washed away in the Cape Province ca 1979 when a sudden storm hit the upstream section of a river that had never flowed in 15 years. A wall of water several metres high came down that river bed which took virtually everything, including 200 lives.
 
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Ron 'The Hat' Clay (ACA-Life Member)

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The point is Jeff, it didn't happen. And quite honestly none of my friends were ever killed by lightning either, but we all had quite a few close encounters.

You have to take a few simple precautions that's all, like getting in your car when a violent thunderstorm hits you.

And not sheltering under a tree.
 
R

Ron 'The Hat' Clay (ACA-Life Member)

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By the way, just as a matter of interest, the South African Highveld and Drakensberg has probably the highest incidence of lightning striking the ground than any other place on Earth, including the USA.

That is where I used to live!
 
Graham Whatmore

Graham Whatmore

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Its not so bad if you get struck once and get away with it because it never strikes twice in the same place!



Does it?

I've just read on the web that the Empire State building gets struck over 100 times every year. Bang goes that theory then.

One guy, a US park ranger had the dubious distinction of being struck by lightning 7, YES SEVEN times, more than any other known case. lightning
 
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Nigel Connor(ACA ,SAA)

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I would anticipate the chances of avoiding suicide are quite high if you decide not to do it?
 
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Peter Bishop

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After dismantling my rod I once elected to stay under my umbrella rather than shelter under some of the big Oaks in the nearby field ( I remembered what happened to Spurs footballer John White). Ten minutes into the storm there was huge crash and flash followed by the smell of burning flesh. Turning around we saw a bolt of lightning had hit one of the trees, which was on fire, and fried three cows nearby which were smouldering nearby.
At that point my sphincter muscle was working overtime. An equally shocked angler fishing next to me observed wryly, " I know its a bit early in the day for a barbacue but does anyone else fancy a roast beef sandwich!"
What an escape.
 
Neil Maidment

Neil Maidment

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In Scottsdale Arizona a couple of years ago, we got caught in an incredibly violent storm. Very short and sharp but the air literally crackled around us. You could hear it all around! It felt very very strange and scary.

Lightning strikes were recorded in the local vicinity but we didn't actually see any. That was as close as I wanted to get.

The official "emergency advisory" on the radio was "stay in your car - don't get out".
 
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Steve King

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Yikes Peter!!

What a close call!! If I had been the angler next to you I doubt if I would have been able to come up with anything so witty in the circumstances!!!!
 
T

The Monk

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I must say I do get very excited in thunderstorms, I love sitting in the bivvy door and watching the lightening, yes probably not an ideal place to sit, nature at its best though
 
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Peter Bishop

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So, lets suppose you were sat in your mates bivvy, enjoying a cuppa as the lightning crashed around you, admiring in a rather perverse way the power of mother nature, and then you hear one of your alarms go in your swim a dozen or so yards away. Do you run the gauntlet back to your own swim to grab 12 ft of carbon and hold it up in the air? A dilema or what?
Suppose its down to that mental risk assessments again risk v probability?
 
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