Thread: Have any of you ever had this happen before

Yep, seen that before. Graphite in the rods, and the static in thunderstorms do not make for good combos. I saw a rod a couple years ago that was pretty much frayed from the tip to about half way to the handle from being struck by lightning while it was standing in a rod holder on a boat.

There is a high power line that crosses the river here. And on cool damp mornings you will often feel the charge. I throw the pole down and move along a couple hundred yerds. But if it were thunderstorm as you were in the direction would be the ramp.

Yea pitch jig out ,slack line go up towards sky .hear rumble ,fishing partner says fort cambell ,look down at 8 year old daughter her hair is like really standing up.Take it to ramp quick get her in truck YOU got to respect the big pond ,It can humble you an ruin your day real quick .but no where else I rather be

Got a pretty good buzz idling across a lake one evening, heading in because I was hearing thunder in the distance and it was getting closer. Lightning crash/flash way down the lake and I got the buzz through the steering wheel ... figured the lightning had hit the lake and I had just got a wee bit of the voltage. Nevertheless, I don't stay on the lake, if possible, when threatening clouds appear or distant thunder starts rumbling. Ma Nature don't like me all that much, anyway, so I try not to give her any reason to increase my chances of "damage" !!

I was trolling for sauger on KY lake several years ago with my brother-in-law. There was a bad thunderstorm well south of Paris Landing and we were just north of Blood River. I went to reposition one of my graphite spinning rods and raised it to about a 45 degree angle---it hummed!! I could lower it and it would stop/raise it and it would sound like Luke Skywalker's light sabre. I never did notice any hair standing up but figured I was pressing my luck. I never could get my b-i-l to hold that rod. Believe me I tried.

found this video on youtube this Is exactly what happened when I picked up the rod... And the sky looked like in the video to boot... scared the crap out of me !

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPRUXALIcuQ

I was trolling for striper one summer using led core line and a storm came over the dam in a matter of minutes so I headed to the nearest island to beach by boat and get off the water. I did not worry about rolling my line in,just wanted to get to the island.I heard a big boom behind me before I made it to the island and looked back and that led core line was burned to the reel.

While backpacking with the Boy Scouts in the Porcupine Mountains on Lake Superior we heard a storm rolling in. We we sitting on a cliff eating dinner and looking down on the valley below us. We watched a several Bald Eagles soaring above the tree tops. One of the other adults made a comment that a female leaders hair was standing straight up. We all looked at her, laughed, then I said we need to get off this rocky cliff before were dinner for the Eagles below. We all uneasily laughed and hauled butt. Static electricity is the first sign of an impending lightening strike.

While we see the lightening come to the ground, it actually goes both ways, up and down. When you feel that static it's starting the trip up.

We had lightening hit the Cotton Wood tree across the street from my house one night about 5 years ago now. Lite the sky up like daylight, blew a 2' wide swath of bark off the tree from tip to root. Fortunately I have a smaller decorative tree in the front yard or we would have had bark flying through our 8' wide bay window. I pulled bark out of the lawn for years after that. It was shot with such force that the bark entered the ground like a missed arrow. Neighbors two blocks away reported bark in their yard. It tripped every GFI in my house and fried my garage door opener. Plus the water pipe under the street burst and we had a steady fountain until the city fixed it the next day.

I don't mess around with lightening. More people die from getting struck by lightening then win lotto.