Fun With Lightning and Bad Storms on the Water.

Several years ago a bunch of us metal boaters were fishing below the Ross Barnett spillway when a huge summer thunderstorm brewed up west of us. The fishing had been particularly good that afternoon and there was a silent mutual agreement that no one wanted to leave. :)

We all noticed that the cluster of storm clouds rotated towards south of Jackson with only a few dark clouds directly overhead. Watching the sheet lightning inside the mountain high billowy cream colored clouds was a beautiful thing to behold. Thick, crooked bands of lightning passed from cloud to cloud as they moved quickly on the horizon southward. It was majestic to watch the awesome power of nature. But, we all pretty much agreed amongst ourselves that the storm was passing away from us and had nothing to fear. Besides, most of the clouds were only a little stormy colored (dark and ominous.) The worst clouds, the dark stormy ones, were even further away and appeared to be moving south towards Terry.

I nodded my head to myself that the storm was "way over there" and I would be okay only because it was moving away from me. So I thought. I had not no sooner thought that silly idea when I looked down river where it bends and saw a bolt of lightning hit a tall pile of wood stacked up on the bank against a dead tree. "YOWCH!" I remarked outloud as the lightning flashed bright white just a football's field in length away from me. I grabbed anchors and the metal fishbasket and tossed them into the boat with a clunk. I made for the boat landing below the Madison county side in record time for someone using a paddle. Had a bunch of guys in their boats right behind me, too.

I had the boat loaded, tied down, and was leaving when a classic example of a torrential rainstorm began to pour on my truck. It pounded the roof so hard I could hardly hear the CB radio on the WX channel warn of dangerous late afternoon summer thunderstorms. ("No, kidding," I'm thinking.) The last guys out of the river were soaked in minutes.

Storm gusts like wind demons picked up something fierce as I drove slowly down the spillway and back towards Ridgeland. The old Dodge was pushed hard by the fury of the storm winds that seemed to appear out of nowhere. It's like the wind would let up for a bit and then come back just as mean as ever. I was praying hard the whole time while on the spillway road as clouds as black as asphalt rolled overhead pushed by winds that came in hard punches. Those winds felt strong enough to push my truck right off the road and into the reservoir.

Stopped at the Shell Station on Pear Orchard and waited out the storm.

Lesson Learned: When I see a storm approaching, I just go on and get out of the water and get the boat loaded. I don't ever want to go through that again. Yeah, I was skeered. :eek:

You said you wuz skeered, but, now you iz smart! There are many of us who at one time or another, got caught in somethin we or't not shoulda been in the first place. Glad you made it out OK, that was a cheap lesson for you. Others have lost their lives learning what you did.

Glad you made it out okay. BTW, you have great writing skills.

Thank you, ThrillSeeker. :)

I love to hunt and fish and write about it, too.

Good story. I learned my lesson when I was in my teens fishing from a dock when the storm started I said Naw! the fish are bitting so I'm staying. No more than a minute went by when a huge bolt of lighting hit the ground a couple hundred feet away from me. I could taste the electricity on my tounge it was that close. Now if there is even the slightest rumble of thunder or lighting far off I'm off the lake and sit it out in the truck. There isn't a fish swimming worth dying for.

One time while fishing out of a 2 man plastic boat a summer storm hit me. The only thing I could do was head for shore, within minutes it was hailing quarter size chunks of ice. I flipped over the boat and used it as a shield. Is only lasted 10 minutes start to finshing and being the trooper that I am, I went back to fishing.

Lesson learned - Pay attention to the weather around you at all times.

Bowcatz, I am glad you got out ok. I have had my share of experiences with the weather also.:eek: I don't mind fishing in the rain but as soon as I see lighting it is time to head in.
It seems like we lose at least 1 kid every year (in my area) due to lighting while they are fishing.:mad:
Shadow

Have any of you guy's heard your Rods start to make a whining sound when you hold them while fishing in a storm?

One time while fishing next to a set of railroad tracks a bolt of lighting struck about a mile away just as a guy next to me was picking something off the tracks. He got a small shock!:eek: it is pretty cool to watch the power of mother nature!

This didn't happen to me but to three friends of mine. They were out running trotlines in an aluminum boat one day when a summer storm sprang up. These storms come across with a lot of fury and noise but usually last only 20 to 30 mins. It began to hail so my friends decided to take cover. They watched lightning strike a couple of trees on the banks, but were afraid to be in the middle of the river in a metal boat. They decided to pull up to the bank on the bluff-side of the river, thinking the bluff would serve as a lightning rod. They were all standing in the front of the boat pulled up on shore when they saw a flash of light. Next thing they know one guy is laying in the back of the boat, one is sprawled on the bank, and the other is piled up against the tree they were under. They were aware, but couldn't get their muscles to respond for over 5 minutes. They were lucky no one got thrown into the water. My friend who got thrown against the tree ended up with ten staples in his head. He also had minor burn marks from his button and zipper of his pants. Ouch. The boat only had what looked like 3 cigarette burns in the carpet of the boat.
The next summer we planned a float trip and got two separate groups of 10 or so people together. On the bus ride to the put in site, we were joking about being with 3 lightning struck unlucky guys, when 3 guys from the other group said the same thing had happened to them. So we had a bus of about 20 people and almost a third had been struck by lightning.

I was sitting at the landing of a mountain lake( only one on the lake) when a storm blew across. I watched everyone raceing across the lake to get to the double ramp or the docks. To many boats with nowhere to go so people where tying off to the rocks along the bank and running for cover. Several high end boats left bounceing on the rocks. No one was hurt and nothing sunk. It was a site to see.

My day always starts at Storm Prediction Centers website, looking at the convective outlook, which give's an in-depth look at the next three days likelihood of any organized severe weather. It will estimate times, and threats (hail, gusts, and tornados) as well as target areas. As a fisherman, that sometimes puts in the water at 6 a.m. and wont come off till after dark, this is your best friend. Especially fishing Oologah Lake in OK, which is recommended you stay off of in winds topping 15-20 mph. Also, there is literature on the site, for warning signs that you may want to leave the lake (Green skies generally imply that at least penny-sized hail is immenent) (Cummulus Clouds that appear to grow taller and taller means a severe thunderstorm is likely) (Any lowering in a storm, implies that tornadic rotation or at the very least large hail is likely.) Anyways, for those not that interested in weather, a 29.99 purchase of an NOAA weather radio is a great idea, you can set it to particular counties, and it will alarm for any watch or warning given which keeps you one step ahead. Sorry I get carried away with two things in life, Fishing and Weather.

Hey Bobcatz.......... Man...... I think I was down there that day myself. I was on the bank thinking it might just go around when it hit and you guys beat it out of there.

Me and Bubba got caught last year in that storm that dumped all the hail. We were on the lake above 43 and got off and got back just on Rice Road across Old Canton when it started hailing like all getout. We both looked at each other and knew we weren't going to wait the next time them type of clouds headed our way. By the time we got home there was hail all over my yard it looked like Christmas in Canada!

Once you been in one of those type situations it really does make you more weather aware. I bought me one of those portable weather radios and take it with me in the boat. Glad yours ended up ok like ours did.

john

Thanks for the post :) Here's why I'm kind of paranoid about storms when I'm fishing now. An Army buddy and I were out on the Cumberland River in Tennessee doing some crappie fishing from the bank when what looked to be a 'small' storm suddenly rolled in. I like to take storm photos, but have never chased a storm, as they seem to come to me more often than I'd like . . . I snapped a few photos and we got in my truck to wait for the rain to pass. The rain reached us within a minute or two and was sideways, everything was white, and visibility was less than 20 feet I would guess. I turned on the radio and heard a tornado warning in effect for Cumberland City, which was less than a mile away from our location. There was nothing to do but wait it out; no ditch to dive into or anything, despite my buddy's hysterical pleas to 'just drive' (he was screaming and crying). I didn't drive, just set there and said a prayer. The rain and what I would guesstimate as 80-100 mph winds passed after a couple minutes, which felt like forever. There was no hail and hardly any lightning. When we emerged from the truck, big mature trees as far as the eye could see were broken and the heartwood flashing white made for an eerie sight. Soon the river was filled with whole treetops and large boughs floating along. About a week later the National Weather Service survey said there had been numerous F-0 tornadoes at the location. I noticed nothing unusual when I took the pictures; it was only later I noticed the funnels in my photos. I would put the photos here on the post but I'm not sure how . . . there are three funnels dropping in two pics and in one pic it just looks like heavy rain approaching, but the rain-wrapped twister that got us is back in there. Ever since then, I get the willies any time storms start popping around me when I'm on the water. The date was May 27 of 2000 . . . kind of hard to forget those times when you have to wonder if this is IT!

Memorial Day, 1967. My Family Was Fishing On A Small Oxbow In Ballard County, Ky. Just Off The Ohio River. All Was Well. Plenty Of Fish Caught By Noon For A Fish Fry. While They Were Eating, A Storm Cloud Moved In Across The River From The West. My Brother Took His Plate And Got Under A Big Tree For Cover From The Rain. Wrong!!! Lightening Hit The Tree And As It Traveled Down The Trunk, Jumped Over To My Brother And Hit Him In The Top Of The Head And Went To Ground Thru His Neck, Shoulders And Down His Arms. My Dad, Aunt And Brother's Wife Got Him Into A Car To Get Medical Help. My Aunt Drove, My Brother And His Wife Were In The Back Seat And My Dad In The Front Passenger Seat. My Brother Had Not Taken A Breath On His Own Since The Lightening Strike So My Sister In Law Started Mouth To Mouth Recessitation. Fortunatley For Him, He Had A Class In Life Saving While In The National Guard And Taught His Wife. They Drove About 20 Miles In A Blinding Rain Storm Before He Took A Breath On His Own. They Drove To Cairo, Il And The Doctor There Examined Him And Said He Would Be Ok Just Sore For A Few Days. My Dad Wanted To Have His Doctor In Sikeston, Mo Look At Him So They Started The 30 Mile Drive. Half Way There By Brother Went Into Convulsions And Was Admitted To The Hospital Where He Stayed For 6 Days. The Doctor Said His Shirt Being Wet Kept The Electricity To The Top Of His Skin Instead Of Going Inside.

Once a buddy and I were fishing a bass tournament. We had pre-fished and found some schooling bass, but you know how much you can count on schooling fish. The day of the tournament school must have been out for the day. So with our tails tucked between our legs we headed up the lake. We were cruising along and the graph mad a big jump. We had found where a big flat ran out to a point and then dropped off. We sat on the hole and were catching bass like crazy. We had other boats tha would pull up from a distance and watch us. I guess they thought we would be dumb enough to leave. As we were fishing we were watching a storm roll across the lake. we could see the lightning getting closer but we could also see the other boats just waiting for us to leave. As the lightning got closer we could hear the ceramic guides on our rods tick everytime we had them straight up. A couple of times hearing our rods go tick tick tick was enough for us, we were out of there and headed to the back. One of the other boats pulled up to our hole and stayed about 2 mins and he was gone headed to the back. After the storm finally blew over we got to fish our hole for a little longer before weight-in. My partner and I came in second place but the thing we seem to remember most is tick tick tick.

I have had some close lightnig strikes when I have stayed to long on the lake when you see a storm coming.
The most uneasy feeling that I have ever had was about 20 years ago...My brother and I were casting from the boat up to a rocky shoreline as a storm was moving in. The walleyes were taking dragonfly larvi that were climbing up on the rocks to hatchout, the fishing was fantastic one after another. On one of my casts the jig hit the water about six inches from the shoreline and I watched in amazment when my line never settled to the water ..It hug in the same ark that you see when the hook first hits the water. I still remember the look on my brothers face when he said all right , all right thats it we got to get off the lake. I agreed.
I have no good explaination except other than the storm.
Ken

The best crappie fishing i ever experienced was in NC at Falls Lake/Lake of The Neuse. Was a hot summer day and we were tied to some telephone poles in an aluminum boat and catchin' a few fish. We could see a storm moving towards us, but the closer it got , the faster and more intense the bite got - we were catchin' 'em like mad! We decided to stay even tho the storm got severe , whitecaps included, and wicked heavy rains. Soaked to the bone, even after the storm passed and in 90 degree temps, we literally sat there and shivered. I couldn't believe how cold i felt. I have since been caught on the water when storms pop , but i have sense to take cover and ride it out OFF the water.

my wife and i wer down the lake 15 minutes from the camper . i knew bad weather was going to move in at 12:00 noon . about 10:30 i herd the thunder so we atarted back .ondown the lake the lightning looked like a road map . the wife was shaking and praying . guess more than a preacher in a church with a bunch of sinners :D . when i got plained off real good the motor started nocking and slowed to about 1/2 throddle . i kept it running a while but it quit 1/2 way back . started trolling but the weather got worst so i pulled into a empty slip to wait it out . after it quit started troling and the battery started dying . a lady in a lake house invited us up out of the weather . she made us coffee and when her husban came home he took us to the camper .

It was a dark and stormy night. Actually it was a fairly nice day. For those familiar with it, we were fishing Goose Creek off the Chowan River in NC. We had put the boat in at Gatesville. A storm came out of nowhere and the water started rising fast. I tied off to a stump in the middle of the creek and put the bimini top up to wait it out. You could watch the stump slowing disappearing under water it was rising so fast. Winds finally died down some and we decided to head for the ramp. It was slow going but we made it to find the ramp under water. I jumped out and waded to the truck. When I got there it dawned on me I didn't need to move it. So I went back to the boat and pulled it to the trailer and put it on without having to move the truck an inch. We finally got out of there and after many detours due to flooded roads and downed trees and made it home. We found out later that a tornado had come thru the area. Weather man was not predicting any storms that day. A day I would not like to repeat!