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Posts: 458
| Was curious what people do when caught in a lightning storm? I know the best answer is don't be out in one but sometimes they just roll in fast. I have asked guides this question and most say beach the boat and lie in the lowest spot nearby. What do you guys think? |
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Posts: 2894
Location: Yahara River Chain | head to the nearest land |
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Location: Sawyer County, WI | I get the heck off the lake ! |
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Posts: 1516
| It's usually just a squall they come on you fast and leave you just as fast. Seriously, get off the lake and head for cover till it blows over. |
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Location: North Central IL USA | dfkiii - 7/18/2012 8:32 AM
I get the heck off the lake !
YEP!!!! |
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| Get off the lake ASAP. I got kids. Don't need to be stupid.
I have two different times taken refuge in a lake owners home when they have invited me in because of the storm while running to shore.
I have also hid under a deck at a lake owners cabin who wasn't home.
Fishing in the lightning is for the single idiots with a death wish. |
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Posts: 8834
| 1. Put your rods down
2. SIT down
3. Get the hell out of there
Heading for shore or an island is better than being the tallest thing on the lake, I guess. But it seems like lightning always hits the islands and the trees around the shoreline.
Might be safer on shore staying in the boat? |
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Posts: 2067
| Is this serious? or keep fishin you have nothin to worry about if you are as luck as this guy  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhAzLlSZFcc
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Posts: 2754
Location: Mauston, Wisconsin | Run like hell! - you don't really know if its going to be over in minutes or days.
Happened to me up on Crow Lake (Kagagi), fishing late afternoon seeing lots of muskies & catching a few & I hear thunder - look to the west nothing, then again thunder but obviously closer- look to the east & see the wall cloud, my fishing partner wanted to stay & pull up on an island. Me, no way, we're out of here! Beat the storm to the public launch by a minute- full throttle for ~ 4 miles, running in front of the storm cell, loaded my boat. Then helped rpieskie's son load his, it was not easy, I got a little wet. The storm came in very fast from the east- the storm didn't let up until next afternoon. The decision time + stowing the rods was less than 3-minutes. I can't imagine being stranded on an island overnight with cabin shaker thunderstorms rolling through.
Be safe!
Al
Edited by ESOX Maniac 7/18/2012 12:00 PM
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Posts: 458
| I was on a fly in trip and was 8 miles from the camp and a storm rolled in. My 9.9 hp did not allow for a quick return to the camp and I beached the boat and let the storm go past. I agree that running away is the best but it is not always on option. I agree...no fish is worth dying for. |
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Location: Eagan, MN | Just throw rubber and you'll be alright.... kidding, head for cover asap. |
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| It's happened to us on a few occasions on LOTW....15+ miles from camp and a cell or weather building up and coming in quickly on the horizon.
Its toughest in those situations when it's late afternoon/early evening and you don't know if you are better off waiting it out or running back to camp. If you pull into an island to wait it out, and it doesn't pass through quickly, you might be stuck there into the night. But if you run back to camp, you might be putting yourself in the most danger either running into the storm, or trying to outrun the storm.
Best advice is to just try to prevent yourself from being in these situations in the first place, by heading back and fishing close to camp whenever there is a distinct possibility for bad weather. |
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Posts: 2067
| Matt your suggestions remind me of one of a handful of times I've truly been scared on the water.. Beat a tornado back to camp once by 20 minutes - you could see the supercell building throughout the day...didn't hit camp directly but plenty of large trees down, a window broke, shingles off a few cabins, etc. Glad we didn't try and wait that one out on an island!!!....wait I was on an island.
Edited by IAJustin 7/18/2012 12:27 PM
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Posts: 994
Location: Minnesota: where it's tough to be a sportsfan! | Had a cell develop while guiding on Table Rock Lake in MO. I had a rental boat so put her right up on the rocks as gentle as I could and got the client up the bank. I tried to secure the boat and stayed at the shore. A tornado went up the next cove approx 300 yards between the two coves. It took whole docks and 30 foot cruisers and set them down 200 yards up the embankment. Came up quicker than we could respond and had no warning as the only sky we could see was directly overhead. Got lucky on that one. If I see weather coming & hear a rumble, I count the time from lightning strike to hearing the thunder basically 1 second of time is 1 mile. Anything under 10 miles I'm moving generally. I have also had a storm 20+ miles away cause static electricity on casts so hard that the rod would shock you. It doesn't have to be there to get ya. |
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Posts: 8834
| Had a day like that smallmouth fishing out on Lake Mendota. Casting into the wind, which was howling pretty hard out of the west. Heard some thunder behind us, didn't see anything, kept fishing. Figured it was nothing since the wind was blowing from the West and it was sunny to the West. Then the wind stopped dead. Couple casts later it turned around and started blowing out of the East. Then it got cold. It was about that time we saw the storm coming. Only time I have ever been scared out on the water. We made it back to the landing and got the boat loaded maybe a minute before the rain hit. Watched it in my mirror all the way home. This particular storm spawned several tornadoes in the Madison area, 7 inches of rain, trees down, 70 MPH winds, hail... Mendota isn't that big, but 5 minutes later and we would have been in a lot of trouble.
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Location: Mauston, Wisconsin | Good discussion. Matt, there was no weather warning. Are you really protected by a island tree or hunkered down in a beached boat on an island? I don't thinks so, and believe me, I know more about lightning than just about everyone on this form, unless your name is Michael F. Stringfellow or Martin A. Uman..... Yes, we were very lucky that I could outrun the storm. It was still a very scary ride as I maneuvered around reef's etc to take the most direct path back to the launch.... If you're out in a aluminum resort boat with a 9.9 motor, head for the nearest mainland and wait it out. When I saw the storm it was ~ 5-7 miles away on east end of Crow. It was literally a 4 minute ride to the launch @ ~ 60-65mph. Yes, not all the hazards are marked on the map. There's one almost straight east ~ 1mile out from the launch that's marked in the wrong place.
I agree caution when bad weather is imminent is the best advice, fish close to camp, no fish is worth dying over.
Al
Edited by ESOX Maniac 7/18/2012 1:00 PM
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Posts: 1039
| I'm sitting at work looking at that picture and I'm scared! I couldn't imagine seeing that on the water. |
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Location: Mauston, Wisconsin | EA- Nice shot of a wall cloud.
Have fun!
Al |
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Posts: 1086
| It's stories like this that has always had me wondering, why companies like Lowrance and Hummindbird haven't had the ability to view the weather radar built-in to the on-board electronics decades ago vs just now coming out with it? The technology has been there for years...why just now is the ability to see the weather with these things just coming on to the market?
Next set of electronics I put in my boat will for sure have the weather capability to it, for this very reason...see what's coming.
Me and lightning....we have a gross misunderstanding together. I've had my own personal run-in with lightning before and I'm lucky to be alive to tell about it. I don't mess with it. If it's visibly on the horizon and audible...we're outta there! No discussions. There isn't a single fish, in any body of water, that's worth risking it for. It's just a fish.
Edited by MACK 7/18/2012 1:04 PM
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| ESOX Maniac - 7/18/2012 12:58 PM
Matt, there was no weather warning. Are you really protected by a island tree or hunkered down in a beached boat on an island? I don't thinks so
I'm with ya. Sometimes its a choice between two unattractive options. We've had some close calls where stuff has come up without much of any warning as well....when that happens and you are a long ways from camp, you need to make a decision quickly and if you don't have weather radar in the boat, it's tough to know what decision is the smartest one.
But I'm still inclined to think its better to be under cover of trees an island, versus running your boat out over open water in a lightning storm. There have been a few times where we've also chosen to try to outrun it, and fortunately, we've been successful. |
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Location: Contrarian Island | some scary close calls on lac seul back in the day with my Lund / 60 hp tiller yamaha top speed 28...my partner Brad Reimenapp at the time was so scared w the lightning all around us he layed in the bottom of the boat on the way back
Even w my Ranger now storms can roll up on you when not really paying attention..last sept in MN I had one roll up on me and had lightning hitting the trees on shore as I was wide open heading back to the landing.....not sure I've ever been that scared fishing in my life! lightning..not good!
glad my boat goes 50+ now but still try not to chance it
Edited by BNelson 7/18/2012 2:29 PM
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Location: Musky Tackle Online, MN | jakejusa - 7/18/2012 12:43 PM
I count the time from lightning strike to hearing the thunder basically 1 second of time is 1 mile.
I used to think that as well. But it's closer than you think. The correct calculation is actually to divide by 5. Five seconds between the flash and thunder is only a mile away.
http://www.lightningsafety.noaa.gov/distance.htm
Aaron
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| If I'm in a Ranger I just drive right into it and fish! She can take it!!!!! |
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Posts: 281
| Had this one roll up on Tonka Last year. Wasn't on the water- Thank God.
Edited by hchad 7/18/2012 3:03 PM
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| I have the sirus weather packaged hooked up to my Lowrance HDS unit. Works very well, even on LOTW. With the Sirus weather package not only can I see a storm sneaking up on my GPS, I can also anticipate wind switches and speed changes. I dodged a tornado with the it two years ago. |
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Posts: 720
| hchad,
That is nasty lookin.
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Posts: 2754
Location: Mauston, Wisconsin | If you were on the Madison Chain or anywhere between WI Rapids & Portage on the WI River in the last hour, you should be sitting inside a safe place right now! Preferably where some lovely female is taking care of your needs or you're taking care of her's!
I have a built in serious weather alert system, its call growing up on a WI dairy farm in the 1950's-1960's. 
Al
Edited by ESOX Maniac 7/18/2012 7:13 PM
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Location: North Central IL USA | Get off the water ASAP or you might end up like this guy:
http://youtu.be/-UW4j51zs-s |
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Posts: 1086
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The guy in that youtube video....caught in a lightning storm while out in a boat....yet....leaves his rods in the rod holders pointed high to the sky. Helllllloooooooooo captain clueless....just asking for trouble.... |
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Posts: 1220
| We often fish musky prior to a lot of folks getting their boats in or after they take them out. There are also plenty of for sale places where the pier and shore stations are in but nobody is home. When the weather starts to look a little cruddy, I start to look for an empty boat house or empty covered shore station. Once on the Eagle Chain, I actually lucked into a totally empty permanent covered dock at the Boat Sport Marina. I also got away with it this year at Cave during a practice day where the weather got nasty for a short time. Other times when actually scared, I followed a boat heading in to a private residence and asked if I could pull up at his pier and take shelter under one of his trees. The last time this happened, (South Twin) the guy actually invited us in for a drink. What I am saying, is that there are usually some opportunities if you use your head. If it's really bad, try Psalm 23. |
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