"Blue Sky Lightning"

[RANGER]

LAST EDITED ON May-17-00 AT 01:49PM (CST)[p]Now that the time of year is upon us for REAL thunderstorms I thought I might share some things I have learned about this phenomenon with you.

Blue Sky Lightning occurs when there is not "a cloud in the sky". The sky is blue and all of a sudden there is a bolt of lightning striking a tree/dock/boat or whatever near you. What's up with that??

Science has learned that lightning bolts (true bolts) can occur as far as 10 to 12 miles away from a thunderstorm's "cell". Especially on humid days. The occurence is more frequent between 2 and 8 miles from the cell! So be aware!! These are REAL thunder bolts, just like the ones in the storm itself.

The "Discovery" channel has had several 2 hour specials on this and other thunderstorm phenomenon over the last year and should air again. Try to catch it (tape it) if you can. It will put the fear of the Lord in you!

I have posted this in the hopes that it will keep us, all, more safe. And for the fact that there are a number of us that don't know about this.

Case-in-point. I was reading through the threads on the "Fishing Reports" and two anglers commented that they had "static" electricity in and around their boats while fishing Pymatuning - I don't feel that this was the case but, rather, the precursor to a strike that didn't develop. The "storms were off in the distance".

RANGER


"KEEP YOUR LINES WET, YOUR POWDER DRY and THE BEER COLD"!

[FJH1]

LAST EDITED ON May-17-00 AT 01:52PM (CST)[p]I was trolling Winnebago two years ago and there was a storm far in the distance. I went to reel in a fish and grabbed the rod and felt a tingling sensation. Initially I didn't know what was going on, but it came to me pretty quick - I was a lightning rod waiting to happen. I grabbed carpet like you wouldn't believe. I observed my other rods and saw sparks jumping between the Fireline and the rod blank. The rods were making popping and sizzling noises. I found that if I kept the rods low I could get them reeled in without getting shocked. The storm never happened, it passed some distance away. Two hours later everything was back to normal. Very scary.

Best Regards,

FJH

[AquaMan]

I have been in the boat when the lines started to rise off the water and the hairs on our arms started to stand. The storm was still a few miles away and we thought we were OK until that happened.

Needless to say, we beat cheeks off the water and watched the boomers with beers from the cabin.

AquaMan~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[RANGER]

Care to guess what was brewing????

RANGER

[FJH1]

I didn't care to stick around on the water to see what was brewing or frying. I have a feeling that had I stuck around much longer I was destined to become a crispy critter.

Best Regards,

FJH

[Roscoe]

Last June we were fishing smallies in Rileys Bay. We were throwing tubes. The tube would land, but the mono was suspended in air way above our heads. We decided to pull out, and good thing, because we were hit with a major electrical storm.

[bob oh]

Basically same thing happened to me last Sat. on a charter. Lines started floating and hair standing up. I said let's ride this out on shore, everyone agreed, and following a 1 1/2 hour storm we were back on the lake having a good time. A lot of boats stayed out but I think we made the right decision - at least I'm still fishin....
Bob

[Jim K.]

I witnessed my fishing buddies' line lift up off the water while we were casting crankbaits several years ago, and like you guys we scrambled to get off the lake. On the other hand I see the bass fishermen on Minnetonka fishing in any kind of weather, thunderstorms included. And they are standing up or leaning on their front seats. Are they grounded or just fearless?

[FJH1]

Not grounded, not fearless - just plain old stupid.

Best Regards,

FJH

[REW]

A couple of years ago, I was casting and my line started going up. Out of curiosity, I started feeding line -- I suspect that I had a couple of hundred feet out -- going straight up. Suddenly, there was a far off crack of lightning and the line collapsed.

We reeled up and were off the lake in a flash. As we went by a couple of boats that had women in the boats -- all of the hair was standing straight up off their heads. Just made it to shore -- and it seemed that the skys came unzipped. Rained like crazy for about 1/2 hour and then everything was fine.

On another ocassion - we were doing a drift across a small lake trying to find the fish. We saw clouds began to gather so put on our rain gear. No sign of thunder or lightning. As we neared shore, a bolt of lightning hit a bare tree on shore. That was the only sign of electrical activity. Very little wind and again the skys opened up. Since there was absolutely no sign of lightning or electrical activity, we continued to fish. In the next 15 minutes as the rain came pouring down - we caught about 30 fish. When the rains quit in 15 minutes -- the fish turned off just as quickly as they had tuned on. Who figures.

take care

REW

[RANGER]

REW,

I'm not saying that this is the answer to your fish catching incident but quite often the strike spreads in all directions as it dissipates. Bait fish could have been stunned and the predators just took advantage of that.

Somewhere up around the UP of Michigan I understand that there is a subsurface island that is primarily iron ore in composition. When there is a tunderstorm it almost always gets struck, at least once. When the storm is over the locals' run out to the location and just pick the fish off the surface; alive but stunned.

RANGER

[fishin_fool]

I too have been out on the water many times and had my line start to float. I have saw peoples hair stand straight out. I always head for shore when this happens and these days I try to get there before it happens. One day I was on Leech lake by myself. It was raining hard and there was a fog coming off the water that was caused by the cold rain. you could'nt see more then 200 feet at the very most. Not the kind of day that you would expect to see a boomer or at least it did'nt seem that way. After fishing for a while with pretty good luck I decieded to call my buddy that was out somewhere on the lake and give him my coordinates so that he could join in. I put the antenna up for the marine band and at once I started to hear a static noise. I thought that it was coming from the radio but soon figured out that it was the antenna. I then went to put the thing down and got a very good static shock from it. When this happened I knew that it was time to go. I reeled in and started the boat. I didnt even have the thiing in gear and a bolt of lightning hit so close that to this day I swear that I could feel the heat from it. The thing just rattled the boat. I always thought that lightning hits the highest point but now know that this isnt true. I think that it hits were ever it would like too. The other thing about this incedent is that I never heard thunder in the distance working its way to me. The only warning that day was the antenna making noise. Im sure that the line would have been floating but it had a bottem bouncer tied on it it. Lightning is nothing to mess with. Anyone that has saw what a tree look likes after it is struck should not want anything to do with it. I cant belive the people that I see in it time after time just sitting on the lake fishing. rest assured, Im not one of them! Good fishing to all!

[Hanky]

Like a couple days ago at big stone. There was a constant rumble of thunder and I could see 10 or 15 boats out (pre)fishing in front of my cabin. They didn't seem to care.