Respect Lightning

http://www.bassmaster.com/greg-hackney/respect-lightning

Always a great reminder. I used to fish through lightning, too. Until I was almost killed by it on Lake Fork and on a golf course. If I can hear thunder and see lightning, I'm outta there these days. You should be, too. A fish, a check and bragging rights just aren't worth the risk.

I just roll the bones.

You know me and lightning! I don't need much of a reason to get back to the safe refuge of my trailer when there are storms in the area!

scientists recently recorded a 200 mile long lightning bolt. Oklahoma . Think it can't reach out and getcha?

I finally heeded this advice this weekend on Gilmer. Saw the storm coming and tried to stick it out for a while, but I got so nervous about it the fishing wasn't fun so I got to the truck. Good article.

Yeah, it's not worth it, for some odd reason Fork is a killer. I watched some guys fish right up to the time a storm rolled in Sunday morning.. Big boomers and wind, I was glad they made it under my boat dock. I've spent a few hrs under bridges and docks myself..

I have spent many a hour laying curled up in the bottom of the boat; waiting for it to pass and clipped up on my spot. I guess I have been lucky after 50 years of throwing that Halloween Spinner Bait in bad weather. My number hasn't been called yet.

The storms were great from Momma Bee's dinning room last weekend :)Ham and Eggs were too.

I'll never forget night fishing Monti when a bad storm rolled in. We spent a coupe hours under the railroad trestle and, when it got daylight, we looked like a couple blackfaces. That coal dust had been dripping all over us for hours. Boat was a mess

I've spent too much time and money repairing lightning damage to transmitters for me to disrespect lightning.

Ha! That's what I do!!!

I heard my line buzz once during the storm on Sunday morning. I just kept my rod tip down for a bit. Just like stumps on Roberts... if you can't see it, it ain't there

I think as we get older family and good friends mean more to us then a fish and we head in for a drink rather then take the chance. I think when we are young the old ten foot tall gets us or it could be by the time the storm rolls in we are looking for a excuse to go take a nap. LOL

Not me, I have a healthy respect for lightning. There are too many people counting on me coming home, especially bill collectors

I'm out when it comes to lightening. Has a bolt hit about 25 feet from me once while bank fishing at rollover pass and it literally knocked me off my feet. To close a call and I learned my lesson.

We were in Penson 20 years ago when lightning hit the dock we were fishing. There was only one small cloud in the sky and that bolt came out of nowhere. The real danger was when my partner cranked up and hammered it through the timber to get back to the ramp.

I have heard of many people being killed on Fork by lightning over the years. Many years ago I was fishing on the 4th of July weekend, calm water, cloudy sky and light rain, out of no where lightning and one bolt hit, it killed a guy in the front of his bass boat and about knocked the guy in the back seat out of the boat. It was less then a quarter mile from us on the other side of point we were fishing. No sir, any hint of lightning or high possibility of it and I am off the water, no fish is worth a life.

That's one thing that I don't mess with......

Same thing happened to me on Cooper in maybe 2000. Scared the you know what out of me. Don't mess with that.

Was fishing a tournament on Fork maybe in 1995 or 1996 saw one bolt of lightening. Turns out it hit a guy and his son in law and killed them both. One of our teams found the boat with the two dead guys floating I think it was in the mouth of Little Caney. Scary stuff.

Was that the guy from Cowboy Concrete in Ft. Worth?

(Insert smiley cowering down in abject terror)
"Respect" it? More than that. It scares the bejesus out of me. I got "tickled" - hard - by a feeler in a strike a couple decades ago. If I see or hear it on the lake and I head for the closest shore and get away from the boat. If fishing from shore I throw the gear in the trunk and climb in the car.

Lightning and =

I don't mess with lightning either; all you need is to have the hair on your arm stand up, and then have a bolt hit close by, to make you wish that you had headed for cover. the worse ones are the little clouds that build up on a hot afternoon, and don't look like much, and then they start sending bolts of lightning down all around you.

not worth taking the chance; head for the bank or the ramp until it's gone.

yeah this thread has made me think of all the times I stayed "out" too long. mostly while really young and out using a paddleboat(laugh but it was stable and worked better while using feet to move!). I'd see them but didn't want to go all the way back to the dock(114 acre lake) so keep on fishing and WOW I sure got lucky a few times. line going up out of the water, hair standing on end, trees getting hit so close you'd almost go deaf from noise and feel like you were "in" the flash... even though it would suck to paddle back and the storm go "around" I have quit messing with it altogether!! in my boat Now I keep a very close eye on approaching storms, use my weatherbug app with the strike feature to "see" how close the lightning is, and LEAVE if needed!!

scary stuff.

This weekend driving back from Fork had a proximity hit and blew the fuse on my power poles. A few years ago got caught in the back of Blundell was trying to get off the water going in front of Smith thru the power line cut when two bolts hit the power lines scared the hell out of me and my brother. Usually stay ahead of storms enough to get off the water. Just pushed it to long, not any more.

I was at Oak Ridge watching from the front room when your guys brought the boat in. Sad day.

I got caught on lake Cumberland in kentucky in a storm that literally turned day into night....in a CANOE. BTW, Cumberland's average depth is 90ft. I've never felt so tiny in my entire life. Since then, any sign of lightning and I'm off the water

Like a guy I used to work with said (I'm scared of that like a possum is a axe handle)

Storm rolled up on us pretty quick on Fayetteville county one day. Fish were on, every cast was a 3-4 lb chunk by the dam, started rainin' hard, the bilge pumps kicked on and with not much thunder it finally let loose. 1 bolt 50 yards away, saw it hit the water, dropped those rods quick, sat down and kissed my arse goodbye. We tried to idle toward where it was clearing...mistake! 2 more bolts happened close to us within minutes of each other. BAD idea to run the motor.

We should have gone to the ramp when we saw the black clouds building. Won't do that again.

^^^ I have great respect for that little lake. It gave me the scariest ride back to the ramp ever.

No can do lightening. Closest experience for me was sitting on the covered porch at the house and one hit about 30 yards to my right and about knocked me out of my chair. Could not imagine having one hit that close on the water.
Thunder = Exit Stage Left

I believe it was a recent YouTube episode published by LakeForkGuy where he was out in his kayak filming and he stopped and said he was nervous about an approaching weather system, saying that he could actually hear or feel a vibration in the fishing rods he was carrying.

I suppose what he was saying was that there was so much electrical charge "in the air" that his rods were sounding off like tuning forks.

Of course, you do see some signs of an imminent strike . . . like hair standing on end.

It could be worse: in Florida, lightning strikes often occur out of nowhere without any warning.

Brad

I have stupidly driven across Fork in severe lightning only to see the ambulance race across the 154 bridge-strike killed two fishermen I later found out. Terrifying and sobering experience.
Should have learned my lesson as a kid on Rayburn. A bolt literally exploded a large tree in the water right in front of our small metal boat- wood chips flew in our boat and our hair was standing straight.
Since that Fork episode I am totally off the water WAY ahead of trouble.

that lake(cumberland) is no joke, wow

Seen two people killed by lightning at Lake Fork, one was on Fathers Day right by 2946 bridge years ago. I have no defense against lightning so first time I hear thunder my a$$ is gone.

If you can hear the thunder the lighting can get you. I've pushed my luck to many times, God doesn't owe me another chance.

I don't mess around at all when it comes to lightning. I have been in tourneys where lightning was striking all around. We took cover and waited it out as long as it took. We couldn't believe the number of boats that stayed out in it, and I'm talking small time tournaments with small time $$. Definitely not worth it.

Bass cat puma you are right about that, was a weird deal. I believe Tonys brother (Chris) was at minnow bucket dock when they were brought in.

After seeing two body bags being loaded in an ambulance at Lake Fork about 20 years ago I decided it wasn't worth it.

I respect it back when i was 12 yrs old a friend and I was fishing at their farm in north east KS and it started raining so I tied the fish up to a T post out in the lake and we went and stood under a big oak tree until it quit. I went back out into the water to get the fish when the next thing I knew I was laying on the shore and he was also laying there not breathing.Unfortunatley he did not make it they figured the lightning hit the tree and it came out thru the roots and the water disapated the electricity that's why I am still here today.

^^^^ :-( sorry to here that man... at 12 that would be a hard thing to see/stomach.

It has been mentioned, but if you ever see your line floating in mid air or buzzing of the line/rod, you better get teh heck out of there QUICKLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You are basically a lightening rod with a graphite or fiberglass pole in your hands and it is NOT WORHT IT!!!!!!!!! Tight lines, keep safe and good luck.

Thad Rains

This happened to a buddy and I on Caney Lake in LA. Storm came up and lines started to buzz like crazy. You could thread line off your spool and it would float straight up in the air! Never been so scared in my life. That was the longest 10 minute ride in an aluminum boat that I've ever had. Prayers were answered obviously..

Sometimes I get a little ribbing for not hanging around when storms are coming but I will gladly take it any day. I've been out when it got bad and it's just not worth it. I've watched guys stay out there for a little tournament purse. Who's life isn't worth more than that?

Agree.. not worth the risk... there will be more days to fish.