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Senior Member
Here's his story in his own words. I figured I'd share.
Pics: http://imgur.com/gallery/F1S8M
I will give a complete rundown of the entire situation.
First some background information: We were in a 21 ft fiberglass bass boat with a big mercury optimax motor on it. The lake that we were fishing on has horsepower restrictions on it. This means that any boat with a motor bigger than 10 HP MUST remove its prop (propeller). If this is refused it is a 100 dollar fine instantly, if the boat makes contact with the water. No questions asked. So all we had was a trolling motor, which even at top speed can only max out at about 2.8 MPH.
So here we go. It started as a blue bird sky, there was some rain in the forecast but nothing severe. Just like any other day. The storm brewed right on top of us. It was a pop up thunderstorm with next to no warning. Since we had been fishing for about 2 hours already, we were pretty far from the dock. LET IT BE KNOWN THAT WHEN THE STRIKE OCCURRED, WE WERE ON OUR WAY BACK TO THE RAMP WITH THE TROLLING MOTOR.
I clearly remember I had just caught a small Largemouth Bass. I released him then fixed my bait (the watermelon chartreuse plastic lizard you see in some of the pics). When I went to cast...BLACK. there was no warning, there was no hair on the back of my neck that stood up to give any kind of warning. It was instant. I was out. I was thrown from the front deck of the boat to the middle seat in the boat next to the driver's seat. When I woke up it was like a dream, I was looking at the grey sky seeing small raindrops fall. They would hit me right in the eye but I wouldn't blink, it felt good, almost refreshing.
It was as if someone had set off a flashbang grenade next to my head. I slowly started to come to but could hear nothing but a high ringing and distant sounding voices. My chest hurt, it was like someone had beat me with a baseball bat and left me for dead. I had heartburn, but not just in my chest, throughout my whole body. It was as if someone injected fire beneath my skin and into my veins, and deep into my stomach.
I couldn't feel my legs. I was paralyzed from the waist down. I had no control over my legs, hips, toes, nothing. At this point my head was still laying back on the floor of the boat. My face burned, my arm burned, and I felt like I was dehydrated, and wanted a drink badly. I felt something cold on my head. Someone was pouring water on my head. It was Andy, the disabled Iraqi verteran who "just so happened" to be a medic. He was putting out my smoldering hair and eyebrows with water we had in the boats cooler. It felt like heaven, but as soon as it stopped flowing, fire all over is what it felt like. I pulled myself up with my elbows to see what was going on and still couldn't hear anything. I saw Andy and his GF Taryn pulling my dad into the boat, he had been thrown out of the boat into the water. He was also paralized from the waist down, he would have drowned if Andy had not seen it happen and rushed to pull my dad out of the water. I am eternally indebted to him.
I still felt as though I had fire inside my body. It gradually subsided. But my chest still hurt badly. Paramedics arrived on scene at the dock, but we were not at the dock, we were 300yds away from the dock on another stretch of shoreline. Paramedics basically stole a guys boat from the boat ramp, it was ok though because the guy was drunk. They arrived at our boat, and started working on me and my dad.
From the echoes and faint words I could make out, my dad was ok, he was in much better shape than myself. One sentence I remember clearly was "we can't get him stabilized, we need lifeflight". Apparently Lifeflight was not an option because there was not good LZ.
While on our way to the ramp, I looked down to realize, I was wearing nothing but the elastic band from my underwear and shorts, the shear power and heat from the lightning shredded everything. Yes, my pants exploded.
Whether it was from pain or a cardiac event, once again everything went black. I woke up again in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. I could hear now. I hear the paramedic say to the driver "hit it hard on the straits, easy on the corners, I don't know how long we have". I started to get tunnel vision, and my chest hurt. I layed my head to the side, and saw the heart monitor with a yellow button that said shock. I saw the paramedic reach for that button and push it. The next time I opened my eyes, I was being moved from the ambulance cot onto the hospital ER bed. Everything from here was quite a blur, I just remember lots of shots, people crying and coming into my room. I remember my brother standing by my bed, he refused to leave regardless of what docs and nurses said. He stayed there with me in that ER trauma room until I was moved to ICU. Don't ask me when that was, time was irrelevant to me. When I woke up again in ICU, it was to a tingling sensation in my legs, as if they were asleep. Then I could move my toes and legs. You can't imagine the sigh of relief I experienced. I thought my legs were gone forever.
I was in the hospital on the cardiac floor for a week. Many visitors, much morphine, and much prayer. I am now doing great.
Senior Member
That is insane ive nearly been struck by lightning several times and your right about the flash bang effect it struck within 10 feet of me blowing dirt and grass onto me and the head was so intense so was the light i couldnt see anything but red it stumbled back throught the doorway my best friend was asking me if i was okay i went and set on on his couch and passed out for a few hours its traumatic nearly being hit i couldnt imagine actually being hit you had some one on ur side that day
Senior Member
From the way the story is written, is is blaming the trolling motor only rule quite a bit.
I wonder if a lawsuit is coming...........
I would not even touch a tm only lake that had such an stupid rule as you have to remove your outboard prop if you plan on fishing it.
Many, MANY times I have been stuck on small bodies of water, only to BLAST my way to the ramp in a bad storm.
Dogwood, John Hay, Deam, Hoosier Nat....you name it. My life is worth more than a hundred dollar "instant" ticket.
Later,
Geo
Senior Member
What a story, he is very fortunate to be alive.
Senior Member
Yes he is..............Originally Posted by SLP
Member
After getting caught in a thunderstorm while fishing lake Jericho that has idle speed restrictions, a Park Ranger that was at the ramp, told me that in the event of a thunderstorm, to disregard the restrictions and get myself to the ramp. He also said no one would ever be cited in that situation because safety was their main concern.
Senior Member
That is the way I feel about it. But in this case, they had to remove the prop from the boat, to even launch the boat.
I'd never do that.
Later,
Geo
Senior Member
I'm glad you and your Dad recovered...that's just amazing! This just re-enforces my fear of lightning. When I was younger and fishing ALOT in Orlando we didn't give lightning the respect it deserved and fished in some bad storms or just waited it out under a tree (I know it was stupid) because summer weather patterns can mean thunder storms in the afternoon and we just considered it a necessary evil to push the limits. Being young an invincible we tempted fate all the time.
Now at the age of 50 with kids and responsibility I don't play around anymore. If I hear thunder or see a flash in the distance I'm ready to go and sit it out in the truck or go home.
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