Fishing Tops List Lighting Death Activities

[quote]Most lightning deaths in the United States occur while people are enjoying outdoor activities, with fishing the most deadly, government weather officials say. From 2006 to 2012, 238 people died after being struck by lightning in the country — 82 percent of them male. Of the total number of victims, 152 were taking part in leisure activities, according to new findings from the National Weather Service .
Fishing topped the list with 26 [URL="http://www.livescience.com/topics/lightning/"]lightning[/URL] deaths, followed by camping with 15 deaths, boating with 14, soccer with 12 and golf with eight, NWS officials said. Other lightning victims died while at the beach, swimming, walking, running or picnicking.[/quote]

I just saw this article and thought I would post it. I know for myself, I can sometimes be of the "It will not happen to me" mentality. Lets all try an be careful this summer.

[URL="http://news.yahoo.com/fishing-tops-us-list-lighting-death-activities-201359058.html"]Fishing Tops US List of Lighting Death Activities[/URL]

I was fishing in Michigan recently and some storms were in the area, it wasn't raining or even lightning at the time. but all of a sudden you could literally feel static in the air. My dad noticed it and when we made a cast our line literally floated up off the water and hung several feet in the air from the amount of static in the atmosphere. Very scary situation! apparently that is a precursor to a lightning strike. So watch that line and if there are storms in the area and your line floats up in the air 10-15 feet...get off the water!!

I guess this brings up another question. If your on the water and you can't make it to safety, what's the best thing to do? Put your head between your legs and kiss your *** goodbye?

[QUOTE=sweetwater;516580]I guess this brings up another question. If your on the water and you can't make it to safety, what's the best thing to do? Put your head between your legs and kiss your *** goodbye?[/QUOTE]

I would suggest at the very least moving in closer to shore and getting out of the wide open lake, the wide open is where its most likely to get you.

[QUOTE=sweetwater;516580]I guess this brings up another question. If your on the water and you can't make it to safety, what's the best thing to do? Put your head between your legs and kiss your *** goodbye?[/QUOTE]

That's what we did on Lake Okeechobee many years ago in the Spring/Summer. We were fishing out of Taylor Creek and out in the main lake toward Buckhead Ridge. The storm was on the horizon and it was wicked looking with the dark cloud edge against the blue sky above us but it looked to be going more south. So we continued to fish in the hot sweltering Florida sun and we kept watching that storm but we got turned around fishing in the acres and acres of reeds and trails and didn't realize until it was to late that we were in trouble. The storm hit like a hammer! Major wind followed by rain and lightning that made you pucker up tight!! The lightning would hit so close that the thunder seemed to pop at the same time as the flash....just scared the heck out of us!

I tossed the anchor off the bow and we both jumped in the bottom of my 18ft Skeeter I had and hoped for the best. It lasted 20 minutes and when it was over we got up looked around and we were lost. The boat had been pushed around enough because of the HUGE waves and into some nasty muck that would choke a motor in seconds. I wasn't jumping in 3ft-4ft of water (with gators and maybe snakes) and 18" of muck to try and free my boat so we cleared a lane with the paddle and would go in reverse to clear it even more and got a little cleared spot, she went on the bow and we jumped on plane to the first trail and shut down waiting to hear a boat running so we knew which direction to go. Of course a GPS would have been nice but they were just coming on the market then and I couldn't afford one!!
It was a lesson learned but I have been caught many times since. I'm getting less foolish about it as I will leave the water but not soon enough.

[QUOTE=sweetwater;516580]I guess this brings up another question. If your on the water and you can't make it to safety, what's the best thing to do? Put your head between your legs and kiss your *** goodbye?[/QUOTE]

If anyone finds the "definitive" answer by a creditable source please post a link to the source here.

"What to do if you are in a small fishing boat on a lake and lightning is eminent".

[QUOTE=sweetwater;516580]I guess this brings up another question. If your on the water and you can't make it to safety, what's the best thing to do? Put your head between your legs and kiss your *** goodbye?[/QUOTE]


I have always been taught that if a storm were to come too quickly where you couldn't make it back in time to avoid it, you should then find the nearest shoreline where you could beach and tie up the boat, and then leave the boat for better safety on shore until the storm passes.

In one of the two instances where I felt electricity from lightning run through my body, the lightning bolt came out of a clear sky on a golf course. Dark clouds were on the horizon and you could tell there would be a good storm in the next 30-45 minutes, but blue skies were directly overhead. A lightning bolt came down in the middle of the ninth fairway when I was waiting my turn on the eighth tee box. The point being .... don't mess with lightning even when the threat seems to be off in the distance. Lightning will come out ahead of the dark clouds. Start moving toward a safe area when you see the dark clouds rolling in.

If you're caught out with no available refuge, you can minimize your chances of receiving certain types of lightning strikes by standing on one leg.

[QUOTE=peter;516594]If anyone finds the "definitive" answer by a creditable source please post a link to the source here.

"What to do if you are in a small fishing boat on a lake and lightning is eminent".[/QUOTE][url=http://www.lightningsafety.noaa.gov/outdoors.htm]NWS Lightning Safety Outdoors[/url]

This part does not sound good, "[B]Remember, there is NO safe place outside in a thunderstorm."[/B]

[QUOTE=sweetwater;516687][url=http://www.lightningsafety.noaa.gov/outdoors.htm]NWS Lightning Safety Outdoors[/url]

This part does not sound good, "[B]Remember, there is NO safe place outside in a thunderstorm."[/B][/QUOTE]

This is a perfect example of totally useless information.

Everybody knows you are better off inside. But there are bound to be things you can do if you can't get inside to reduce your risk. To simply say you should go inside is saying you have no clue.

[url=http://www.bassmaster.com/news/nation-angler-killed-lightning]Nation angler killed by lightning | Bassmaster[/url]

Very sad

I also just talked to a guy who is selling his boat and he was telling me there is a black strip on the gelcoat and all his wiring was replaced 2 years ago due to a lightning strike.

We are having many storms in our area lately......be careful out there!