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Riding the Lightning

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chisler

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Is lightning really a great risk?

It's start of that part of the year where surf fishing in daylight is really the only viable if the sky is masked.  I always get the urge to head out for freshwater, or surf when heavy overcast days set in to try and get some day fishing in.  I do know for me that the shittier( sun bathers perspective) the weather, the better the bite.  How much of a real risk are lightning strikes?  I've scanned forums, and Google and haven't found much evidence on cases of anglers being hit. Maybe because they are weary, or maybe because the risk is not as great as the emotional triggers lead us to believe.   

 

I cycle quite a bit and have ridden when lightning has been crashing down around me,  it's a bit frightening, but is the fear outplaying the real risk involved?  For example: a cycle ride through a rural back road in a downpour and lightning I 'encounter' 50-75 strikes for the 2 or 3 miles stretch (event happened), this appears to be a hazardous situation,  but in reality  this is a pretty large area for those strikes to be distributed.  

 

Anyone have any experience where they were teetering on my thought process and had an event quickly, changes their mind? or Is anyone of the train of thought that the emotional stimulation the lightning brings just outweighs logical thinking?  PS. I am not in the camp that avoids any or all risks. I do choose to cycle knowing people 'drive' and text among other things.

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For lightening to develop, ions are condensing. A strike can be develop in the sky or the ground.

When riding a bicycle, my thought would be that you'd be moving through zones that might have more or less conductivity, but you yourself would not be the source of the strike.

Walking on a beach, carrying a conductor (graphite rod), you CAN become the source of the strike.

 

30 years ago I nearly died on the summit of a giant rock spire in Wyoming when a cloud strike hit the rock literally 25ft from me. I felt (in my feet) and saw the instantaneous flash of the spark.

 

Point being, if you are ever part of where the + ions and -ions meet, you will vaporize.

 

An arc is 6x the temperature of the sun's surface BTW.

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Lightning on the beach is no joke. Some people were sitting on the beach and got their legs burned from wet sand and a nearby strike few years ago. Before that someone died carrying umbrellas on the beach from a strike. After he died we all get off the beach during storms now.. This is in FL.

(*member formerly known as 'Badtothebugs')

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It’s no joke.

I’ve had a few too many close calls on the beach. Lighting can hit you from 10 miles away.

Closest for me was not at the beach but at my home. I was in my garage when lighting hit my neighbors house. Flash and thunder at the same time. I was maybe 25 feel away. Neighbors home was not destroyed by the fire but by the fire department with all the water.

Don’t push your luck it’s not worth it.

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1 hour ago, LowEnd said:

It’s no joke.

I’ve had a few too many close calls on the beach. Lighting can hit you from 10 miles away.

Closest for me was not at the beach but at my home. I was in my garage when lighting hit my neighbors house. Flash and thunder at the same time. I was maybe 25 feel away. Neighbors home was not destroyed by the fire but by the fire department with all the water.

Don’t push your luck it’s not worth it.

^^^Good Post^^^
Don’t take chances with lightning.

It can kill you in half a blink.

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Worst I ever was in was one spring out on the sandbar on Nassau point in cutchogue when a storm came from no where. I even checked my radar app before getting out of my truck.

I crawled all the way back.

Living in florida now I take lightning more serious than  gators, sharks or snakes. However it s a toss up which is a worse death, it or fire ants.

If you aren't fishing on the edge, you are probably blocking the channel.

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11 hours ago, chisler said:

Is lightning really a great risk?

It's start of that part of the year where surf fishing in daylight is really the only viable if the sky is masked.  I always get the urge to head out for freshwater, or surf when heavy overcast days set in to try and get some day fishing in.  I do know for me that the shittier( sun bathers perspective) the weather, the better the bite.  How much of a real risk are lightning strikes?  I've scanned forums, and Google and haven't found much evidence on cases of anglers being hit. Maybe because they are weary, or maybe because the risk is not as great as the emotional triggers lead us to believe.   

Is lightning a great risk? Why YES it is. Are people stupid and / or naive about it? Why yes … yes they are.

 

In this age of digital pictures and YouTube etc. one can find video footage of people being struck by lightning. It’s not pretty and it happens typically when thunder clouds are not directly overhead. The unpredictability of a lightning strike makes it a fate one should not tempt. Even at some distance away from the immediate thunderstorm.

 

 

RockfishOn!! :cool:

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9 hours ago, oc1 said:

Being struck by lightening while fishing is an honorable way to die

I guess I can be comforted by that.  There are certainly 'less enjoyable' ways to go. Putting things into a real perspective with other risks we take vs their respective rewards was my intent.  

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