Shocking Day

[Surface Tension]

Sittin on Rice lake and hear this Buzzzzzzzzzzzzz. What the heck is that noise. Sounds like its coming from my rod? I grab it out of the holder, DUH. Zoink.... Im getting shocked.
Not a quick zap like static either. A constantzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
I told my wife its time to go. She grabed the other rods out of the holder and got a good shockin too. Ran to shore and ten minutes later a storm rolled in. We waited for the rain and winds and a little thunder to pass.
What a strange thing. Didnt hurt the fishin either. Came home with some nice eyes and crappies

[Riverratpete]

Had the same thing happen to me about 15 years ago in the spring out on Forest Lake fishing crappies. Lines went up in the air, reels began clicking and me and my buddie were looking for a way to get out of the boat. Scared the ^$$$*%%$ outta me, now if I even think there may be lighting in the area, I'm outta there. Good Luck !

[chunkytrout]

Static charge baby and you were the closest thing to a ground. Welcome to the wonderful world of inductance. Glad you got off the lake when you did and your OK. Been there myself.

chunky

[can it be luck?]

After a 1/2 hour of siting in the truck waiting for a storm to pass on a hot july day,I waded in the water in a lake to serve two purposes,relief from the heat and catch walleye that would feed when the thick summer bloom would set in. The fish would only bite on hot and bright days in shallow water. Sometimes you can even feel the walleye bump your legs and catch them inbetween them. Pretty weird bite for walleye to say the least. I should've waited another 5 minutes. A big bolt of lightening struck a bridge about a mile away,and I instantly got a huge jolt,but only at the water/surface line. I turned to see if my buddy was alright,and he was halfway back to shore! He sort of looked like those lizards that run on water with the big webbed feet! Wish I had my camcorder,sell that to National Geographic. Anyways,after all that the fish did not seem to be effected by this and kept biteing for me(friend could not cast out far enough from shore,got zilch). I lost a fishing partner that day, at least for that particular pattern. mark hoffmann/can it be luck?

[RIVER RAPTOR]

Hey ST,

Where on Rice Lake did you get the crappies? What were you using? Water depth? I am kinda new to the area and haven't found a good place just to catch crappies. You don't have to tell me your hot spot, I don't even care if it isn't on Rice Lake. I just want to catch some nice Crappies. So if you know of a good lake around duluth, the 411 would be helpful. Thanks for your time!!

River Raptor

[Guest]

I once shaved my whole head except for lightining bolts, does that count for a lightnin' story?

[huskminn]

Hey.....two years ago on Mille Lacs...buzzing rod phenomenon.

At first I thought it was the wind whipping my line against the rod, creating a vibrating sound, but then I noticed buzzing frequency increased when I held my rod straight into the air. I turned to my buddy to ask if he was experiencing the same thing and his shoulder length hair was floating in the air. I yelled at him to drop his rod and hang on. It's the fastest I've ever gotten off that lake. As we sat in the cabin shaking and trying to take gulps of beer, he said that he was receiving small shocks from his rod, but his mind couldn't process what was happening. He thought he was catching a rough edge on his rod with his fingers or something....funny how the mind reacts when standard logic isn't necessarily present.

Also experienced something similar (same buddy, too!) on Rush Lake at night. Drizzly, overcast night, not a lick of thunder or lightening all day or night, but a nice 1" blue "flame" coming off our rod tips when we held them straight up in the air. Freaking bizarre. It was the same color as a natural gas flame, without the yellow/orange tip. We got off the lake pretty quickly that night, too.

I have always hated electricity and especially lightening...things keep happening to reinforce that hatred.

[Surface Tension]

RR Crappies and Walleyes were on the rock piles. Winter killed a lot of the weeds so if you find a bed then your going to get them out of there too. Troll a spinner with a leech till you find the rocks and then if you want to target just crappies then a 16th oz jig tipped with a minnow or leech under a slip bob. Slowly work it on the piles.
Anyone else concerned about the number of small northerns in Rice? Theres a ton of them and they arent growing. Hope its not in for a cycle of stunted fish.

[can it be luck?]

Huskminn, is your buddy's name Rod? Perhaps short for lightning rod? WOW, pretty wild experience! mark hoffmann/can it be luck?

[musky hunter]

Had a similar situration last summer on the St. Louis River, I've got a post about lightning. What is happening is that there is an electric field building up between the earth and a cloud. When it gets strong, strange thinng can happen. You're hair might stand on end, particularly if it's long. Graphite fishing rods can buzz or snap with the discharges. Monofiliment line when cast out may hang in the air in an arc, not falling to the water. A lightning strike in the area is likely and immenent. You did the right thing, get the heck out of there! Lightning kills, even the first bolt out of a cloud can be fatal!

[Steve Foss]

Sheesh, Chunky, you sound like an electrician or something.

S.T. -- Darn good thing you were safe. You narrowly missed becoming a sacrofish.

[Granny]

Since we are on the subject of strange, can someone explain this to me? We were fishing out of a 12 ft. boat on a small lake. It was in the afternoon and the lake was like glass, clear skies and no wind what so ever. We were casting the shoreline and could hear this strange noise. It sounded like it was raining across the lake. We turned around and there was a small tornado coming across the lake. It was sucking up the water and when the water would reach about 20 ft. it would come down. So there is this funnel of water heading towards us. We were all so stuned we never thought about heading to shore. When this tornado got about half way across the lake it just stopped and all the water fell and it was complete silence again. None of us said a word, we just sat and looked at eachother in disbelief. No, there was no alcohol or drugs involved.

[This message has been edited by Granny (edited 06-06-2003).]

[huskminn]

Granny,

Did you check for the presence of a burning bush? Perhaps someone walking on water nearby?

What you saw was a waterspout....I can't tell you how it got there, though.

[Steve Foss]

I lived for a long time out west in dust devil country, where small but strong circular winds pick up dirt and make mini tornadoes.

Sounds like that's what happened here, except with water. The odd part is that there was no wind before the spout appeared.

------------------
"Worry less, fish more."
Steve Foss
[email protected]

[Granny]

I was thinking, that because it was getting latter in the afternoon, there were different air temps. The lake is kind of set down in a bowl so maybe the temp difference caused a mini tornado. It was by far the strangest thing that I have ever seen!