Fishing in the rain

StandOutI2 · May 2015

Just curious, but do you guys fish when there's a pretty good chance it's going to rain? I've been at home several days and thought to myself, if it's just a little rain, it might not be a bad idea. My real question is how do you guys determine whether or not it's going to be storming or just a little rain? I'm thinking about fishing Tuesday and they're calling for rain, but little wind? Does that mean it'll just be one of those days where it's just on and off rain with little wind. The Lightning is what concerns me the most. Any input is welcome.

Doc Stressor · May 2015

During the summer, an east wind followed by an afternoon westerly sea breeze usually means late afternoon or evening thunderstorms. Even with a high probability of rain, you usually won't have a problem if you head in by 2:00 PM or so. Anything out of west in the morning is bad news for offshore. With a west wind, thunderstorms can pop up over the water any time of day.

It's not the rain, although it can sting when you have to run through, it's the wind and lightning that you want to avoid.

Billy · May 2015

Doc Stressor wrote: »

During the summer, an east wind followed by an afternoon westerly sea breeze usually means late afternoon or evening thunderstorms. Even with a high probability of rain, you usually won't have a problem if you head in by 2:00 PM or so. Anything out of west in the morning is bad news for offshore. With a west wind, thunderstorms can pop up over the water any time of day.

It's not the rain, although it can sting when you have to run through, it's the wind and lightning that you want to avoid.

Doc speaks the truth. I've been caught out at least three times, in the last six years, in major storms and it "ain't" a good time. One can try to be vigilant but sometimes you simply just get caught.

Bill

capt louie · May 2015

All summer long just about every storm will have some lightning. You start to get an eye for it but not always.

The early out early in tip is real.

csanders · June 2015

If there isn't any lightning it doesn't bother us. It rained like that on us once and an area that I didn't think had any fish in it all of a sudden had about 15-20 tails pop up in it while the rain was coming down. It was unreal. None of them bit anything we threw to them but the sight alone was worth it.

Usually I'm with the guys above though. In by 6 out by 1-2 and you even get a nice fresh water washdown on the way home sometimes.

Jim311 · June 2015

No real way to know especially this time of year. The forecast for this weekend changed about half a dozen times and none of them were correct. I plan to fish anyway and check the radar before I leave. If it looks clear or really spread out I'll go, but if there are organized cells with lightning and severe weather I might wait it out at the house until it clears off.

TideUp · June 2015

Maybe it's just my luck, (or my young hard headed nature of never wanting to get off the water), but I get caught in storms all the time. Been caught in 2 good ones already this year. Personally I don't mind the rain at all but when the wind and lightning get bad it becomes a little miserable. On the other hand, I never let a storm keep me from fishing either haha I've had some excellent fishing days where the ponchos were never taken off

Luv2Yak · June 2015

If you hear thunder then you may be within lightning striking distance.

Teach this safety slogan:
"If you can see it, flee it; if you can hear it, clear it."

http://www.lightningsafety.com/nlsi_pls/boating.html

Luv2Yak · June 2015

"One minute the fisherman was sitting atop his elevated seat aboard his boat. The next minute he was dead--the victim of a lightning bolt."

http://nasdonline.org/document/209/d000007/boating-lightning-protection.html

StandOutI2 · June 2015

Luv2Yak wrote: »

If you hear thunder then you may be within lightning striking distance.

Teach this safety slogan:
"If you can see it, flee it; if you can hear it, clear it."

http://www.lightningsafety.com/nlsi_pls/boating.html

I actually really like that quote. Pretty sound advice. I'm lucky enough that I fish close enough to shore that I can still get radar on my phone and see where it's moving and what the inside of it is doing most of the time.

Luv2Yak · June 2015

Many, many years ago...on a golf driving range...hot summer late afternoon...blue bird skies above and the same for what looked like miles around in all directions...not a cloud to be found...far in the distance on the horizon the sky was dark...heard no thunder but from the dark sky in the distance saw a lightning bolt...suddenly a deafening crack...confused and dazed but not injured, next thing I remember was a small crowd gathered around me asking if I was okay and helping me off the ground...took 5-10 minutes to find the 9-iron that was in my hands before the lightning struck...I was darned lucky...nothing like a "been there done that got the tee-shirt" experience to learn a lesson...since that day have the utmost respect for lightning hazard...but years later someone I knew not so fortunate...struck by lightning while on horseback...horse was killed and landed on top of him...took hours to find the man...despite a hole blown out of his back near the base of his spine the size of a softball, miraculously he survived...crippled and debilitated for the rest of his life.

Statistically, the chance of being struck by lightning are small. But when struck its either permanently damaging or worse, fatal.

Fishing isn't a matter of life or death - but lightning is.

Little_Gene · June 2015

There was a guy about 5 years ago that was hit by lightning while playing paintball. It literally melted the gun to his hands. IIRC the storm had just started forming, and I don't believe anyone had heard thunder before he was hit. I'll try and dig it up, as it was a fairly shocking point of how fast things can change.

oh and sorry Louie...

capt louie wrote: »

The early out early in tip is real.

That's what she said!!!! (you walked into it man!)

Here you go http://gazette.com/article/101467#ixzz12qpFqowi

Discussion on a PB forumhttp://www.mcarterbrown.com/forums/paintball-news/127020-paintball-player-struck-lightning.html

From PG 5 post #47

Just talked to him today. He flew home on Friday but we just went to a tourney in Pittsburgh. We got back yesterday and went to visit him today. He said there was no lightening or thunder prior to getting hit and it only just started to drizzle. He heard from other people at the field that it was LITERALLY the ONLY lightning strike anyone saw or heard. He looks good though and seems in pretty good spirits. He's getting more movement in his left side but the nerves are still pretty shot. He's still not sure of his marker so he's going to try to get his buddy to send it to him from CO. We were originally mistaken as to where he was hit. We were told he was hit in the head but he was actually hit between his shoulder blades. It ripped a 4" x 5" hole in the back of his shirt. It went out his left foot and he has really bad scarring where it left his body and some scarring down his leg which is actually shaped like a lightning strike (a real one like in the sky. Not the Flash Gordon type zig zag one). He's getting better slowly and really just hates not being able to do stuff. He's not the sitting still type.
Anyway, just wanted to update you all.

I may have been wrong about the gun melting to his hands, it may have been a joke somewhere. This was discussed across several forums, and we even had a fundraiser auction for him to replace his gear when he was ready to start playing again.

StandOutI2 · June 2015

:Spittingcoffee:Spittingcoffee I am so glad someone took that opportunity for the that's what she said joke!!! Hahaha. Yeah I don't like playing with lightning. I do know that the Lightning usually hits on the outer edges of the storm, so I do often think of that when looking at them on radar. Thanks for all the info guys!

tag · June 2015

I fish in the rain as long as there is no lightning. After all.....the fish are already wet.

roachbuster · June 2015

Running across a lake in a jon boat with lightning popping around you will make you get religious real quick

TideUp · June 2015

roachbuster wrote: »

Running across a lake in a jon boat with lightning popping around you will make you get religious real quick

Haha reminds me of a stormy night in the backwaters west of dunnellon. I've never tried to drive faster to the boat ramp and I was prayin to Jesus!

Fishing in the rain

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