Yesterday's shocking St. Marks trip
Posted: July 8th, 2018, 7:49 am
I went out with two guys from my work in my 15" aluminum jonboat out of St. Marks. We'd planned to do some fishing in the morning, and then see if there were any scallops and do some snorkeling. The weather looked ominous from first light. Several large summer thunderstorm cells loomed offshore and to the east and west of us. Thunder, flashing lightning. But far enough away where we were pretty much nowhere near it. But these are the type of summer cells that form up & dissipate relatively quickly.
We fished a little in the mouth of the river to kind of watch the weather to see what it was going to do. When it looked like there was a gap in the bad weather opening up, we headed out into the open bay and stopped again to fish and eye the weather. One guy, never fished with him before and he'd never fished in the gulf before, immediately starts complaining he was getting a series of electric shocks every time he cast his jig out. Over and over. He was using my rod. Me and the other guy are fishing the same rigs, doing everything the same, and we're not experiencing this. We thought he was just bugged out by the storms around and maybe when he cast the line made a seeming snapping noise as the line flew of the spool and he was just jumpy. He keeps going "ow!" Me and the other guy started to wonder about the new guy. It gets to the point where he drops the rod onto the deck, he says because of the pain of the shock. Now we're REALLY starting to wonder. I had noticed there was high cloud that had formed up over us. Nothing ominous looking, but I was watching it to see if it was looking like a cell was going to develop right over us.
He keeps complaining. So I move over right next to him and say, "OK, let's see this, go ahead and cast." He casts. Holy crap! "SNAP-P-P-P-P-P-P!" Clear electrical snapping, like when you touch something on a dry winter day and get a big static electricity snap, except a series of those. He wasn't making it up! So I'm thinking, "ah, OK, this is ungood," and we unassed the area with the quickness.
After I got home, I thought "hey let me Google fishing rods & electric shock." HO-LEE CRAP. Graphite rods ... ions ... highly charged atmosphere ... aluminum hull ....
I am counting myself lucky today. And this old dog has learned a new lesson.
We fished a little in the mouth of the river to kind of watch the weather to see what it was going to do. When it looked like there was a gap in the bad weather opening up, we headed out into the open bay and stopped again to fish and eye the weather. One guy, never fished with him before and he'd never fished in the gulf before, immediately starts complaining he was getting a series of electric shocks every time he cast his jig out. Over and over. He was using my rod. Me and the other guy are fishing the same rigs, doing everything the same, and we're not experiencing this. We thought he was just bugged out by the storms around and maybe when he cast the line made a seeming snapping noise as the line flew of the spool and he was just jumpy. He keeps going "ow!" Me and the other guy started to wonder about the new guy. It gets to the point where he drops the rod onto the deck, he says because of the pain of the shock. Now we're REALLY starting to wonder. I had noticed there was high cloud that had formed up over us. Nothing ominous looking, but I was watching it to see if it was looking like a cell was going to develop right over us.
He keeps complaining. So I move over right next to him and say, "OK, let's see this, go ahead and cast." He casts. Holy crap! "SNAP-P-P-P-P-P-P!" Clear electrical snapping, like when you touch something on a dry winter day and get a big static electricity snap, except a series of those. He wasn't making it up! So I'm thinking, "ah, OK, this is ungood," and we unassed the area with the quickness.
After I got home, I thought "hey let me Google fishing rods & electric shock." HO-LEE CRAP. Graphite rods ... ions ... highly charged atmosphere ... aluminum hull ....
I am counting myself lucky today. And this old dog has learned a new lesson.