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I was on the Lostmans River yesterday when the rain storms came.  I waited that out, but conditions looked bad back towards Chokoloskee.  After a long wait, I ran through the Wilderness Waterway, and almost stopped at the Plate Creek Bay Chickee to shelter from the storm, but it looked like things may have been clearing, so I continued on.  I stopped at the old house in Huston Bay after seeing a couple of other boats at the dock--figured I would ride things out there.  The guys there must have been the owners.  I was surprised when they did not ask me to tie up and stay for a while.  When the lightning got bad again, I anchored in a creek leading to Sunday Bay.  Thankfully, I made it back safely to Outdoor Resorts.  
 
Anyway, I'm curious how others handle things when you get caught on the water in a bad storm.  I put the rods away, and tried to stay out of the open bays when it got bad.  Other than that, what do others do?
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Never really worried about storms too much till I moved to the Lightning Capital Of the World. Florida!!! I pretty much fish inshore, and I always have a plan B...….but I know the waters where I am fishing. I can run to a marina, or protected creek to try to get some protection. I keep an eye on the sky in the summer, especially late in the afternoon. Ill make a run for it based on how far I am from the ramp and where the storm is. Storms in my area are pretty isolated, usually I can run another direction to get away. Never have been out when all of Charlotte Harbor was ingulfed in one huge storm.  If I am too far away from the boat ramp...Ill pull into a protected area and sit it out, better if I can get out of the boat in a marina, or restaurant. Never been trapped offshore, I would think that would be intense. Fishing in a new area, or not knowing the area its pretty much your best judgement.....don't think their is any right or wrong, you just don't want to be the highest point on the water.

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I have the free MyRadar app on my phone and it shows your exact location and updates radar every 5 minutes. I’ve made decisions to sit tight and let some storms pass and also made decisions to haul tail to the hill to beat the weather. We did get caught by a weird storm about a month ago one morning, everything was offshore and hanging on the beach but bloomed and basically begin to surround us. We rode way up a river and sat at a buddy’s neighborhood dock

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My Radar is my early warning app. Watch it if I am fishing in the afternoon inshore. If things look sketchy, I head for the barn at the first clap of thunder. If offshore I would call some of the charters who ran radar and see which way the storm was heading. Most of the time it would be coming off the inlet so you had time to see it's direction and go the other way. Never got caught in a real bad storm using these methods and with the power of lightning hope I never do.

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Dave, glad you're safe. The people that have rights to the shack on Huston Bay aren't known to be the most welcoming folks. Boaters, yakkers and canoers look to seek shelter there all the time, especially during the winter & when bad weather pops up. Honestly can't say I blame them for not being warm & fuzzy to those they don't know. My old bosses friend used to own some of the rights to that shack and I crashed on the floor there a few nites when I was a kid. 

I've been caught in some awful storms in the Glades over the past 25 years, both inshore & way offshore. I didn't think I was going to make it back to the ramp more than once. There isn't a whole lot you can do over there other than pray for the best & run, especially when storms are bearing down on you from every direction except the open ocean....and running that way isn't an intelligent option on a skiff. I always keep an 8x10' tarp on my boat with bungee cords so I can post up against the lee sides of the mangroves, get under the tarp and get destroyed by bugs til a storm passes. Rods stored, switches off, SPOT & Thermacell in hand, hunker down, wait it out....what else can you do in the Glades?

The worst storm that ever pinned me down lasted 4 hours one late afternoon about 10 autumns ago right before a new moon near the mouth of Chatham River on my old 17MA. It was actually two storms that met from the north & south then all he!! broke loose with lightning and 40knot winds that changed direction 3 times. Oh, did I mention it lasted FOUR hours?!? When the storm cleared it was pitch black with 15knot east winds at the last hour of an outgoing tide that was dropping to a negative 1'. I started my journey home by getting out the boat because I had to push it away from the mangroves and off the surrounding mud bar. Total humbling experience. 

There's no cell connection in most areas we fish in the Glades so is there an iPhone weather app that works off satellite when there's no cell connection available?? 

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No fish is worth getting struck by lightning, ever. Just another reason its nice to have a quick boat, but I use weatherbug radar often. It shows lightning strikes on the radar. Often times a storm can be red on the radar with no lightning and you would never tell the difference. 

If you have ever felt a cold, humid breeze right before a storm, know that is your absolute final warning. Its nature's way of telling you to get the heck out of dodge. DO NOT ignore it. 

Heres a photo in my hewes 16 when I got caught in a storm. The ramp is straight ahead. 

FB_IMG_1534789555846.jpg

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22 minutes ago, linesider 159 said:

No fish is worth getting struck by lightning, ever. Just another reason its nice to have a quick boat, but I use weatherbug radar often. It shows lightning strikes on the radar. Often times a storm can be red on the radar with no lightning and you would never tell the difference. 

If you have ever felt a cold, humid breeze right before a storm, know that is your absolute final warning. Its nature's way of telling you to get the heck out of dodge. DO NOT ignore it. 

Heres a photo in my hewes 16 when I got caught in a storm. The ramp is straight ahead. 

FB_IMG_1534789555846.jpg

That's a very very very BADA$$ looking storm there...WOW !

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I had an instance in Key Largo with a storm headed from West to East that built up over the everglades. I told my passenger if you see lightning or hear thunder let me know. Not even two minutes later a bolt struck about 100 yards away in the mangroves and in just a few seconds the temperature dropped 15-20 degrees easily and the rain coming at us through the mangroves sounded like a Stampede and we made it back with the rain 50 feet behind us the whole way in, got to the dock and told my partner to run! Two boats sunk at the docks and I watched everybody at Gilbert's having to bail out their boats or manually flip the bilge pump switch on in the middle of this storm. Not a good place to be, and yes having a fast boat helped us that day. Believe it or not that was my second close call. One time in the middle of the Everglades on Wagon Wheel road I was coming back from the West coast and decided to do some Bass fishing, walking down the dirt road I noticed a small black cloud forming above me. I decided I would wait for thunder before I made a move and about that time a bolt hit the dirt road about 500 feet ahead me, needless to say the fishing adventure was over! 

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In the younger days off offshore racing sailboats they had grounding plates that went from the mast stays to a large metal plate under the waterline.  Even though  , we always had a heavy duty pair of jumper cables to connect to the rigging and toss the other end in the water.  I don't have a t top but if I did I would have a grounding plate zinc combination below the water line.

Many thoughts on how to protect electronics and motor but cutting  them off and disconnecting the ground while seeking shelter makes the most since.

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10 minutes ago, smilemaker said:

In the younger days off offshore racing sailboats they had grounding plates that went from the mast stays to a large metal plate under the waterline.  Even though  , we always had a heavy duty pair of jumper cables to connect to the rigging and toss the other end in the water.  I don't have a t top but if I did I would have a grounding plate zinc combination below the water line.

Many thoughts on how to protect electronics and motor but cutting  them off and disconnecting the ground while seeking shelter makes the most since.

Interesting idea. Wonder how well it works. Could potentially connect to my old (disconnected) metal thru Hull transducer  I’ve been caught a few times in Tampa Bay. Extra fun now that I run a tower boat. 

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11 hours ago, smilemaker said:

In the younger days off offshore racing sailboats they had grounding plates that went from the mast stays to a large metal plate under the waterline.  Even though  , we always had a heavy duty pair of jumper cables to connect to the rigging and toss the other end in the water.  I don't have a t top but if I did I would have a grounding plate zinc combination below the water line.

Many thoughts on how to protect electronics and motor but cutting  them off and disconnecting the ground while seeking shelter makes the most since.

We used to do that to. after a bolt hit the mast near bermuda.. The grounding plate worked, luckily.   I was 13 YO at the time, racing to Bermuda(crew) from Marion Conn. 

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Up to my usual disaster antics again.

Had the yard pull my boat in Tarpon Springs to have the bottom painted last week. They had just hauled a 60 foot Gulfstream sailing yacht with every bit of a sixty foot mast. Pretty boat! Talked with the boat owner and we were discussing his 60 foot tall lightening rod. Boat had a huge ground plate and the boat was bonded to ground everthing metal. Said he never had had an issue with lightening.

Well, that afternoon late here comes a storm, a nasty one. The boat took a hit to the mast and it blew some of the through hulls out of the boat, ran down the metal legs of the yard stands and blew holes in the asphalt in the yard.:o My boat was sitting right next to him so they called for to come and check my rig. I escaped any damage as far as I can tell for now. The sailboat is still being inspected.

 

So I would say having the metal grounded might help save you to some degree. But, a direct hit and it might not. All that grounding stuff on that sailboat didn't help at all out of the water "no ground".

The Rampage is also bonded and we took a strike 5 years ago and all it did was blow both the VHF antennas off the roof of the tower.

Watch the weather and don't wait for the first strike to get out of Dodge. Storm clouds building altitude this time of year should be avoided. The fist strike might be the last warning you get. When we got popped it was from a cloud  building right on top of us and we had not heard a rumble all day.

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