Conference wahoo::fishing-v2

 Were you fishing near power lines?

This was a graphite rod, right? They're conductors. You might have been
seeing a variety of Saint Elmo's Fire. Did the hair on your neck & arms
stand up?

Art

    I was on Lake Winnipesaukee. There were no powerlines within miles.
    The hair on my neck and arms was not standing up. Graphite pole--I
    don't think so but I will check. Could the wiring going through my
    aluminum stern light pole have had anything to do with it. I had just 
    plugged it in a few minutes prior.
    
                                  Jeff(Captain)
                                  Team Starcraft

Yup...classic case of St. Elmo's fire.  It's been known to take a variety
of forms....sparks, arcs, halos and bluish "balls 'o fire."

There's not enough EMF (electromagnetic force) or energy in the 
electrical system on your boat to cause the sparks that you saw.  
i don't think science has yet to determine the real causes of St.
Elmo's fire, but it was very dry and windy this weekend, and air
passing over objects at a high speed can create a build-up of 
static electricity.  Maybe the conditions were just right for Elmo 
to make an appearance.

BTW...did you have a camera on board?  Even if you didn't take pictures,
the effect may have left some interesting effects on the undeveloped film.

It's happened before...

    I wonder if it might have been a lightning storm.  We had a doozer of
    one here saturday night.
    
    Brian

    There was a storm brewing way to the west of where we were. The skies
    were clear over us. The incident happened around 8:00 pm and about
    2:00 that following morning I heard thunder. It's kinda unnerving
    knowing the wire that comes off the stern light passes or might even
    touch one of my gas tanks, which is about a foot away from the
    battery!!! This has never happened in my almost 10 years of boating.
    Is there anything I can do to eliminate the chance of this happening
    again. Please don't suggest staying off the water.
    
                             Jeff (Captain)
                             Team Starcraft

    Was your boat engine running at the time of the sparking?
    If so, you may have a defective spark plug wire or other
    ignition component, shorting to the engine or some other 
    ground.. In that case, 30,000+ volts could be applied to 
    parts of the boat.  Certainly enough to cause 1/4" blue
    sparks.
    
    Come to think of it, I was on my boat on Lake Winnie on 
    sunday afternoon.  The boat's aluminum, and at one point
    when touching the hull, I felt what I thought was a little
    current flowing up my arm.  Almost like the "twang" when
    you bump your funny bone, but not as strong.  I've never 
    felt that on this boat before.
    
    The weather at Winnie on Sunday afternoon was very unsettled;
    dark grey clouds and rain showers at the north end of the lake,
    and sunny down by Wolfeboro and Alton.  I wonder if there was
    some strange atmospheric condition causing this electric discharge?
    
    Rick

    One other thing - the latest issue of Trailer Boats magazine
    has an article on the dangers of lightning while boating, and 
    how to protect yourself from it.
    
    I haven't read the article yet, so can't offer any advice
    from it.
    
    Rick

    
    
      Jeff,
    
     The storm brewing in the distance was definatly it, since electricity 
    follows the path of least resistance and water is such a good conductor
    that the static generated followed across the water. and I would
    suspect that probably the poles were in a downriger or a downrigger was
    being used? 
    
          I have had this happen twice and unnerving? naw its DAMN scarey!
    I saw a guy get dropped to his knees when he grabbed one of the poles
    that was snapping. once you touch the fishing pole you become the path 
    of least resistance. the real scarey part is that you dont feel a shock
    from static electricity until it reach's ~2000 volts. 
    
    how to prevent it from happening? well thats a good question there are
    so many unanswered questions about static electricity, I dont know how
    one would eliminate the possibility of it happening.
    
    
                                                Lee
    
    

    What is St Elmo's Fire?? Besides a movie.
    
    Rick

 St Elmo's Fire is "a type of corona discharge observed on ships under
conditions approaching those of an electrical storm. The charge in the 
atmosphere induces a charge on masts and other elevated structures. The 
result of this is a corona discharge which causes a spectacular glow 
around these points."

 From a Science and Technology Encyclopedia of some sort.

A static charge on an object causes an electric field around that object.
The charge is concentrated in the areas where the electric field is the
greatest.  The strength of the field increases drastically around the tip
of a slender object, and the sharper the tip is, the greater the field.
The effect is especially pronounced if the object is a good conductor of
electricity.  The static charge is most likely to leak from the object at
the point where the electric field is strongest and the charge is thus
most concentrated.  That said,...

Your rod was acting as a lightening rod.  A real lightening rod would have
done a better job, because they are made of metal, have very sharp tips,
and are connected to ground with a nice fat copper wire.  Lightening rods
are not meant to attract lightening.  What they do instead is leak the
static charge off into the atmosphere before it can become so great that
it discharges all at once as lightening.  The corona is caused by the
ionization of air molecules as the charge leaks off.

The fishing rod was apparently a better lightening rod that the stern pole,
probably because of its diameter.  But the pole represented an easier path
to ground.  It's good that the rod was there, as the next best lightening
rod on board might have been your hair!  Imagine how Sam Malone would feel
with St. Elmo's fire making his 'do stand on end and crackle!

We used to deal with electrical storms when sailing by tying a piece of
heavy wire to one of the steel cables that holds the mast up, and drop the
other end overboard.  And stay away from the cables.  Pretty scary.

    
    I had the same experience last weekend.  I was fishing at one end of
    a small lake (with a 9 ft. graphite rod) and as a small storm cloud
    swept over the lake I got a nasty shock off the rod, through the cork
    handle.  It was a typical static discharge.  I was suprised I got
    shocked before there was any lightning, but there was a BIG electron
    flow happening between the lake and the cloud above it. 
    
    At least now I know it IS a graphite rod.
    
    Jeff

I read that if you're on the water, make a cast and your line just 
mysteriously hangs in the air, get the hell out of there and get down low!

It's a warning sign that *YOU* may be the next target for a lightning 
strike!

-HSJ-