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Zapping fishing rod.....


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Anyone ever been zapped by there fishing rod?I was down at Tennyson before with dr_josh and a couple of his mates, there was a bit of thunder around when this happened but we got zapped by our rods, when i lifted my rod up to cast it sounded like high power powerlines where right next to me, then when i cast i would get a continual zap till my line stopped coming off. Josh had his rod under his arm and got a fair old zap causing him to drop it in the water....So what's the go? i'm guessing static in the air from the storm clouds?

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same thing happened to my son shane and his mate jason at lake bonney today.There was a bit of thunderstorm activity but not a lot.Jason lifted his rod about to cast and it crackle loudly and he recieved a shock.He picked it up and got ashock 2 more times.Shane lifted his rod and the same thing happened ,only he dropped his rod in the water and it seemed to discharge it.Then he put it back on the rod rest and the weirdest thing happened his mono lifted out of the water and curved up to the sky and there was no breeze.I was lucky but i was always under the impression if you were in an electrical storm with a graphite rod you could be struck.But the rods seemed to charge themselves from the atmosphere.Cheers rod

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Funny you mention the mono lifting. One cast i got a massive tangle of braid around the reel... on closer inspection somehow a loop about 3inches long come off my reel, half way down the spool.....Had to stand there for ages stripping line off the reel till i got to it then wind it all back on. Never had anything like that happen before.

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I noticed that carbon fibre rods now have warnings about electrical shocks in thunder storms. The Drag car that I look after has a complete carbon fibre body and the battery is a tight fit in the rear of the car. On the first run the battery shorted out on the double skin fibre panel and burnt a hole in it. :blush: When you think about it, brushes in alternators and ignition leads are made with carbon for good conductivity of electricity B)Just another thought, I wounder how good a lighting rod that the carbon graphite rods would make sitting in the rocket launcher on the boat during a thunder storm be. :rain:

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Dipping in the water earths the rod and discharges the voltage accumulated in the rod, an old fisherman once told me he used to fish regular in very unfriendly weather so used to dangle an earth lead from the boat into the water just in case of a strike. He attached it to the base of his ariel at the highest point of the boat, much like a lightning rod. I'm not so sure that I would like to try it, but hes still here (87yrs old) and still fishing!regards snapdragin

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