Fishing rod static electricity buildup - GIF

[DIYSwede]

-Ooo-wee! This cool dude isn't "Einstein on the Beach"...

If that happens to you, or you feel your hair standing straight out:



Get the hell outta the beach and take immediate shelter.
You and your fishing rod might be causing, or stand close to a pre-hit lightning "streamer" - a channel of conductive ionized air...
When that upward channel is developed enough to reach the cloud's "leader", the lightning bolt "hits" at 30 % of the speed of light:



Average hit over here: 8 microsecs rise and 80 microsecs decay time, in which the charge (ca 30-40 As) just fits nicely,
with a ca 30 kA peak current (and developing a 3-4" plasma channel @ 50 kilo-Kelvin).
Oh - there's a pretty impressive EMP radiating out from this event also,
which is not seldom induced in overhead mains, telephone wires and conducted to mains boxes, appliances etc.

-You really, really should consider stop filming and move your @$$, so your brain will follow...

Old rule of thumb: 1 kV/ mm gap. So I guess the dude's ca 5 ft reel fishing rod picks up some 3-5 kV...
Yikes. Offered that electrostatic field I'd humbly say -No, thanks...

Bonus: Documentary of survivors of lightning strikes, Peter Greenaway's "Act of God" (1980, 27 mins lo-res):