Clay (US)

 First off, let me reveal that I consider myself somewhat of a fishing maniac. There really isn't much that will scare me off, except for tornadoes and lightning on the water. However, if I was there before the weather, I reserve the right to protect my spot.

It was a hot day in August of 2006 when I drove out to the local pay lake [at this time I had no boat, and no good way to chase big cats other than paylaking]. I set up all my gear, payed for bait and my tickets, and put the rods in the water and relaxed. After about an hour, I had only had one bobber down, but I was okay with that. The relaxation is better than the fishing usually, anyway.

At about 6 p.m., a few thunderheads rolled in... very quickly. The rain started to fall a little, and a little more, and pretty soon it felt like I was sitting under a waterfall. So, I pulled out my $0.50 emergency poncho and wrapped up in it. However, it wasn't really adequate for the emergency that was coming -

The world went white at first, and then I couldn't hear anything more than a deafening roar. I felt it vibrate in my lungs, and the force of the shockwave felt like I had been slapped everywhere on my body all at once. When my vision and hearing came back, I realized I was okay. I looked around to see what might have happened. Everyone around the lake was okay... except for the man on the ground 50 yards from me. He didn't move for several minutes.

The spot he was in was the one I had intended to fish that evening, and if it were not for him having gotten there first (a remarkable feat, since I was there at 3:30 p.m. on a Friday, when most are still in work) I would have been the guy under that tree. I thanked god, packed up my rods and went home: One of maybe a dozen times I've ever wanted to stop fishing, and one of 3 times I've been within feet of getting hit by lightning.

That being said, I still don't have enough sense to come out of the rain!