Saw from the boathouse a lightning bolt hit the lake. Does it kill fish within a certain depth from the top?

shouldnt  they arent grounded to anything  

Electrical currents like to flow over surfaces, so most of the current from the lightning flows over the surface of the water. Since fish usually swim below the surface they should be fairly safe from the effects of lightning.

Wow. Never knew that. Makes sense though about the grounding issue and also about resurface too. So when they "shock" fish to the surface I guess the probe goes deep enough in theater for them to get struck.

I imagine that if a fish were touching up against a piece of cover that both comes up from the lake bottom and also breaks the surface of the water, it could easily be deadly if lighting strikes there.

Cool question!

Yummy, fried fish...

Electrical currents like to flow over surfaces, so most of the current from the lightning flows over the surface of the water. Since fish usually swim below the surface they should be fairly safe from the effects of lightning.

 

So, in that vein, does that mean that wire gauge is chosen because of its surface area?  Secondly, if a surfactant was added to the water to eliminate the surface tension, would the same rule apply? Third, salt water is an excellent conductor of electricity, while fresh water isn't, yet all the fish in the seas survive, despite billions of lightning strikes.  Which leads me to the conclusion that anything below the surface of the water, regardless of surface tension, is at ground potential, and is completely safe.  Rebuttals would be welcome.

I believe stranded copper is used at times to provide more surface area. It is mostly used because it is easier to work with. Only the electrons in AC currents travel on the outside of the conductor and lightnin is DC. The current will flow through whatever path/paths proved the least resistant path to ground. Very interesting question though.

Electricity travels ON a wire, not IN it.

Electricity will travel to ALL points to ground- not just the one of least resistance.

This is a great question! Someone research it and post your findings!

https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070618195420AAF0OOe

 

This guys seems to know what he is talking about.