Aurora Static Storm

My friend and I were rowing into the marina area yesterday just as the rain started coming down. We stopped at the boat docks to make a few casts and my friend laughed and told me to watch my line when I made a cast. I did and when my lure hit the water I noticed it took forever for the slack line to fall. He said this was caused by the static in the air. At one point it got so bad that my other rods behind me made the same sound you hear when standing next to power lines. At that same point if you left any slack in your line it would actually float up in the air. Needless to say we got off the water in a hurry at that point. Thank god there was no lightning. Have any of you ever expirenced this before?