Once my fishing mate showed up wearing a long- sleeved shirt on a bay fishing trip, I thought he was crazy. But then I learned. This pictured lady is wearing a sleeved shirt, long pants, and a wide brimmed hat to protect from the sun. She’s also wearing sunglasses to protect her eyes and lip balm to protect her lips. None of that interfered with her fishing — she caught seven oversized redfish that day and released everyone. (Photo by John Jefferson)
by John Jefferson
Temperatures reached 90 degrees in Texas last week. Summer is quickly slipping up on us!
Boating and other pleasurable activities are about to come alive on the lakes. If you fish, you’re going to have to share the lakes with paddle boarders, wake boarders, jet skiers, and others.
But you knew that. Most anglers understand others have rights to the water, too. Most anglers prefer to fish in the early morning hours when the fishing is best. The fish bite better then, and fishing from daybreak to nearly noon is cooler and there’s slightly less chance of sunburn.
Outdoor people should still guard against it.
The Sun gives us Vitamin D – and that’s good. Nothing’s as welcome as winter sun — unless you get too much of it. And that can happen.
Winter in Texas is over — or soon will be. And too much sun can kill ya! Growing up along the coast, we all wore severe sunburn as a badge of pride. When science and advertising told us of the dangers of skin cancer and the reality that melanoma was irreversible once it established a beachhead on our bodies — leading to suffering and death — we sought more sensible routes to pride.
My first dermatologist, Dr. Tom Schulz, told me everybody has a capacity for how much sun their bodies can handle. And there’s no way to know what that capacity is until it’s too late. He treated little patches of pre-cancerous cells on my face, ears, neck, arms, and hands as we talked hunting. He told me to get a wide-brimmed hat and wear it every time I went out into the sun. I told him I already wore that style of hat as part of my persona. He seemed surprised I was already doing something right.
Unless you plan to spend the rest of your life inside, you also need to be on a first name basis with a dermatologist. I am. And I’m fortunate that the docs and their staffs have caught my problems from the sun before they became critical. Regular checkups have probably prolonged my life. What’s your dermatologist’s name?
Skin Cancer isn’t the only danger outside in warm weather.
Snakes are crawling. Ticks are hatching — and some might carry Lyme Disease. All wildlife is moving. Rabies becomes more of a threat when animals are more likely to encounter another critter carrying the disease. Handling infected game or predators can lead to unwanted problems. Latex gloves offer wise protection.
Playing in the surf has its own problems, too. Getting out too far from shore can insert swimmers, surfers, and anglers into the food chain! Reports of increasingly larger sharks in the Gulf should be heeded.
And as Gulf waters warm, the flesh-eating Vibrio bacteria becomes a threat to anyone with an open cut on their body. Liquid bandage on all cuts and avoiding oyster reefs in late summer are advised.
Have fun in the sun but be aware of Nature’s killjoys.
JJ
