Nick Simonson
By Nick Simonson
Safety is a key element in enjoying the outdoors, and I constantly wear and preach the need for a life jacket in all my fishing adventures involving a watercraft and setting up a location list and check-in schedule before departure on even the shortest planned trips. But there are other elements of angling safety and good health in general which sneak up on a person right around the time he hits middle age and stares into the mirror one morning after a long holiday weekend outdoors. Being a fair-skinned person of Norwegian ancestry, it only takes a half day in the sun of late spring or summer to quickly highlight the small freckles and moles on my face and arms with a bit of a tan or maybe even a sunburn. Where in years past, such an occurrence almost seemed like a rite of passage into a new season and was a sign of a good day on the water, now it comes with a bit of concern.
As crow's feet, dark spots and shifting colors in small dots on my skin become a bit more noticeable after a summer fishing trip - like the creaks and stiffness that come more frequently after trail runs and hunting hikes throughout the rest of the year - I've become more aware of the toll the sun takes on the body's biggest organ: the skin. My grandmother developed skin cancer late in her life, a process that required quarterly trips to the doctor to investigate and remove small sections of skin on her head and neck to knock out any growing lesions or take out suspect areas before they became a problem. As a younger woman, she spent countless hours in the sun working her garden and flower beds each summer long before the term SPF 50 even held meaning.
Today, however, sun protection is a big deal, and as a big business, provides anglers with more options than ever before to protect their skin and enjoy time on the water without worrying about getting burned and piling up long-term consequences down the road. Whether it's sprays, creams, or lotions; sunscreen and sunblock in a variety of applications help not only those high-risk, lighter-skinned individuals like me avoid a harsh sunburn, but they also give everyone regardless of their skin type the option to stave off consequences such as skin cancer later in life, as each such occurrence of sunburn adds another level of risk to that long-term result. That consequence isn't rare either. At around five million diagnoses a year in America (or about 9,500 new cases each day) when combined, skin cancers are the most common form of the disease and outnumber all other cases of cancer detected in the U.S. They more commonly afflict those of us who find ourselves – whether for work or fun – more frequently in the outdoors.
But in addition to sunscreen, the development of lighter weight long-sleeved clothing made from more comfortable material for warm weather has also helped anglers avoid the burn, and the employment of better-fitting shirts, fishing pants and even face and neck shields can now limit the long-term damage from the sun for those who find themselves under it regularly pursuing their passions each summer. Such an investment in a reliable pairing of a long-sleeved shirt and fishing pants that fully cover arms and legs, and even a lightweight balaclava for summer, is well worth it if the combination helps prevent time under the knife later in life.
So, in addition to donning that life jacket, putting a plan and a contact schedule together, consider adding sun safety in the form of both sunscreen and summer clothes to the list of important steps for a successful and healthy angling regimen this summer. Doing so will likely prevent a bad sunburn that we all have experienced on occasion, and possibly help stave off something more severe, such as skin cancer, in one's golden years.
Simonson is the lead writer and editor of Dakota Edge Outdoors.
Featured Photo: Avoid the Burn. Anglers are particularly susceptible to sunburn and the long-term consequences it brings. While fishing, consider utilizing sunscreen with an SPF rating of 50 or higher and wearing light, but fully covering clothes to prevent both short-term discomfort and long-term cancer risk. Simonson Photo.
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