Home Forums Fishing Freshwater Fishing and skin cancer

Probably not as exciting as debating the merits of a #7 Shad Rap vrs. a #9, but a heck of a lot more important in the long run. Like most of you, I know about sun screen and SPF ratings and how often we are supposed to slather the stuff on when we are out on the water, but how many of us actually do that? I grew up tanning and getting burned even before they invented the broad spectrum sun screens. Even now after years of charter fishing and Canadian walleye fishing with a tube of sun screen in my pocket, I'd dab on a little first thing in the morning and get so caught up catching fish that the sun protection was about the last thing on my mind. I'm paying the price now and paying the dermatologist. A guy with a scalpel does get your attention and its going to leave a mark. Don't do that to yourself.

Being here in Florida I see these guys really know how to cover up. A baseball cap doesn't cut it. You need one of those dorkish big brimmed jobs even with the neck covers. I bought a Simms Solarflex full face mask and Fish Monkey half finger fishing gloves to protect the backs of my hands. Long sleeves and long pants might be hotter than shorts and a tee shirt, but it will keep you out of the doctor's office. My mirrored, polarized sun glasses worked well for the glare, but they directed a lot of reflected sun back down on to my cheek bones. I might be a whole lot less photogenic covered up like I'll be, but keeping precancerous spots from turning into melanoma should be the goal of us all.

I've spent a lot more time on an open tractor than in a fishing boat. The big brimmed hat is good when the sun is out bright.

I have had a melanoma (the kills ya kind) and a carcinoma (the less serious but still cancer kind). Both surgically removed. Caught the melanoma very early, thank goodness. Two years now without a recurrence, but still get regular "full Monty" skin checks to be sure.

On the water, I'm the guy with no skin showing. None. And with sunscreen underneath.

Dubob introduced me to a great sunblock for fishing. It's BullFrog Water Sport Gel. It's the gel art that makes it the best for fishing, because it's alcohol based and doesn't leave a slickery, messy coating behind. Goes on and dries right away. Stays on, too. It can be hard to find, though. I get it at Walgreen's, but not every Walgreen's has it.

I'm in Citrus county Florida and when I go fishing, I go on overcast days if possible. A big straw hat, sunglasses, and a Bimini top works for me.

That's a Simms mask right there all right. Works well with a black cowboy hat at Halloween for frightening little kids too. I read once that Wisconsin has one of the highest rates of skin cancer because of our fair skin northern European ancestry and the fact that we get nearly no sun exposure for like six months of the year. Those fingerless fishing gloves are new for me this year after I'm seeing those brown sun induced spots showing up on the backs of my hands. Step-dad was a sleeveless golfer all his life and got some nasty brownish-black boil like things growing off his arms. The guy across the street down here goes walking without a hat every day and to date has had 22 skin surgeries to his head and neck! Another fishing buddy has white skin graft / scar patches on his cheeks and nose from the skin surgeon. There is no place to hide from the sun in a 14' aluminum fishing boat out on the water sun up to sun down. Cover it or cut it are your choices and it might be too late smart for some of us.

Avoiding sun exposure is the reason I fish at NIGHT.

I'm, 63, two weeks ago had some kind of sun caused cancer cut off, my wrist, and about a dozen frozen off my hands, forearms, face and fore head.. Years of farming, fishing and just being an outdoors kinda guy. Did not know what sunscreen was till I was in my 30's, have been using 30+ spf since then. Doc, said the damage was done when I was a young'n before I started to use sunscreen and broad brim hats.

Long sleeve fishing shirts, preferably with a hood or high neck, hat, and glasses. sun screen on the legs and top of hands applied every few hrs.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Men-Long-S...of-Shirts-/173408968270?oid=282480068463

Lifelong outsider , skin cancer to prove it , owned a beach jet-ski rental for 3 years in the sun march 1 - oct. weekends - 7 days a week 8am - 5pm .

These type shirts - dry fast long pants - mangrove gloves , sun neck gaitor and always a wide brim hat -- life is good -- preserve it !

Thank God these ladies are showing no fear. Awesome bunch.
Need to get out more link

I seldom sunburn, but when I went to Padre Island way back with Roger and them, my lower legs and the top of my feet sunburned pretty bad. I used lotion, but it washed off from fishing. I also think the blowing sand helped it along. I never wear shorts, except that time, and I was wading out in the water a lot. Had a great time thought. miles

Awesome bunch all right. I raised one of those blond and blue girl people and they are way more interested in mate baiting than sun exposure, wrinkles or worse at that age. It's the same reason that we don't make snow women up north. Too hard to hollow out the heads.

I think that I got those Fish Monkey half finger fishing gloves just in time. A shooting buddy down here in the Sunshine State is going in for 15 radiation treatments to a melanoma cancerous growth on the back of his hand. The people who have had radiation tell me that it hurts, gets the underlying muscles and your skin peels off.

RR, I have been looking for your Bullfrog Water Sport Gel and haven't found it yet. I've seen some of the Neutrogena screens as high as 100 SPF, but I've read that anything over about 50 SPF is just advertising hype. Hawaii has banned some sun screen products because they come off in the water and screw up the coral reefs. That seems kind of extreme to me, but I don't need to worry about coral reefs in Wisconsin.

Cover up exposed skin on arms and legs and wear wide brimmed hat with pull up neck/ face mask when facing the sun. Wear SPF 50 every day and still have stuff frozen off or cut off every derm appointment. Damage was done years ago before anyone even thought about sun damage. I fish open water and ice about 180 days a year so skin protection is a must.

Bull Frog apparently no longer makes the Water Sport Quik Gel, but they do still offer a Land Sport version. Unless you're swimming, the Land Sport version is fine for fishing use - and is probably the same stuff anyway. I ordered a new bottle of it from Walmart, and it'll be here for free pickup Wednesday. Walmart has it for $9 a bottle, which is as much as $10 cheaper than other places. I just checked to get a link, and it shows as Out Of Stock now.

I go in for my annual skin check later today. Fingers crossed!

I've yet to see the Bull Frog brand of sunscreen anywhere including three or four Walmart Super Stores and Walgreen's, but I keep looking. I don't mind the derm with the liquid nitrogen ice machine, but the other derm with the scalpel is the bad one. Instead of the scalpel the wife opted for the "bug juice" that they make from some kind of poisons beetle that rots your skin off because it wouldn't leave a scar, but it got infected instead. Scars are more manly, but the ice machine is better if you catch stuff early. That burns a little, but no worse than Wisconsin in January.

Clean bill of health for the check up RR?