Fly Fishing Tip for Avoiding UV (ultra violet) Sunburn

I was feeling a bit poorly having just had a bout of food poisoning thanks to the local supermarkets ready meal.  My wife is away helping my youngest daughter who is expecting our 23rd grandchild!  So to cheer myself up I thought I would treat myself to a new rod, reel and line.  I had met a chap using a 7 foot rod on the chalk streams and realised he could fish the carriers and small pocket waters that my 8 foot 6 inch was just too long for.  Now I don't believe in spending shed loads of money on tackle for the following reasons:-

• I don't have shed loads of money (if I did it would be a different matter)
• the fish only gets to see the fly (hopefully), they don't care which rod and reel were used to serve it up
• given the advances in rod design I think it is quite hard for a manufacturer to make a lousy rod!  Someone can probably prove me wrong on that.

So I thought I would try a firm called Sonik and I got a rod and reel from them together with a Cortland line.  So far I have only tried them out on the garden lawn but the action has been encouraging.

 

Whilst looking through the Fishtec catalogue I came across something that I had seen used whilst fishing the Yakama River in WA with a guide called Joel.  It was the first time I had fished with Joel and we were drifting the Canyon stretch with him on the oars and me standing in the bows casting.  When I looked round to talk to him I got a shock!  He had covered up his face like he was going to rob a bank or bump me off!  I then noticed that he had cute white gloves on!  Was this to prevent leaving finger prints on the murder weapon?  Fortunately my experience as an engineer saved me from saying something stupid and I realised he was protecting himself from ultra violet radiation!  So I played it cool and pretended that everything was totally normal.

 

Now I don't like getting sunburnt, or sore throats, or insect bites so this fabric tube that Joel was wearing round his neck and up over his face appealed to me.  In the photo below you can see it round his neck as I had asked him to display his smile for the camera.

 

Anyway you can now buy them over here and mine came today from Fishtec and it is called a Buff.  They are rather fun as there are lots of different ways to wear them summer or winter.  I will be using mine as scarf, neckerchief, cap and face mask (no not to rob banks).

 
Joel on the Yak complete with white gloves and the Buff round his neck so we can see his smile!
 
 
PS. I am not affiliated to any of the companys mentioned above.