Clothes Maketh the Angler
Wild Fish Wild Places 05.02.12
Clothes maketh the man…clothes maketh the angler!
In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the character Polonius likes to give his son advice on how he should live his life. “So, what’s new?” I can hear you all groan! Polonius dispenses this fatherly wisdom by way of smug, holier-than-thou maxims. One of his more enduring is “Clothes maketh the man”.
You are no doubt saying to yourself “what in the name of Shakespeare has this got to do with fishing?” It has everything to do with fishing!
I am an adventurous soul and am generally up for anything, especially when a trip to a new water or chasing after a new species is the deal. In my early angling adventures, I travelled to many far-flung places, often arriving at my destination totally ill-equipped for the prevailing conditions and ended up having to endure a week, sometimes a fortnight, of clammy, humid, tropical weather, wearing clothes more suited to the mild weather of Ireland, instead of the demands of a fishing trip to an exotic, sweltering land. Slowly the penny dropped and cotton Ts, cotton underpants, flannel shirts, denims and other unsuitable garb were all given the elbow and replaced with specialist clothing made from hi-tech, man-made materials. The era of ‘Cool Al’ had arrived!
I like to fish hard and never more so than when I am on a fishing trip. On a long haul trip, I know my time is limited and so I want to spend as much time on the water as possible. Denis is exactly the same and we will regularly do 12 hour days in the boat, often casting for 9 of those 12 hours. Working large top-water lures like Woodchoppers or 10 inch glide baits in temperatures north of 100 degrees Fahrenheit accompanied by 80%+ humidity is tough going to say the least. It is when you are exposed to these very trying conditions that you feel the benefits of wearing the right type of clothing.
I wear long-sleeved, well vented, airy shirts with an SPF of 50 and long pants made from 100% lightweight, breathable fabric like polyester.
When it comes to underwear, I cannot emphasise enough the difference a pair of polyester shorts make to your ability to tolerate such adverse conditions and more importantly, one’s overall comfort levels and sense of coping with the worst that these tropical conditions can throw at you. Extreme humidity makes the least activity very draining and uncomfortable and at its worst, can lead to serious chafing of one’s nether regions. This latter affliction I urge you avoid at all cost, having first-hand experience of wearing cotton shorts in tropical, coastal Kenya where the seasonal humidity that accompanies the rains makes any activity unbearable most of the time. Polyester, quick-drying shorts are one of man’s great innovations, aaaah sheer bliss!
A couple of years ago, Denis introduced me to Glacier sun gloves which I now wear as part of my fishing uniform. My Glacier sun gloves are made of lycra and are extremely comfortable to wear. They dry out very quickly, which is an important consideration for us fishing folk but most important of all, they provide an SPF of 50+ for your hands which for me at least is a serious consideration. In recent times I had a very aggressive malignant melanoma removed and four other skin cancers successfully excised. I strongly urge all anglers to consider buying sun gloves as the protection that these superb products give to the otherwise exposed, delicate skin on the back of the hand and fingers is really important. My GP happens to be a skin specialist and he advocates that anyone participating in activities such as fishing, cycling, sailing etc that exposes the hands for long periods to the sun’s harmful rays should wear sun gloves. I consider them an absolute ‘must wear’ now that I am somewhat knowledgeable about the damaging effects of UVA and UVB rays. Jeeze, when I think back to the countless times when the back of my hands were well and truly burnt from long hours throwing lures, I shudder now at my stupidity. Another major plus point when wearing sun gloves is that you do not need to put sun screen on your hands anymore. Sunscreen on my hands always makes holding the reel handle difficult and you run the risk of getting the perfumed sun lotion on lures and the business end of the leader. It really is a no-brainer!
So when Polonius said the immortal words “Clothes maketh the man”, I have to laugh and think he would have been better to say “clothes maketh the angler!”
Switch on Sportsman Channel and catch Denis and myself on Wild Fish Wild Places as we go on another wild adventure in search of great predatory fish.
We will put you in the hearts and minds of people who live to fish and people who fish to live.
AIR TIMES: Eastern
Sunday 1:30 AM
Monday 12:00 PM
Thursday 5:00 PM
Saturday 10:30 PM
FISH AND FISHING. TWO WORDS HAVING A MYRIAD OF MEANINGS TO A MYRIAD OF PEOPLES. TO FISH FOR FOOD, FOR LIFE, FOR SURVIVAL; OR TO FISH FOR FUN, FOR SPORT, FOR MONEY.
When, almost 5,000 years ago in China, man first attached a hook and line to a bamboo rod to catch carp a little further from the river’s edge, little did he know that this creation would evolve into an industry which at the early part of this, the twenty-first century, is worth over $108 billion annually to the US economy in terms of sport fishing alone!
The variety of fish species is infinite. From cold water inhabitants such as members of the Salmonidae family, to warm water, tropical dwellers like the Cichlids. From the gigantic Tarpon of the Florida Keys to the gentler Arctic Charr spectacularly attired in their vivid courtship colors in the frigid rivers and streams of the arctic tundra. Take the celebrated Coelacanth, over three hundred million years old and still found today in the warm seas of the Indian Ocean around Madagascar, or the seemingly ubiquitous Golden Orfe, or the goldfish, which completes endless circuits in so many glass bowls in family homes in every corner of the world.
In this series, we will seek out great predatory fish. Fish that are much revered, fish that strike terror at the very mention of their name and fish that are the staple diet of many peoples subsisting along the shorelines and riverbanks of the great waters we will visit during our odyssey. Positioned at the very top of the food chain, these apex predators reign supreme in their own domain, be it mighty river, great lake or ocean.
Our quest will take us across cultures and continents to exotic locations of immense beauty and wealth as well as lands poleaxed by poverty. We will explore not just these wild and wonderful places, but the significance of our target species to the different groupings of peoples in terms of social, economic and cultural values.
Our travels in search of extraordinary predators will take us from the cold, unforgiving waters of the West of Ireland to the steaming jungle swamps of India. From the frozen, pristine wilderness of the Canadian subarctic to the sun-baked backwaters of Northern Australia. This will be a series of contrasts and comparisons where we will meet people who live to fish and people who fish to live.
