Although it’s the middle of the winter fishing season, it’s never too early to begin planning for the warmer weather ahead. With warmer weather usually comes more hours of daylight and more sun exposure. And with more sun exposure comes the threat of sunburn.
In 2012, I published an article on protecting yourself from sun damage while you are fishing. And while most of the links are dead now, I think it bears repeating that while we are out enjoying the great outdoors, there are some risks involved, including increased risk of skin cancer from sun exposure.
Appropriate use of sunscreen is one way to get sun protection, as is covering exposed skin. One area that is often overlooked with both sunscreen and covering is the backs of your hands. Yet in fishing we have a conundrum: should you wear gloves to protect your hands from solar radiation yet risk causing injury to fish when they are held, or should you forgo gloves altogether to protect fish from accidental slime removal?
One answer is to use a glove with no palm material. For the past many years I have used Bigfish Palmless Reversible Sun Gloves.
These strange looking gloves were designed in Australia and are used when you want your palm bare for a better grip or feel. They are lightweight and do not impede your hand’s natural movements. They work great in protecting the back of your hand from sunburn, yet allowing you to have a more natural feel than regular gloves.
So, if you wear gloves fishing, but are concerned about the damage they may potentially do to fish, then consider Bigfish Palmless Sun Gloves. I find them very helpful!
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These look like the sun gloves I used to use in the 90’s. This version fits small – supposed to measure by palm size but wrists are very tight, I’d recommend going up a size.
however, I cannot recommend these. The quality control is unfortunately extremely poor. I bought 2 pairs and every glove is a different size, and every loop is different on each glove – some are good and most are too tight (and I have slim fingers)
Finally, one of my pairs of gloves came as 2 left hand gloves.