Protect your skin ( Product Reviews)

If you are like me, as you get older the need to protect your skin from the damaging effects of the sun becomes a lot more important. Since I kayak fish and wade, i'm a lot closer to the water which means I am even closer to the UV rays bouncing off the water. Sun screen has always burned my face so it doesn't get used and it wasn't used on my arms because I didn't like to get it on my hands due to touching lures. I figured that it would transfer to the lure and fish would react to it in a negative way.There are two kinds of shirts that I wear today when fishing. One is made by Columbia and what I like about it is the UV coating built into the shirt, it's ventilated and has plenty of pockets as well as being able to dry fast when wet. The other shirt I wear is a performance shirt by FINZOMINE extreme sports apparel company. Their shirts are extremely light and are UV protected and dry faster than any shirt that I own. Since I wear the long sleeve versions of both shirts as well as the Columbia fishing pants I have no problem on hot days of finding a spot to take a dip and get them wet in order to cool me off.
Now for face protection. I have started wearing BUFF's to protect my face and ears from the sun. They are UV protected, light, breathable and they look good. You can find them in all kind of fishing designs to fit your taste. You really can feel a difference since the sun is not reflecting off the water and back into my face while wearing these. Another thing that is nice is they offer one that will repel insects even after many washings. Recently I have started wearing their fishing gloves to protect my hands from the sun.
Almost forgot, wear a good pair of polorized glasses to protect your eyes. It is something a lot of people don't think about but is just as important.
Now you might think these are extreme measures but if it keeps me out of the doctors office i'm all for it.

Here are some of the items as well as links to their websites.
http://www.finzomine.com/performance-shirts---long-sleeves.html

http://www.buffusa.com/

Perch Poppin on the Fly

After watching the Cowboy's play like the Cowgirl's, I had to get out of the house to get rid of some frustration. Nothing will calm you down like a good wade trip with the fly rod so I loaded up my gear and headed out for a section of the Guadalupe river that I cross often but haven't fished yet.
Not knowing what the depth was going to be I packed light with a small backpack with some gear and made sure to put on my waist inflatable PFD from Onyx because better safe than sorry.
After walking to the waters edge I decided to put a small popper on and target some perch and guadalupe bass. With the water flowing and a lot of grass being pulled downstream I made my way in knee deep water hitting any pocket of slack water I could find. It didn't take long before a small guadalupe bass took the popper and delighted me with a nice air show before landing and releasing it to fight another day. There were a lot of fish cruising around the shallow weed line but they were very spooky and not interested in my offerings. After catching a few perch I noticed some grasshoppers along the bank hanging on to the grass so it was time to change to a hopper. The change made a difference as the fish were more receptive and I released many and lost quite a few trying to play them down before bringing them in.The water was nice and cool and I was able to wade wherever I wanted with a few spots being chest deep. The rod I used today was a custom Matthews fly rod in 4wt paired with a Solitude reel. The more I use this set up the more I like it.The rod is fast and casts well and the reel is very smooth.
Enjoy the pictures and thanks for reading.
See you on the river...........