Do Sun Sleeves Serve a Fishing Purpose?

Sun’s out, guns out, right?

Despite the fact that all of us know we’re supposed to cover up from the sun’s harmful rays, most anglers are not as vigilant about this as necessary.

The first factor is an embarrassing one—the concept of a “healthy tan” is so ingrained in our brains that we feel like we should allow ourselves a little bit of exposure.

The second factor is more obvious—pure laziness. We just don’t take the time to fully cover up or reapply sun protection as needed.

I’m guilty of this one. I religiously apply 30 or 50 SPF sunscreen before a day on the water, but I don’t necessarily reapply even once, despite the fact that I usually have a tube in the cooler of my boat. I prefer a baseball hat to a floppier hat that would provide more coverage. I own a ton of Buffs, but I wear one perhaps 50 percent of the time and sun gloves even less than that.

The third factor is that less sometimes feels like more. When the temperatures allow, I’d rather wear a short-sleeved shirt than a long-sleeved shirt. I’d rather get into some of my favorite shorts than wear long pants, even lightweight ones. My default is to have the least amount of clothing on that’s feasible without offending anyone’s sensibilities. One historical compromise many of us have made in this regard is zip-off lightweight pants. Truth be told, I own several pairs (the ones from The North Face fit me better than the ones from Columbia—but your mileage and fit may vary) but rarely convert them from pants to shorts. It’s partially laziness and partially the fear that I’ll never get the various parts back from the laundry. They’re a good idea, though, and quite popular.

An upper torso corollary to zip-off pants is the idea of sun sleeves, which haven’t seemed to have gained as much traction. I bought a pair of the Simms sleeves several years back and wear them occasionally. They’re high-quality, like just about everything Simms makes, quite comfortable and breathable and I found that they stay up, but I haven’t worn them as much as I should have. I hereby resolve going forward to store them in the boat or in my travel bag when on vacation.

If the ones from Simms aren’t your cup of tea, they’re not the only game in town. Buff makes them in a Camo White pattern.

And Columbia Sportwear’s Freezer Zero Arm Sleeves in either white or “Harbor Blue Real Tree Mako” are currently on closeout at Tackle Warehouse.

There are others on the market, including some that have holes for your fingers that keep the sleeve in place, but whenever I’ve purchased shirts with that feature I’ve found it to be distracting. Again, you might not mind as much.

I suppose that another solution would be to just be to always wear long sleeves (not feasible to me) or to make your own (not worth the trouble). Just be sure to cover up. We can’t say we weren’t warned.