I’m a big fan of using intelligently designed clothing and accessories for my solar protection. So was my grandmother (she was right about a lot of things).
And so is FLW Cup winner and Simms pro Kevin Hawk.
“I’m looking to protect my hands, face, and neck, but I don’t like getting sunscreen on my hands”, says Hawk.
Neither do I. I think it’s a bass deterrent.
Unless you walk around with your own personal Hawaiian Tropic babe, there’s no way to apply sunscreen to yourself without getting it all over your hands. Thankfully, Simms has come to the rescue with products like their SunGloves and the SunArmour balaclava.
Congratulations to the winner, but personally I prefer the one scantily clad in three square inches of solid pink to be my lotion babe. Oh... they're busy? Simms to the rescue!!
SunArmour
Simms SunArmour takes care of your face and neck.
“I used to wear Buffs before I got the Simms and my glasses fogged up”, claims Hawk. “Plus, that little extra material on the bottom end to cover your neck and collar bone is ingenious.”
The design of the Simms SunArmour is far superior to the Buff®. It’s lighter, stretchier, more breathable, dries faster, covers more surface area, is more comfortable, and virtually eliminates fogging.
The fogging issue is due to the Buff® channelling expired air from your nostrils up your cheekbones and into the space between your eyes and lenses. I feel like I need one of those late night infomercial style animations with little moving arrows to show you what I mean, but I think you get what I’m saying.
Simms solves this problem by perforating the portion of material that goes over your nose. This allows the exhaled air to escape without being redirected upward. These little details matter.
SunGloves
Lots of guys wear hats and even long-sleeved shirts to protect them from the sun, but few think about protecting the top of their hands. The SunGloves by Simms are the perfect solution.
SunGloves are fingerless and made from an Under Armour-ish material, but they are even lighter and more breathable. They offer UPF 50+ protection that won’t sweat or wash off like sunscreen. If you do get them wet while landing a fish, no problem. They dry in minutes.
Are they comfortable? Let’s ask Kevin Hawk…
“It could be 90 degrees and your hands don’t get hot, it feels like you don’t have anything on. I can wear them all day.”
You’d think durability would be an issue, since they’re so thin and light, but both Kevin and myself can attest to their lasting quality.
“Before I started using the Simms gloves I was using a different brand of glove and just the grabbing of the steering wheel wore down the palms, but I haven’t had that problem with Simms.”
The great thing about SunGloves is the minimum amount of material they used to get the job done. There are no palms or finger tips. This increases tactile feedback when grabbing things around the boat and holding your rod.
Also notice the leathery reinforcement stitched into key areas of abrasion. When you lip a bass while wearing these, those little teeth stick like velcro! It’s a very sure, confident feeling.
The only drawback I see is the fact that you’ll have less “bass thumb” to showcase at the end of the day.
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Buy these products. They are worth every penny. Every angler with the FishStrong mentality should wear these. Seriously, do you think Hawaiian Tropic babes like guys with chunks of skin carved out of their body from melanoma?
FishStrong!
