On Tom Rowland Podcast Episode 77 (How 2 Tuesday #28), I answer a question every working guide eventually asks: how do you extend your guiding career? My answer is simpler than it sounds. You take care of yourself. That means staying properly hydrated on the water, eating right, getting exercise that works your joints through their full range of motion, and above all protecting yourself from the sun. In this solo episode I lay out the daily habits that kept my energy high through twenty- and thirty-day fishing stretches and that can add ten years to your time on the water.
Listen now: Apple Podcasts or press play in the player above.
You extend your guiding career by taking care of yourself, and the recipe is simpler than most people expect. It comes down to staying hydrated on the water, eating right, getting exercise that works your joints in every direction, and protecting yourself from the sun. The most important of those is sun protection. Do those things consistently and you can keep your body healthy enough to guide for an extra ten years.
Hydration matters because the depletion sneaks up on you over a long run of days. Skipping water is no big deal on day one or two, but when you fish twenty or thirty days in a row you slowly run a deficit, and by day four, five, or six you are physically exhausted. I used to carry a full gallon of water on the boat and refuse to step off until it was gone. That habit kept my energy where it needed to be.
Guides get shoulder and lower-back overuse injuries because they repeat the same motion thousands of times, whether that is throwing a cast net or pulling a boat. The fix is to exercise the joint through every range of motion, not just the one your work demands. If your day is all pulling down, like climbing a rope, then go to the gym and do the opposite, with push-ups and overhead work. Training the reverse movements balances the joint and helps you avoid the injury.
The best protection is covering up rather than relying only on chemical sunscreen. I prefer long sleeves, long pants, a hat, and good polarized sunglasses, because clothing does not wash off, sting your eyes, or need reapplying at four in the morning when the fishing is good. Many modern fishing fabrics carry an SPF rating on the hang tag, often up to SPF 80 or more, and they are lighter and dry faster than the old cotton. I still wear sunscreen too, but cover-up comes first.
The Buff is a tube of multifunctional headwear that slips over your head like a sock and covers your face and neck in one piece. It solved a real problem, since bandanas always left the sides of the neck exposed even when you tied on two of them. It became so essential to me that if I am five minutes from the dock and realize I forgot it, I will turn the boat around to get it. Buff also makes light gloves and arm sleeves so the backs of your hands and forearms stay covered.
The sun gets dramatically stronger the closer to the Equator you travel, and even people who live and work in the Florida Keys are not ready for it. When we fished Christmas Island, everybody got hammered, because the rays are more intense, the days are long, and the fishing is good enough that you do not want to come in. A guide who is acclimated to tropical sun at home can still get badly burned in a more equatorial region, so you cover up even more than usual.
Here is the routine I follow to stay healthy and keep guiding year after year.
I walk through each of these with the stories behind them in the episode. Press play in the player above.
The part of this that surprised me most early on was how quietly dehydration takes you out. On day one or two you can skip water and feel fine, so it never registers as a problem. The trouble is the long run, the twenty or thirty days back to back, where a small daily deficit compounds until you are simply depleted and exhausted by the middle of the week. Carrying a full gallon and refusing to leave the boat until it was empty was my fix, and pairing that with eating right kept my energy where it needed to be. I tell the whole story in the episode, so press play in the player above.
For years I tried to rely on chemical sunscreen, and it never fit the reality of a guide's day. It gets in your eyes and your mouth, you have to remember to reapply, and at four in the morning in the dark, with the fishing turning on, you forget. By eleven you have already taken a beating from the early sun. Covering up solved that, because a long-sleeve shirt does not wash off or need reapplying. The materials kept getting better too, lighter and faster-drying with real SPF ratings on the tag. I lay out exactly what I wear and why in the episode, so press play in the player above.
I thought people who live and work in the Florida Keys were as sun-hardened as anyone could be, until we went to Christmas Island. Everybody got hammered. The rays are much stronger the closer to the Equator you get, the days are long, and the fishing is good enough that nobody wants to come in. That trip is where the Buff, the gloves, and the arm sleeves stopped being nice-to-haves and became gear I would turn the boat around for. My son even safety-pinned his Buff to his shirt to close the sunburn ring around his neck. I tell that story in full in the episode, so press play in the player above.
The longer I have done this, the clearer the pattern is: the more I cover up, the higher my energy stays. It is not complicated, and it is not glamorous. Take care of yourself, watch your hydration, watch your diet, get some exercise, and protect yourself from the sun.
If you want to keep guiding or fishing for another ten years, the easiest, quickest, simplest place to start is sun protection. Wear the hat, the polarized glasses, the Buff, the long sleeves, and the long pants, and use the technology that exists now. Press play in the player above and put it to work this season.
How 2 Tuesday · Saltwater Experience · Florida Keys · Christmas Island · The Seychelles · Buff multifunctional headwear · sun protection and SPF clothing · hydration · overuse injuries · polarized sunglasses
How 2 Tuesday is my weekly series where I break down one fishing skill at a time, from knots and casting to gear, tactics, and the habits that make you a better angler. Watch and listen to every How 2 Tuesday episode from Tom Rowland.
I'm Tom Rowland, a professional fishing guide based in the Florida Keys, host of the Tom Rowland Podcast, and the longtime host of the Saltwater Experience television show. On the podcast's How 2 Tuesday series I break down one practical skill or lesson at a time, from fishing technique and gear to travel and the habits that keep me healthy enough to spend my life on the water, in short, focused episodes you can put to use right away.
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