Its summertime and deep in the heart of Texas, I can feel the sun’s rays beating down on me. It’s hot! There isn’t a breath of wind blowing. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea. FLW Tour Pro Joe Nech had invited me down to fish on his home lake and I couldn’t pass it up. Of course Nech’s home lake is Lake Fork in Texas. That’s right Lake Fork. Where largemouth bass grow to monstrous sizes and bite all year long if you can take the heat during the summer months. As I pull up Nech has a surprise for me. It’s not a new lure or a handful of Nech Wilderness spoons. No, it’s a hat on his head. It looks like one of those hats they wear in the desert. “What’s up with the hat Joe?” I ask. “I could tell you about it, but I am going to show you instead; it won’t take long for you to see why I love wearing it,” Nech replied. It wasn’t going to be long before I found out why Nech likes wearing his Glacier Outdoor Mojave Hat.

Now, I am not saying that Texas is hotter than any other place on earth, but instead of frying an egg over easy on the sidewalk when the sun is beating down, you can cook a six egg omelet and bacon in minutes; in fact you might have to shade the omelet so it don’t burn!

As we head out on the lake, the sun is beating down making things miserable. It’s the kind of day where you can’t drink enough water or keep the sweat from getting in your eyes. Nech came prepared for the outing. “You had better put a bunch of sunscreen on those ears of yours or they will burn to a crisp,” said Nech. He was right, I had on a regular baseball cap and my ears were exposed to the sun. It would have only taken a couple hours before they would have been seriously sunburned. “That’s why I love my new hat by Glacier Outdoor (www.Glacieroutdoor.com); it provides sun protection for my neck and ears plus it’s lightweight and dries fast if it gets wet,” explained Nech. Nech like many of the other FLW Tour Professionals have exchanged their normal baseball style cap to one that can offer sun protection during the summer months. These hats come in a number of different styles. “Glacier Outdoor offers a variety of hats that you can pick from. I like the Mojave style because it fits my style,” said Nech. It was obvious why Nech liked the hat. The long bill that was dark underneath helps keep him cool and the long bill kept his eyes shaded; in addition to being breathable lightweight. It also has an adjustable chin strap that keeps it from flying off into the lake. “You would think that the sun would come right through the material because it’s so lightweight, but it doesn’t. Look here on the cap; it has a 50+UPF rating. Your sunscreen is only rated for 30,” said Nech.

Glacier Outdoor has several different styles of sun hats including the Mojave Hat Zip Off with a removable shade, Mojave Hat, Boonie Hat, Outback Hat, and High Desert Hat. They also offer a patented Universal Shade that attaches to most hats and a new Sun Hood with a Patent Pending design that’s made from breathable material and vented.
No trip to Lake Fork is complete without fishing a gold spoon on one of Nech’s honey-holes. So before the day was over we tested a number of these honey-holes with the Nech Wilderness Spoon (www.nechwilderness.com) with surprising success. “The real key to fishing Lake Fork is moving away from the bank. I see guys beating the banks everyday and never catch the number or giant bass you can catch on offshore structure. The other key is to wear something to protect your skin like the hat I’m wearing,” explained Nech. That’s great advice for anyone fishing on Lake Fork in Texas; move offshore and make sure to wear one of the Glacier Outdoor hats.

Protecting yourself from the sun is a serious matter and the consequences can be deadly. My trip down to Lake Fork in Texas was to be a chance to catch giant bass and not end up with complications from being exposed to the sun. For Nech, it was another hot, sunny day on the lake chasing giant largemouth while wearing his sun hat and that makes a lot of sense in a place so hot you can cook an omelet on a sidewalk.