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Woody’s Woods & Waters




Fishermen can beat the summer heat by going early. Larry Woody

Fishermen can beat the summer heat by going early. Larry Woody

I don’t know if it’s Global Warming or Global Aging, but it sure seems hotter than it used to.

As a kid, I could haul hay all day in the scorching heat, then go catfishing that night when it was so humid and muggy the fat yellow moon looked like it might melt, and the skeeters wheezed instead of buzzing.

Now I get a heat rash walking to the mail box.

Old folks called the blast-furnace days of August “Dog Days.” I always assumed it was because it was too hot for sensible pooches to be out and about. They lay under the porch on the cool dirt, tongues lolling out, hoping a flea didn’t bite because it was too hot to scratch.

Later I read that the term originated in olden times, named after the star Sirius – known as the Dog Star – that was especially bright and visible in late summer.

Bottom line, the Dog Days are hot. And they are particularly tough on outdoorsmen since we tend to be, well, outdoors, socially-distanced from the nearest air conditioner.

The heat is not merely uncomfortable for fishermen, it can be downright dangerous out on a shade-less, shimmering lake, on which anglers get a double-dose of reflected rays.

A friend who’s a part-time fishing guide was on Old Hickory Lake one sweltering summer afternoon several years ago. He said it was so hot he could hear thermometers popping off in the distance.

By mid-day the heat had become almost unbearable, but the client was catching fish and didn’t want to stop. Maybe the fish wanted to get caught and put in an ice cooler.

As I said, it was hot.

Despite the good fishing, my guide buddy had enjoyed about as much as he could stand, and was about to suggest they head back to the dock and seek some shade. Then something odd happened.

He fainted. 

A tough, grizzled guide who for years had fished during the fiercest summer heat, suddenly fainted like a little school girl with a frog down her dress.

Someone was looking after him that day. His client happened to be a doctor.

The doc immediately recognized the signs of heat prostration. He splashed water on the unconscious guide, took control of the boat, and raced back to the marina.

Paramedics were called to help revive the victim. They said if he’d been alone when he fainted, lying in the open boat under the relentless sun, he’d have been a goner.

He took the hint. He quit fishing during the steamy days of late summer. If he fished, he fished at night, or in the relative cool of morning.

His close call should serve as a warning to all Dog Days fishermen. Heat stroke can strike anyone, at any time, especially on the water. The best way to beat the heat is to stay out of it.

Having a fish fry is not worth cooking your goose.

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