SKIN-TELLIGENCE IN SPORT FISHING

Your skin remembers all and will remind you later if you don't take care of it now

- CAMERON J. RHODES

DO YOURSELF A FAVOR AND DON'T BE LIKE CAPT. BUTCH COX. THAT'S PROBABLY NOT SOMETHING YOU'VE EVER HEARD BEFORE ABOUT THE LONGTIME PRIME TIME SKIPPER, WHO'S WELL-KNOWN FOR NOT JUST HIS FISHING ABILITIES, BUT ALSO HIS FRIENDLY NATURE. SO, WHEN I SAY TO NOT TO BE LIKE HIM, IT'S WITH AN AIR OF PLAYFULNESS. WHILE COX HAS COUNTLESS CHARACTERISTICS WE ALL SHOULD BE SO LUCKY TO EMULATE, THERE'S ONE PARTICULAR AREA IN HIS LIFE THAT COULD USE SOME IMPROVEMENT: SUN PROTECTION. IN THAT REGARD, COX CALLS HIMSELF A BAD BOY. AFTER NUMEROUS SURGERIES, HIS DERMATOLOGIST WOULD LIKELY AGREE.

A FIRST BRUSH WITH CANCER

Cox turned 71 in June and has been fishing professionally for 50 of those years. While working in Oregon Inlet on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, he eventually met someone who was looking to buy a boat and start his own fishing program. Together, the pair established an internationally renowned operation aboard the 57-foot Paul Mann Prime Time. For 24 years Cox manned the helm, fishing in world-class destinations such as North Carolina, Venezuela, Aruba, St. Thomas and the Dominican Republic. Since then, he's gone on to run other programs, including DA Sea.

Like all fishermen, Cox has spent an immeasurable amount of time exposed to the elements and is no stranger to the sun. "While fishing, I would pretty much always wear a visor but never a shirt. And I definitely didn't apply any sunscreen," he admits. Decades of sun exposure would eventually catch up to him in the mid-1990s. Interestingly enough, it wasn't a dermatologist, nurse or fellow fisherman who told him he had a problem.