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Polarized sunglasses for fishing

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Katrine Kirk
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Polarized sunglasses for fishing

#1

Post by Katrine Kirk »

My eyes aren't great. I use prescription glasses with two strengths on each eye - totalling four different strengths. This is necessary if I am to see well up close and at distance. I have a pair of polarized sunglasses with lenses that are dark brown (hint of yellowish tinge) at the top, and fade into a pale brown at the bottom. They seem to do me fine service when I am out sailing or sea kayakking.

People keep telling me I need to buy specialised polarized fishing sunglasses, but I wonder whether I really need them. The fishing sunglasses I have seen are not available with prescription lenses.

I like to photograph, and it's obviously not necessary to put on a dark polarized filter in order to get good photos into clear water. Besides, with my suboptimal eyesight I really don't want to filter out more light than necessary.

I will mostly be fishing on the coast, and often in low light.

What gives?

Katrine - flyfisher in spe
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Lasse Karlsson
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Polarized sunglasses for fishing

#2

Post by Lasse Karlsson »

Hi Katrine

There are people who consider the use of polarized sunglasses cheating ;)

Good sunglasses with a great polarization filter in are great, but far from essential! If your sunglasses work for you, then there's really no need for more, especially at the coast, where it's more about seeing where you set your feet, than spotting fish.
If you fish mostly in low light, a pair with yellow lenses might be handy.

Cheers
Lasse
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Boisker
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Polarized sunglasses for fishing

#3

Post by Boisker »

I’m sure your polarised glasses are fine, no need to change for a pair that are marketed as ‘fishing polaroids’... they aren’t any different as such, just depends what colour you want and ‘non-fishing brands’
come in just as big a range of colours.

My wife worked for an opticians for a while and the main partner looked at my £220 Costa glass Polaroids.... he wasn’t that impressed, said I’d be better buying glass polaroids from an optician as the lenses are far better.... but then he would say that :D
I’ve ignored him and since bought some smith low light ignitors as well :D
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Graeme H
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Polarized sunglasses for fishing

#4

Post by Graeme H »

The coloured lenses are said to help improve the contrast between the fish and their background (or the shadows of those fish). The idea is that lenses with red colour filter blue light differently to red light (and so on through the spectrum).

So a brown fish on a green backdrop should have a different contrast through red lenses than it would through grey lenses. Fish on a sandy flat will cast a blue shadow under a blue sky (the shadow is lit by the sky) so a copper lens can help show that shadow.

I think it's more important to be able to see clearly than it is to see contrasts, so if you can't get "fishing lenses" with your prescription, you should just be happy to be able to see at all! :) (Some brands will do prescription, but it comes at premium and they may not be the glass lenses in their range.)

(Another option is to just wear coloured polarising "overglasses" over your everyday clear glasses.)

Cheers,
Graeme
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Katrine Kirk
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Polarized sunglasses for fishing

#5

Post by Katrine Kirk »

Thank you Lasse, Boisker & Graeme

It all makes sense. My eyesight has become one of my main challenges in many aspects of my life, and I think it is a fair point to stick with optician's glasses that allow me to see as clearly as possible. The polarization effect of my prescription sunglasses is good, they are just not mirrored or bright blue. Nor do they shut light out from the sides. So in many ways they are unlike the supercool blinkers that fishing nerds around here seem to like. One rarely needs dark sunglasses in Denmark anyway. We have about 2.3 days of bright sunshine a year. :kungfu:

I might look into colored pol-overglasses, as Graeme suggests. I vaguely remember playing around with colored filters when I studied photography in high school. And yes, there were definite differences between the contrasts depending on the color of the filter.

Katrine - fly fisher in spe
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al greig
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Polarized sunglasses for fishing

#6

Post by al greig »

Hi Katrine,

The only thing I would add is that cheap polaroids can cause headaches. I found this out in NZ - spending hours straining to spot fish left my head throbbing. A friend lent me his considerably more expensive pair and by the end of that day I had no headache problems!

Al.
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sms
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Polarized sunglasses for fishing

#7

Post by sms »

Some people are more prone to the head ache thing than others.
A friend of mine uses Oakley since they don't cause him headache. I have some Oakleys too, but I don't find them any better than $5 polaroids I bought from Mexico. Actually, I prefer the cheapos since Oakleys get scratches even if you look at them. The cheapos seem to better in that sense. But when it is really bright and I need to see in the best possible manner into the blue, I use my daylight robber expensive Costas. That is pretty much the only case where I've seen value of high end glasses. On flats I go with brown cheapos. Would like to find yellow cheapos and stock since yellow is good for the little fishing I do here.

I don't think one needs any fishing specific polarizing. Either the polarizing is good or it is not, it is not related to application. Lens color is one aspect thou. But then cocoons are available. Don't look cool, but the fish don't care.
Costas claim to block certain wavelengths more, which may be true since they just blew out Oakleys in how well one saw under the surface when we did some cross testing in the blue waters of Panama.
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Katrine Kirk
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Polarized sunglasses for fishing

#8

Post by Katrine Kirk »

Hi Sakke,

Thanks for taking the time to add more useful information. I didn't know about Cocoons. They may not look cool to you, but judging from their website, they look just fine to me. Which means either you are wrong or I have an exceptionally uncool taste. I believe you are right about the fish not caring, which makes them a very reasonably priced choice for the situations where my expensive fashion brand prescription sunglasses aren't quite the match for the intense glare of the ocean - or of the snow, for that matter.

Thanks again.

Katrine - flyfisher in spe
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.
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Paul Arden
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Polarized sunglasses for fishing

#9

Post by Paul Arden »

There are people who consider the use of polarized sunglasses cheating
Yeah I heard that was the case when they were invented.

If you're spotting fish then a good pair is essential IMO. A good pair of around £100 lasts me 6 months. Cheap ones at 20 quid last me 1-2 months. The reason that cheap ones give headaches is the distortion as you look from up to down. I bought a not-so-cheap pair once that made me feel dizzy while running. I immediately returned them.

Colour is probably the most important thing and the right colour depends on where you are fishing. I had a pair of Maui Jim's that were green and surprisingly effective for spotting in freshwater lakes. I'd love to have the opportunity to experiment with different colour lenses, because they make a significant difference.

I used to have glass lenses (Mako) that lasted for over a year. Polycarb scratches just by buying it.

Sorry I don't know about the prescription lenses, but if you are buying glass, and you need to cut the glare, then I would spend money. I like to see clearly, without distortion. A good general colour is light brick. The interesting MJ's were a greenish tint. In Australia SW they appear to be keen on blue lenses.

Cheers, Paul
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Graeme H
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Polarized sunglasses for fishing

#10

Post by Graeme H »

Paul Arden wrote: In Australia SW they appear to be keen on blue lenses.

Cheers, Paul
That must be an east coast thing. On this side, everyone uses copper colour lenses or yellow (Tonic make a "neon" range, which is polarised and yellowish.)

Tonic are the best glasses I've used. I stepped on mine a few months ago and opted for some HaberVision glass ones that cost me $60 at our club auction. They work well enough.

Cheers,
Graeme
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