The Importance of the right eye wear
The Importance of the right eye wear.
One question I get asked a lot throughout the season when fishing from a drifting boat is how I manage to spot fish rising so well and be able to see my dry flies. There are lots of tips that help, spending time on the water and honing your peripheral vision is a big help. Once you get used to seeing any movement on the water you will be amazed how fast your fish spotting skills improve. When looking for your dry fly follow the fly line, I normally fish 3 dry flies from a drifting boat and always have a large dry fly on the top dropper to draw my eye. Wearing a peaked cap also makes a big difference and I prefer the peak to have a dark inside which also helps with the glare.
During a day afloat and in a season, you are faced with lots of different light conditions. Added with different ripples and shadows on the water having the right sun glasses makes a massive difference. I would love to say one pair would cover all situations but this is just not the case. Over the years I have tried lots of different glasses and lens types. The first must is they have to be Polarised. The reason for this is because with normal sunglasses light travels through the lenses in both horizontal and vertical directions. By incorporating a chemical filter during the manufacturing process of polarised lenses, the horizontal light, which is the principle reason for the glare, is nullified. This allows only vertical light rays to pass through the lenses. By eliminating horizontal light, this dramatically reduces powerful rays distorting vision which allows the fly fisher to effectively look through the water surface. This is a massive advantage in visually identifying where fish are located. Not only does this improve your ability to spot fish and your dry flies but also saves strain on your eyes.
If I had to choose just one lens for most conditions it would be the Copper Flash in all but the brightest conditions these are fantastic and do not distort the colours which is really important to me.
The second pair I use are the Grey Blue lens as they excellent at maintaining true colour definition through the polarising filter. These lenses are very effective in bright sunlight conditions and also prevent me suffering eye strain and fatigue. This lens is also my favourite when I go chasing salt water fish such as Bone fish and Permit.
The Last Lens which on its day cannot be beaten is the Yellow lens. On a dark overcast day which is perfect for dry fly fishing they really do make your flies stand out on the water like beacons. It’s in these conditions that spotting your flies and fish can be really hard. I find the Yellow lens to be a real game changer and once you have tried them you will not want to be without a set. They are also very good on the flats in low light conditions giving you great contrast as well as depth perception. My Favourite style of glasses are the Loop V10 not only do they have great lens but they are extremely comfy which is very important on a long day afloat they wrap round my face well offering important protection for the eyes while casting.
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