Polarized Sunglasses The smart anglers’ advantage.

The one piece of equipment that no angler should be without is polarized sunglasses. Normal sunglasses decrease the intensity of light by the same amount, whereas polarized lens selectively reduce the amount of light coming from above. By eliminating this light polarized lens reduce the glare off of the water and help anglers see below the waters’ surface.  In addition to reducing glare they also reduce reflections from above such as clouds or blue sky, causing the water to appear darker but clearer. There is nothing more exciting than stalking and casting to a fish that you have spotted.  Polarized sunglasses will allow you to do so. While spotting fish is an important feature of Polaroid’s I think they are more valuable because they also allow you see underwater structure. Being able to see logs, rocks and other objects that shelter fish is crucial to the success of anglers, especially in rivers and streams. Another feature is that changes in depth are more defined; this allows the angler to see where drop-offs and slots occur. By cutting the glare off of the water the dry fly fisherman will be able to follow his fly better and the nymph fisher will be better able to keep track of his strike indicator.  From a safety point of view polarized sunglasses perform a couple of functions. The boat angler has the benefit of seeing underwater objects that could damage their boat or motor. Protecting your eyes from not only the sun but also errant hooks is an obvious advantage. When looking for a pair of sun glasses look for a style that blocks the light not only from the front but also the sides. For the person that wears glasses already there are three options available to them.  They can buy prescription sunglasses, (make sure that you order polarized), they can get clip on's or they can get a fit-over style sunglass. While not really the most fashionable they are surprisingly comfortable and block the light not only from the front but also the sides, like wrap around sunglasses. I prefer a brown coloured lens in my glasses but many anglers go with gray.  Brown lenses  give you higher contrast while gray lenses give you truer colours, so choose which colour you feel will suit your needs best but definitely invest in a set of polarized glasses.