A little bit of UV talk

[Bfuller]

I’d just like to take a few moments and try to help some of you out there with understanding UV “Ultra Violetâ€, and how it works, and how it may be used to put more fish in your boat. By no means am I saying what I am about to say is 100% true, it’s just my take on how this works, and the way I think about it, and the more I think about it, it makes perfect sense! Now a lot of you would assume I’d only be putting this up as a selling tactic, I’m not, I’ve just found that a lot of the lure industry is just putting out baits and saying they are UV enhanced, and that will make more fish bite. Well in my opinion that may not be true, and in some cases that may be right on the money!

Have you ever went outside with no shirt on when it was 65* and got sunburnt so bad you woulda thought it was 105*? I did earlier this year. Back in late May I did some river Smallie fishing with no shirt on, bright sunny skies, no breeze, but the sun was doing damage! While I watched the weather report before I went out, I noticed the UV index was going to be an 8 (which is very high) especially for that time of year.

Now we as humans do not see the same colors, and see in the same light as other living creatures do in the UV light spectrum. Thus making it harder for us to understand what fish would see. UV rays penetrate deeper into the water column than other light sources do. The higher the UV index, the more visible a UV enhanced lure should be in deeper water, and the more visible it should be in dirtier water.

Now, how many of you have ever been outside while it was cloudy and rainy and got a sunburn? Probably never, thus the clouds block most of the UV rays, and would also put a damper on how deep a fish can see something that has been UV enhanced. The next time you go out fishing, and you’re wanting to try out UV baits, check the weather for the UV index before you go, as I honestly believe it will do you a lot of good knowing you’re putting the right bait on the fish on the right days. If it’s going to be cloudy, leave the UV in the box, bright sunny days, high UV index, bust it out and see for yourself!

[fishhunter22]

hmm...

[Fishtails]

One of my hotter high sun set ups this year has been a UV paddle. I also have found some really hot UV spoons from Warrior to be great in high sun as well, so I would not disagree with your insight one bit.

[Wolfy1489]

In the Salmon Trout Steelheader magazine a few months back they had a great article about colors that fish see and it also talks some about the UV. Its a good read.

[Blue Knight]

UV light can penetrate water down to 500 feet. There is still UV light on cloudy days but obviously not as much as on sunny days. Take a look at a UV lure that's just coming out of the water & it'll look the same as when you put it under a black light. You can't charge a UV lure the same as you can a glow lure. As for their ability to catch fish I've had good success with them just about on every day I've been out. Two of my top producers have been the 5.5 Hot Spot Apex Chartreuse Haze & the 8" Green Haze Hot Spot Flasher. 

[Sk8man]

My understanding of the UV and glow issue is somewhat different. It relates mainly to how bright the lure gets and for how long....and you can still get a nasty sunburn on a cloudy day by the way. The glow lures use a phosphorescent coating that maintains a low level illumination for a relatively short amount of time. It is activated by natural sunlight or when exposed for a length of time to bright light from say incandescent light from a bright flashlight etc. UV coatings respond to a different wavelength of light and are usually activated by a special charging unit that provides the right spectral wavelength and intensity of light to propagate light from the target object (lure). This propagated light can last from about 3 to 8 hours which is substantially longer than the glow lures. Whether they can be seen differentially at 100 ft. plus is anyones guess but the UV lure will supposedly last longer and may appear brighter. I think the thinking here may stem from the salt water environment where bio illuminescence occurs at incredible depths but this is a very different type of light given off by marine animals and plants....most historical research suggests that in freshwater most darker colors approach black at 100 ft. or more and lighter colors turn to whitish shades. The thing I have always wondered is when that research was carried out....is that what was visible to humans or fish....their eyes are quite differently constructed and how exactly did they determine those measured results?