Anyone have thoughts on Glow, Extended glow finishes on lures, etc?

[momay4000]

Hello LOU friends,

 

This evening I did a little experiment using a UV flashlight I bought tonight and a few glow lures I had laying around. I wanted to learn if duration of "charging" lures with my UV flashlight would have any relationship to how long the glow would last on the lure. I was surprised to find that the lure glowed the same length of time no matter how long I charged it (5 seconds, 10 seconds, 20 seconds or vs. one minute). Although the lure really shined bright for about 30 seconds, each time it faded fast although it still had some glow after about 10-15 minutes. After that, it was barely perceptible.

 

I used an Atommik Glow fly and a Dreamweaver spoon in my experiment and a cheapo $6 UV penlight.

 

I know some folks have created glow boxes on this sight, but it looks like you can achieve the same results on your lures with nothing more than a cheap 5 second charge from a UV flashlight.

 

I learned:

 

1.) You can charge a standard glow lure in as little as 5 seconds, and using an extended glow box doesn't seem necessary since the lure doesn't glow any longer with longer charges greater than 5-10 seconds.

 

2.) The bright green glow on standard lures really fades fast in as little as 30 seconds after charging them. This explains why some of my early morning hits on glow lures seem to occur immediately right when I'm letting out the wire or dropping the rigger when the green glow is brightest.

 

3.) The glow seems to fade after only 15 minutes, making me believe that bringing lures back up to re-charge sounds like it could be helpful if a rod is slow in the early morning.

 

4.) Both the glow tape on the standard spoon and the glow strands on the fly lasted about the same (10-15 minutes at most)

 

Do you guys/gals re-charge your lures often? I plan on repeating my experiment using some of my extended glow DW and Moonshine lures to see how the extended finishes hold a charge.

 

Thanks,

 

Chris

[vetting]

The UV has the benefit of being able to shine up the blue and purple glow spoons.  I know with the box that I made, the greens glow for over an hour and its the only good way at night to glow up the blue and purple spoons.  I just throw 10 spoons in the box at once and then glow them up for 5-10 min.  If they are fading after only 10-15 min, then they arent the greatest of glow spoons.

[steelydan]

my dreamweaver spoons  after 2 min in the daylight, glow for over an hour.

 

i agree with vetting.

Edited February 4, 2014 by steelydan

[momay4000]

_{I just experimented with a Moonshine Carbon 14, a brand new DW Lemon Ice and a homemade NK 42 second with glow ladder and only the Moonshine spoon was still glowing somewhat 45 minutes later.}

 

_{A brand new hypnotist fly, the lemon ice and 42 sec were no longer glowing after my eyes adjusted to the dark.}

 

_{This is not scientific by any means, but I was surprised at what little difference a lengthy charge vs. a very short 5-10 second UV light charge of the lure made (maybe there's only so much light the phosphors in the glow paint can absorb at one time?).}

 

_{Next, I'll try charging the lures for an hour in an aluminum foil "box" and a UV light to see if it makes a difference.}

 

_{Thanks for the input guys,}

 

_Chris

[Has Been]

Some of the glows are way to bright IMO. I like a faint glow. I don't want the fish to feel like Richard Dryfus at the train tracks in " Close Encounters of The Third Kind" .

[Gill-T]

I have done similar testing using a camera flash just to test how long I can let baits wash before recharging them. Orange glow lasts the shortest. Blue glow (big weenie fly beads or lure tape) lasts the longest. Strands on flies don't glow long but having glow beads underneath keeps them charged longer.

[1 old guy]

1. I use a lot of Moonshine lures.  When you charge them they glow very bright for a long time.  I have noticed that when the glow settles down that they get more hits.  The bright glows sometime seem to scare the fish.  Many time I have caught a fish on a spoon that isn't that bright.  Recharge it and send it down and it doesn't get another hit until it gets duller.  Moonshine has some of it's glow in a blue and purple that take a lot to charge and don't glow real bright.  I have much better luck with them.  I use a Rapala light charger cost about $15 and it does a great job

[BAZOOKAJOE]

I had my spoon holders in the kitchen last summer.  When i would come home an hour or so after dark...the moonshines were still brighter than the rest.  I agree the super-glows can be too bright.

[Rippin'Line]

I had some if the new fuller (fingerlakestackle) spoons in my bedroom after I picked em up at lotsa. Went to bed around 10. Woke up at 4 and there was still a glow.

[Sk8man]

I guess one of the things that strikes me is that UV rays are invisible to humans and I would assume that true UV light emanating from UV finishes would be as well so the electromagnetic wave lengths that we perceive are not the same UV wavelengths that the fish may be perceiving. I say "may" because I haven't seen anything in the way of actual research yet that has conclusively determined that they have that capability despite all the marketing hype directed at fishermen and anecdotal information concerning results of specific lures with alleged UV capability. I still maintain that color - especially in deep water presentations is further down on the decision tree for fish than more basic things like figure-ground discrimination, contrast, and movement/motion discrimination (e.g lure "action") as it is for most visual systems within most species of animal life. Human perception of color is determined by our brains interpreting incoming wavelengths of light (a small sample possible in the electromagnetic spectrum compared to other species) and agreeing through language on a description of what that "color" is called. Whether other species with different rod/cone formations or the absence thereof actually detect those "colors" as such is an open question. Eye physiology plays an important role in that deeper water "bottom dwellers" may have different eye structure and make-up because they don't really NEED color perception in their primary environment (i.e. more rods than cones etc.) and if so they may be perceiving shades of gray rather than true "colors" Just my theory of it but thought I'd throw it out there....

Edited March 4, 2014 by Sk8man

[Silver Fox]

Say what?!:huh:

[motoman]

sounds like he's been cutting up fish eye balls and scoping them out lmao good info there defiantly food for thought!

[Sk8man]

I just don't accept at face value all the marketing hype that a lot of folks accept as gospel truth without questioning the logic of it much like the "herd mentality". In other words.....We can't even SEE UV light and it is highly possible that fish can't either.... so all the marketing hype just might be a SCAM.... I wasn't trying to be a smart azz either I fully believe what I am saying...The stuff that actually  glows from the lures is not truly UV light or it too would be invisible to us.

Edited March 4, 2014 by Sk8man

[blueghost1]

Rippin line you must have bad spring fever if you are sleeping with your new lures I have noticed the moonshine lures stay glowing longer than others I have

[Rippin'Line]

Hahah you know it! Sucks waking up with a hook in your arm though.

[Has Been]

This time of year I get all my lures out & hang them on buckets or the white insulation in my basement . I repaint, rehook , retape the worn or ones I don't like. I bought some glow spray paint & did some over. My son turned off the light not knowing I was down there & it was like a fun house down there. Usually pitch black,  I could almost read down there from the lures & paint overspray on the floor. So imagine what the fish see down there. Maybe in stained water you need a lot of glow but in clear I like faint.

 

 I also have found fully charged lures need to be down there a while to get hit.

[Chas0218]

The only sunlight my lures see is while I am running to my spot (15 to 20 minutes) then down to the deep they go.  Generally speaking I don't get hits right away so I would think that they are either too bright or not in my vicinity at time of setup.  I generally like to start shallow in the summer months (90 fow) and work into the deeper stuff so my bait is in the "zone" by the time I get to my preferred water depth.

[HOTFISH]

Hi guys, "my opinion":  "I find glow to be positive in any condition" it may just be the bright glow looks white, that is what I see  and when I look at an alewife. But again the old question, what do fish see. 

 

I do not want to tell anyone what to think or what to do, but here are some things to roll around in your head..

 

1. do we need to recharge in day light.

 

2. if UV penetrates below the surface then why would it not charge my glow lure.

 

3. do I need the glow on my lure to last longer than 1/2 hour.

 

4. how bright should a lure glow.

 

5. if UV does not penetrate below the surface then UV on lures is a joke.

 

I hope this does not upset any lure makers "just some questions I have asked myself in the past in hopes to add or eliminate to my collection of lures".

 

Have fun

HOTFISHâ„¢

[Sk8man]

Good points... I'm with  you Hotfish

[Has Been]

I  put some glow on almost all my spoons. Even if it is a 3/16 slice up the backside of the spoon . I think that glow absorbs the light that makes it down deep  and the fish  for some reason like it as I do well w/ glow when it is high sun.

 

 Also There are a lot of lures out there to catch fisherman more than fish, so I stick w/ the proven stuff . I buy one of  "the latest& greatest"  instead of a bag full & if it works ,I buy more. I have boxes full of  lures  I don't use before I learned that lesson.

[Tim Bromund]

I'm not a big fan of super brightly glowing lures.  This is mostly based on the fact that I spent a lot of years pitching glow spoons off of the west pier at Olcott, starting in the mid/late 80's and over the years, I have caught a LOT more fish on the 4th or 5th cast after a change than I have a freshly charged spoon.  I think a little glow is great, a lot of glow, not so much.

 

Tim

[Thun]

Here's a study by the University of Queensland, Australia. If it's to be believed, about half the (tropical) fish studied can see UV and half can't. I found this interesting though. 

 

"UV sensitivity has also been shown for a variety of fish species. It was demonstrated with behavioural experiments in the goldfish (Neumeyer, 1985; Hawryshyn & Beauchamp, 1985), the rainbow trout (Hawryshyn, Arnold, Chaisson, & Martin, 1989; Browman, Novales Flamarique, & Hawryshyn, 1994), and the roach (Douglas, 1986). Measurements of the cone photopigments revealed the existence of UV sensitive photoreceptors in the dace, the carp and a series of other freshwater fishes

(Avery, Bowmaker, Djamgoz, & Downing, 1982; Harosi & Hashimoto 1983; Hawryshyn & Harosi, 1991)"

 

It's way over my head, I was an offensive lineman if you get my drift, but perhaps someone may get something out of it.

 

http://ac.els-cdn.com/S0042698900002406/1-s2.0-S0042698900002406-main.pdf?_tid=46a74a3a-a666-11e3-a8e6-00000aab0f01&acdnat=1394244575_f4b8dbb3e1d099ab209560b66c722975

            

[Sk8man]

It is a highly technical article and it is predominately aimed at salt water reef fish as the targets of the research. Half the species of those studied were not found to have UV receptivity but the most interesting statement to me was near the end and it is maybe more relevant to our fresh water concerns: "Fish may be UV sensitive in early life stages and lose that ability later in their lives, as shown for salmonid fishes (Hawryshyn et al., 1989)". It was also mentioned that in those fish studied that there was a great variation among species in the composition of eye pigment (rods and cones). These fish live in a salt water environment in the Southern Hemisphere that also has a much higher degree of UV and bright sunlight penetrating the water than found in our northern hemisphere fresh water lakes so the eye composition of fresh water fish inhabiting our lakes may be very different. There is no argument that UV light is present or doesn't penetrate the water but it is still unknown whether fresh water fish may respond to it or not. The statement above in quotes suggests that adult salmonids may NOT have this capability.

 

Thanks for the article Thun

Edited March 8, 2014 by Sk8man

[HOTFISH]

Great info links on fish and how they see UV.

 

If UV did not penetrate below the surface of the lake then there would not be any green vegetation on the bottom at any depth.

 

So UV is present and from what I have found fish will bite lures with UV on them.    Better than without..... is something that I cannot say for sure at this point because I do not have as much confidence in them as my go to glow lures. Only thing that seems to be agreed on by many I have talk to is UV is better on a bright sunny day.

 

I agree that bright glow can be too much in some situations but on a overcast day I have found just the exposure to daylight (low level UV ) is perfect and fish strike right away.  No extra UV charge necessary.

 

I am a big fan of long lasting extended glow on lures or any glow for that matter and there are some paints available that are not as bright and do not last as long... but problem is the brighter a lure shines the better it sells.  

 

A little trick I do to neutralize the bright glow on a extended glow lure that is to be used in bright sunlight is to put one or two layers of crushed ice tape on the lure.  Also gives a nice pearl flash to it..on flies with new extended glow material there are many choices. One can use less or overlay.  It is not that bright or dominant of a glow so I have not found an issue using when  it.  I even play with mixing regular glow material with extended glow. 

 

Have a great weekend

[JimB]

Just bought a UV flashlight for spotting urine (new puppy in the house). I had wondered if I could use it to charge my spoons.

Question: Do I need to bother if I let my spoons sit out in the light for 10-15 mins before dropping them over the side? Will a UV

flashlight still "charge" in daylight, or is it more of for use at night?

Thanks.

Jim