05-14-2014, 03:34 PM
So I have been doing some reading about UV (ultraviolet) enhanced baits. Apparently many fish and birds are capable of seeing light in the UV spectrum. Read more about it on wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vision_in_fishes http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vision_in_birds
More bait companies are starting to advertise or make lures that reflect UV. This makes a whole lot of sense if fish see things in the UV spectrum and it would offer an advantage to anglers in catching fish.
These companies post a lot of claims about their UV lures and even show how their baits glow when exposed to a black light. From what I have read, paints that have UV qualities CANNOT be detected by the human eye, even when exposed to a black light. So is it just a gimmick they are using to demonstrate what the fish are seeing? Maybe..
I have a little LED flash light that has a couple black light bulbs in it that will excite fluorescent paint and other materials that have fluorescent or phosphorescent qualities. I know that certain natural minerals will luminesce when exposed to lights emitting certain light wavelengths. Anyhow, I shined my black light on my lures last night and many of them luminesced. However, I don't really know if that mean they are UV reflective.
I also started thinking about the correlation between birds and fish. Many fishermen use artificial flies tied with bird feathers. Well, it stands to reason that bird feathers reflect UV light and probably some feathers reflect more than others(like peacock hurls). My theory is this would seem to explain why fish strike at artificial flies and why certain fly patterns are so effective and can be effective in low light conditions. I have personally caught many fish late into the evening with flies tied with feathers and was amazed at how the fish detected these flies. I have seen jigs tied with marabou feathers catch many many pan fish, when similar jigs fished side by side don't get a strike.
Recently up on Deer Creek, I have has success with a Kokanee Killer Wedding Ring. Well, rhinestone do not absorb any light, which means it reflects back all the UV light. I had made my own lures that looked just like the wedding ring and guess what? I got one hit on it when the WR had 7 strikes! By the way the beads on a KK WR luminesce in black light. So there has to be something there that made a difference. Was it the rhinestone in the little wedding ring bead and the beads that could be reflecting UV. I am not sure, I just know that the lure was beating my homemade spinner 7:1
If you look on youtube, one angler painted his crank baits with a UV spray paint that protects against UV light. Well it stands to reason that the way UV protection paint work is it reflects the UV light and protects the thing it is applied to. One company, CS Coatings, is offering a couple products out there specifically for the fishing community, called UV Blast to spray on your lure to give it a UV kick. CS Coatings also has a brush on paint as well as powder paint for jig heads.
However, if you wanted to permanently coat your lure, why wouldn't a UV protection paint by Krylon work to enhance your lures? Think about this. How many paints and plastics have certain pigment with built in UV protection? Lure companies could have been offering lures for years that had UV qualities without even advertising them or realizing that it was the paint or pigment that made the difference, not the shape, wiggle or pattern.
What I would like to know is what has other anglers experienced.
Thanks.
[signature]
More bait companies are starting to advertise or make lures that reflect UV. This makes a whole lot of sense if fish see things in the UV spectrum and it would offer an advantage to anglers in catching fish.
These companies post a lot of claims about their UV lures and even show how their baits glow when exposed to a black light. From what I have read, paints that have UV qualities CANNOT be detected by the human eye, even when exposed to a black light. So is it just a gimmick they are using to demonstrate what the fish are seeing? Maybe..
I have a little LED flash light that has a couple black light bulbs in it that will excite fluorescent paint and other materials that have fluorescent or phosphorescent qualities. I know that certain natural minerals will luminesce when exposed to lights emitting certain light wavelengths. Anyhow, I shined my black light on my lures last night and many of them luminesced. However, I don't really know if that mean they are UV reflective.
I also started thinking about the correlation between birds and fish. Many fishermen use artificial flies tied with bird feathers. Well, it stands to reason that bird feathers reflect UV light and probably some feathers reflect more than others(like peacock hurls). My theory is this would seem to explain why fish strike at artificial flies and why certain fly patterns are so effective and can be effective in low light conditions. I have personally caught many fish late into the evening with flies tied with feathers and was amazed at how the fish detected these flies. I have seen jigs tied with marabou feathers catch many many pan fish, when similar jigs fished side by side don't get a strike.
Recently up on Deer Creek, I have has success with a Kokanee Killer Wedding Ring. Well, rhinestone do not absorb any light, which means it reflects back all the UV light. I had made my own lures that looked just like the wedding ring and guess what? I got one hit on it when the WR had 7 strikes! By the way the beads on a KK WR luminesce in black light. So there has to be something there that made a difference. Was it the rhinestone in the little wedding ring bead and the beads that could be reflecting UV. I am not sure, I just know that the lure was beating my homemade spinner 7:1
If you look on youtube, one angler painted his crank baits with a UV spray paint that protects against UV light. Well it stands to reason that the way UV protection paint work is it reflects the UV light and protects the thing it is applied to. One company, CS Coatings, is offering a couple products out there specifically for the fishing community, called UV Blast to spray on your lure to give it a UV kick. CS Coatings also has a brush on paint as well as powder paint for jig heads.
However, if you wanted to permanently coat your lure, why wouldn't a UV protection paint by Krylon work to enhance your lures? Think about this. How many paints and plastics have certain pigment with built in UV protection? Lure companies could have been offering lures for years that had UV qualities without even advertising them or realizing that it was the paint or pigment that made the difference, not the shape, wiggle or pattern.
What I would like to know is what has other anglers experienced.
Thanks.
[signature]