Eye protection is always critical on the water, and it’s something we’ve discussed before. From preventing eye strain, to shielding your eyes from UV, to guarding against errant hooks, a good pair of sunglasses is essential.
But choosing the right pair isn’t as easy as selecting a style you like and heading to your cart on Amazon to check out.
You’ll need to think carefully about polarization and lens color and pick the right option for you and your fishing.
If you want to know what the best lens color is for you, keep reading!
And if you’re in the market for a pair of sunglasses check out our buying guide and reviews: Best Sunglasses For Fishing: Top Options in 2022
Table of Contents (clickable)
The Best Lens Colors for Fishing Sunglasses
When it’s time to pick your next pair of fishing sunglasses, think about two things: polarization and color.
Polarization
Polarization is just as important as color, and if you want the most from your sunglasses, you’ll definitely want polarized lenses.
Polarization refers to a directional effect that screens-out discordant transverse waves. On the water, where sunlight is reflected from every wave, ripple, and eddy, light waves oscillate at nearly every angle relative to your eyes.
Polarization blocks these waves in all but one direction, vastly reducing glare.
Polarized lenses allow you to see better, with less eye strain.
Lens color
There’s no “best” lens color for every situation, but there are a few excellent choices for common situations.
Gray: best protection from bright sun
Gray polarized lenses are at their best in bright sun, where they offer the greatest eye protection and glare reduction.
KastKing’s Skidaways prove that you don’t need to pay a lot for great sunglasses.
Gray lenses don’t affect your color perception, so colors will appear as hues you can recognize. They also increase contrast, allowing you to pick out details in bright light more easily.
Excellent for everything from deep sea fishing to a long day on the pond chasing bass, gray is an awesome all-around color choice for your lenses.
Green: sight fishing in brown- or green-tinted water
For sight fishing in bright sun, green lenses are hard to beat.
Green polarized lenses reduce glare and shield your eyes from bright sun pretty well, and they increase contrast.
But where they really shine is in muddy, brown water, where they alter your perception of color, allowing you to spot fish more easily.
HUK’s sunglasses in green are a great buy for inshore anglers.
For tidal anglers fishing muddy flats and cat fishermen working brown creeks and rivers, green lenses can be game changers.
Blue: deep, clear water
In deep, clear water and bright sun, nothing beats basic blue.
Blue polarized lenses are almost as effective as gray lenses at shielding your eyes from the bright sun, and they allow you to see better through thick layers of water.
Blue polarized lenses like these Costa Del Mar Fantails are ideal for clear, deep water.
That’s an advantage you don’t want to surrender if you’re fishing inshore or offshore in clear water.
Copper and brown: cloudy days
Cloudy days can reduce contrast, and you want lens colors that sharpen images and improve depth perception.
Copper and brown polarized lenses do just that, and while they cut annoying glare, they also give you a better look under the surface.
Copper lenses like these on KastKing’s Skidaways really do wonders on cloudy days.
Final Thoughts
Picking the right lens color for your fishing can make all the difference, allowing you to see fish more easily and stay on the water longer. And while there’s no “best” color for every situation, we hope we’ve helped you narrow down your choices to reflect the situations you find yourself in most often.
As always, we’d love to hear from you, so please leave a comment below.
Source: usangler.com