The Science Behind UV Products and Lures
Wild Fish Wild Places 03.07.13
As you browse through your favorite sporting goods store this spring you will notice an increase in the amount of UV (ultraviolet) products hitting the shelf. The latest buzz in the fishing world is the integration of different types of UV products in the way of materials and paints.
Why is this important?
Recent scientific studies have shown that predatory fish use UV to seek out baitfish. Fish vision is mediated by four visual pigments that absorb various wavelengths of light. Each pigment is constructed from a chromophore and the transmembrane protein, known as opsin. Mutations in opsin have allowed for visual diversity, including variation in wavelength absorption.A mutation of the opsin on the SWS-1 pigment allows some vertebrates to absorb UV light (≈360 nm), so they can see objects to reflect UV light.A wide range of fish species has developed and maintained this visual trait throughout evolution, suggesting it is advantageous. UV vision may be related to foraging, communication, and mate selection. Recent research articles report that UV vision appears to be widespread in freshwater fish, turtles and most saltwater marine species. For example, juvenile Brown trout live in shallow water where they use ultraviolet vision to enhance their ability to detect zooplankton.
Alright, enough of the boring stuff. How does that equate to catching more fish?
Some popular companies have already hit the market this season with their new lines of UV products. Fly fishing material, Sierra Spoon, Tasmanian Devil, Flatfish, and Panther Martin are among the few leading the way. The Wild Fish Wild Places team has been product testing the new FishseeUV lures by Panther Martin since last summer. We are really excited about this new concept and very impressed with the effectiveness of the color combinations. On a recent trip to Pyramid Lake, NV we tested the lures on the famous Lahontan Cutthroat Trout on a suspended trolling pattern with impressive results. We landed a handful of nice fish with one weighing in around 5 pounds. We feel the new UV color patterns in all fly material and lures are giving us an advantage by allowing us more options for finicky fish. So this year when you head to the store to stock up for that next fishing trip, try some of the great new UV options available. I think you will be pleasantly surprised.
FISH AND FISHING. TWO WORDS HAVING A MYRIAD OF MEANINGS TO A MYRIAD OF PEOPLES. TO FISH FOR FOOD, FOR LIFE, FOR SURVIVAL; OR TO FISH FOR FUN, FOR SPORT, FOR MONEY.
When, almost 5,000 years ago in China, man first attached a hook and line to a bamboo rod to catch carp a little further from the river’s edge, little did he know that this creation would evolve into an industry which at the early part of this, the twenty-first century, is worth over $108 billion annually to the US economy in terms of sport fishing alone!
The variety of fish species is infinite. From cold water inhabitants such as members of the Salmonidae family, to warm water, tropical dwellers like the Cichlids. From the gigantic Tarpon of the Florida Keys to the gentler Arctic Charr spectacularly attired in their vivid courtship colors in the frigid rivers and streams of the arctic tundra. Take the celebrated Coelacanth, over three hundred million years old and still found today in the warm seas of the Indian Ocean around Madagascar, or the seemingly ubiquitous Golden Orfe, or the goldfish, which completes endless circuits in so many glass bowls in family homes in every corner of the world.
In this series, we will seek out great predatory fish. Fish that are much revered, fish that strike terror at the very mention of their name and fish that are the staple diet of many peoples subsisting along the shorelines and riverbanks of the great waters we will visit during our odyssey. Positioned at the very top of the food chain, these apex predators reign supreme in their own domain, be it mighty river, great lake or ocean.
Our quest will take us across cultures and continents to exotic locations of immense beauty and wealth as well as lands poleaxed by poverty. We will explore not just these wild and wonderful places, but the significance of our target species to the different groupings of peoples in terms of social, economic and cultural values.
Our travels in search of extraordinary predators will take us from the cold, unforgiving waters of the West of Ireland to the steaming jungle swamps of India. From the frozen, pristine wilderness of the Canadian subarctic to the sun-baked backwaters of Northern Australia. This will be a series of contrasts and comparisons where we will meet people who live to fish and people who fish to live.
