Q: “I travel a lot and fly-fish in both fresh and salt water. Many times I start very early or take advantage of a late evening bite — both of which are low light situations. Would it be a good idea to have clear polarized lenses like those we use on cameras to eliminate glare?”
A: Many years ago, when I worked closely with the popular Fisherman Eyewear sunglasses company, I suggested it make me a pair with clear polarized lenses. I tested it in two places. One was on a shaded trout stream, and the other was on a saltwater flat. The clear polarized lenses proved to be a complete failure.
What are needed in such conditions are fairly bright yellow polarized lenses. These will eliminate glare, but more importantly, they will produce extra contrast (much as yellow shooting glasses do). These are too bright to use on sunny days, as I determined using them on a bluebird day on Christmas Island and getting a major headache, but they work very well for low light conditions and are fabulous when driving in the rain.
