Best of the Best

I believe that the most important piece of equipment for any angler is a pair of polarized sunglasses. Yeah, you can catch fish without them but you won’t catch as many. You can buy those cheap plastic sunglasses from the big discount stores but you’ll end up scratching them, losing them and replacing them many times over. The quality of those cheapies is underrated too - you won’t be able to see as many fish under the water, won’t be able to distinguish colors as well, won’t be able to contrast objects and colors, and you won’t be able to avoid distortion when you take vista-style views.

The most important reason to have a solid pair of polarized sunglasses, beyond performance and durability, is to protect your eyes from hooks, harmful sunshine and UV rays. A good pair of polarized specs can reduce eye fatigue, remove glare and allow you to see what’s going on down underwater.

With higher quality sunglasses, those anglers with corrective vision needs can usually order prescription lenses. Just remember that prescription lenses make what were lightweight glasses into not-so-lightweight glasses.

You’ll be glad you paid more for a pair of polarized glasses that have glass instead of polycarbonate and acrylic but all three are acceptable relative to your budget. Then you’ll want to match your lens tint to the type of water you’ll be fishing: Lens tints range from brown, blue, green, copper, amber, mirror, and others; each has their particular strengths and weaknesses.