Lee Padrick and I prefer to sight fish for redfish on the flats and along the marshes of North Carolina. This style of fishing makes it imperative that we use quality polarized sunglasses to cut the sun’s glare off the water’s surface. By reducing the glare, the probability of finding schools of redfish increases exponentially. Furthermore, our sunglasses must be tough enough to meet the demands of tournament fishing. Every year, we evaluate our fishing equipment and gear to see if any advances in technology have occurred. We cannot afford to ignore technological advancements that could help us get an edge over our fellow competitors. While doing some research, we discovered Salt Life optics polarized sunglasses.
Made by Italian craftsmen, Salt Life Optics stormed into the polarized sunglass market. Their attention to detail is evident when examining Salt Life Optics lightweight but durable plaques and lens. Their quality plaques are screwed in, not glued, giving these glasses a high end feel at a reasonable price. But the real selling point is their polarized polycarbonate injected lens that are made by a name that all outdoorsmen and women are familiar with, Carl Zeiss.
Zeiss lens have unsurpassed clarity and provide 100% UV protection, which in turn helps reduce eye irritation. Plus, their anti-reflective AR5 coating reduces glare and bounce-back without color distortion, giving true color recognition. This lack of distortion helps reduce eye fatigue, also. The importance of reducing eye fatigue cannot be overstated. Tired eyes will influence how productive time spent on the water will be. Anything an angler can do to make time on the water more enjoyable and will increase fishing productivity is beneficial. In addition, their lens are scratch and impact resistant and will not delaminate when exposed to saltwater or extreme weather conditions, making purchasing a pair of Salt Life optics a good decision for any serious fisherman or lady.
I have three pairs of Salt Life Optics in my arsenal, and here is why. I have found that on bright sunny days with low wind conditions these glasses are great when spotting drifting grass beds. I choose to fish Salt Life Cortez polarized sunglass with green lens. The green lens will not distort color, making the sand potholes contrast against the surrounding grass. As the bait fish cruise the grass in relative safety, it will cross on these sand potholes. By identifying the potholes, hopefully, I can catch a red that is waiting to ambush bait. The Cortez frames work well with my hat and SolarGuard neck gator. I pull the SolarGuard up over the sides of the frames, slightly over the back of my hat. This combination does not allow sunlight behind my sunglasses. This reduces glare making the grass flat “pop.” An added benefit is less skin exposure, decreasing the chance of sunburn.
On partly sunny days with low to moderate wind, while sight casting sand flats, I prefer Salt Life Tortola in blue lens. The blue lens help with depth perception and contrast clarity. I can identify my target at further distances. By seeing the school earlier, I can make a stealthy trolling motor approach. By using a quiet trolling motor technique, it is possible to catch multiple reds out of a school.
On cloudy, moderate to high wind days, or even high water conditions, I prefer the Salt Life Tortola sunglasses with brown lens. Cloudy, windy, and/or high water days usually mean blind casting a marsh bank. In low light conditions, the brown lens will brighten up the water column. When the water is high, reds probably are in the grass. Under these conditions, I like to throw loud lures, Topwaters with ball bearing in them or a concaved popping cork. Both lures will call curious redfish out of the grass looking for an easy meal. The brown lens will help to visibly track the top water as you “walk the dawg” or keep that orange popping cork. Another suggestion is to use your Power Pole in high wind conditions fan casting an area, moving forward only when the area has been fully covered and repeat leaving no structure uninvestigated.
Please follow us on our social media platforms on Facebook: The Redfish Guys, Twitter: @Pirasea1 and @LeePadrick, Instagram: Dwayne.Smith.Fishing and finally our website www.TheRedfishGuys.com . For more information and to watch a video about Salt Life optics, you can visit these websites: http://www.saltlife.com/optics.html & http://www.biminibayoptics.com .
Keep Casting,
Dwayne Smith
Team Padrick and Smith
“The Redfish Guys”
