Anyone have any opinions on whether or not the UV fibers that are appearinging in some dubbings make much difference?
UV dubbing
Anyone have any opinions on whether or not the UV fibers that are appearinging in some dubbings make much difference?
See here:
http://www.troutu.com/class/color_vision_trout_eyes
That being said, I use a lot of it...
PT/TB
Daughter to Father, "How many arms do you have, how many fly rods do you need?"
http://planettrout.wordpress.com/
One fly I had success with on a MT tailwater, a Grape Slushy, has a body of brown UV Ice Dub:
I've used the stuff on some other caddis emergers and they worked well, too. Don't know if the UV properties make much difference, but I like the colors and it's easy to dub with; that's good enough for me.
Regards,
Scott
I use it, but to be honest with you I can't say if it has helped to generate more strikes.
Trout don't speak Latin.
Over the last couple years I have been retying patterns with UV and flourescent colors and have seen a huge difference. In September we had 5 people fishing the same fly and getting multiple hits per cast on Dolly Varden for hours on end. Similar flies without UV dubbing did nothing... to the extreme end of nothing.
Many colors I have used over the years and thought were great had started to fail, others picking up... Until I shined a UV light in my fly box and realized the materials I have always relied upon were glowing under blacklight I thought the fish were changing.
For example, my favorite huge rainbow pattern for years in the Kenai River was a yellow marabou muddler. Then after many years it failed to produce and I moved on, but always had the yellow muddlers to try on slow days. The blacklight showed my initial flies were tied with flourescent yellow marabou, but my new supply was not. My yellow marabou muddlers now fish like they used to...
How much difference it makes for mayfly patterns and such is obviously a very different question...
[QUOTE=hap;436459]Similar flies without UV dubbing did nothing... to the extreme end of nothing. [QUOTE]
You were losing flies and not catching fish? Not catching fish in the cold and wet? What is the extreme end of nothing? Doesn't sound like somewhere I want to go.
Want to hear God laugh? Tell him Your plans!!!
If you use UV glue you will (probably) have a UV flashlight for kicking off the glue.Originally Posted by ducksterman
Next time you go to a fly shop, take the flashlight with you. Walk around the shop shining it on all threads hairs feathers and fibers. Most such stuff does not react at all. A small number of materials light up light Christmas tree ornaments. Natural UV light penetrates deeper into the water than anything in the humanly-visible bandwidth. In other words UV light is there, at depth. When it contacts fluorescent materials they will glow a little. They might reflect UV light some too. We cannot see UV light but fish can. 1
Do fluorescent materials make a difference? Yes. Big time. Especially so in the colder months. Small hot fluorescent flies are the secret ticket into winter fly fishing. Some materials making use of "uv" in the trade name are among those materials that do not react to UV light. So buyer beware.....buyer be with UV flashlight.
1 Fluorescence happens when UV light excites electrons inside the fluorescing material, which somehow causes new photons to be emitted, where those new photons are vibrating in the humanly-visible spectrum. In other words we can actually SEE fluorescent light. But we cannot see the original UV light, reflected or not.
Last edited by pittendrigh; 12-01-2011 at 07:44 PM.
The UV subject is interesting--and a bit complicated and at times abstract.
The two most important parts of the subject revolve around the difference between UV Fluorescence and Refleced UV light.
Maybe you don't want to get this technical. But a lot of people are talking about it. And a lot of new fly tying materials are attempting to jump on this new marketing band wagon.
1) UV Fluorescence is easy enough. That's the stuff that glows (visibly to humans) when you shine UV light onto it. Daylight contains UV. So fluorescent materials do glow a little, all the time. The ratio of UV to other parts of the light spectrum is greatest at dawn and at dusk. So fluorescent materials (and UV reflective materials both) stand out even more at those times. Dawn and dusk often turn out to be prime times for fish feeding activity.
Most parts of the humanly visible light spectrum fade to shades of gray as they travel through water. Reds and yellows fade to gray the fastest. Greens and chartreuses penetrate deeper. Blues and violets penetrate deeper yet. UV penetrates the deepest of all. In otherwords a red streamer might appear as light gray ten feet down, while a chartreuse streamer might still appear as chartreuse. And because UV light penetrates so deeply, fluorescent colors will still glow a bit, even at depth. Fluorescence happens in those rare materials that ABSORB UV light, then undergo a chemical reaction and emit new photons that are not UV anymore. Those new photons appear as parts of the humanly visible spectrum. Like hot pink, glowing chartreuse, etc.
2) Some materials reflect UV light (rather than absorb it). Reflected UV light (coming off a reflective surface) is no different than the UV before it gets reflected. It's just UV light. Most humans cannot see UV. A few can see it. Those humans who can see UV light usually see it as a light violet color.
Fish and birds typically can see UV light. Because UV light penetrates so deeply, it is particularly important to fish. UV light allows fish to distinguish UV-reflective outlines at depth. Some biologists theorize fish have evolved an optimized ability to see UV light because it is so powerful and useful at depth.
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Finding out what materials fluoresce is easy. Shine a UV flashlight on it and notice if it fluoresces or not.
Finding out what materials are highly UV reflective is difficult for humans because we cannot see it.
You can expose UV-sensitive film with a film camera, develop the film and then examine the prints. The brightest subjects will be highly UV reflective. But that's not so easy to do. You can also purchase a UV light meter, and then walk around inspecting test surfaces in daylight, or in the presence of a UV flashlight. But UV light meters are not cheap.
The recently published "New Scientific Angling" displays pages and pages of photos exposed with UV-sensitive film. But the book has so many images it's hard to remember which image is what. The author never did publish a simple bullet list of the most highly UV reflective fly tying materials.
Finally:
Is anybody still reading? This far down?
The author of the New Scientific Angling dismissed interest in fluorescent materials as "not interesting" because "they are not natural." His interest and discussion was limited entirely to UV reflectance.
Natural or not, I'm interested in fluorescent fly tying materials--if they help me to catch a fish. And it turns out they do. Big time.
But I think the New Scientific Angling author is wrong about the "unnatural" claim in any case. Some parrots (just one example) have highly fluorescent cheek feathers. Many night crawler gatherers use UV flashlights to find worms in dark grassy meadows because night time night crawlers (are said to) glow brightly when exposed to a UV light beam. I have yet to test that worm-gathering technique because I'm not a worm gatherer. But the claim is all over the internet.
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Last edited by pittendrigh; 12-02-2011 at 09:49 PM.
Well, I have to ask: Let's say that the 'tests' and 'experiences' described in some of the above posts clearly identify that, beyond any doubt, the conclusions are: 1)It IS the Material used in the construction of the fly that was the difference in catching and not catching trout; and, 2)The ability(ies) of the fisherman had little to do with the catching success.
Which brings me to these questions: Why not use some Lure Scent or rub some insect lubricant to the fly or even impale a real insect to a hook (like a catepillar or cricket) and continue to call it 'fly fishing'?
Allan
...absolutely.
:=))
Last edited by pittendrigh; 12-01-2011 at 10:08 PM.
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