UV materials are very popular these days. It seems that everything from dubbing blends to silicone legs and even bucktails have a UV option. You can’t get away from them! But what exactly makes something UV?
1.What are we talking about when we refer to UV materials?
First off, UV stands for ultraviolet where “ultra” means beyond, and violet is the color of the highest frequencies of visible light. In simple terms this means beyond violet, as in light that is not visible to the human eye. So, don’t go into a store expecting to see UV materials lighting everything up. With that said, UV materials are classified as either UV reactive, or UV reflective. UV reflective materials won’t seem like anything special to humans, but UV reflective lights (fluorescent orange, anyone?) will shine extremely bright under a black light, for example. Both have merit, but it’s important to understand the distinction.
Depending on the material type, UV characteristics are achieved through dye baths. This is especially true when we’re talking about natural materials. Basically, special dyes that you mix into the baths will give the color you’re trying to achieve a UV property. Then, under certain lighting conditions, that material will either reflect or react to UV light.
Ok, but why does this all matter you may ask? Well, many species of fish—trout included—can see UV light. So, materials that react to it or reflect it will stand out to them. For example, when there are lots of other bugs in the drift, or when your fly simply isn’t close to a trout, this can often make all the difference in drawing them to it.
2. What UV materials do we offer at FM?
Currently, most of our UV materials are heavily focused on beads. This is a simple place to add UV properties to any fly you tie. Take for instance the metallic light pink regular tungsten beads, tungsten drop beads, tungsten jig backs, and slotted tungsten beads. They’re very fluorescent and have some strong UV reactive properties! They’re a great substitution on any of your favorite nymph patterns. We also have fluorescent orange, yellow, white and pink slotted tungsten beads, regular beads, and cones. These are very UV reactive and show up especially well in turbid water.
Of course, we have lots of fly patterns within our collection that have UV materials built into them as well. Whether saltwater, bass, pike or trout, there’s something for everyone.
3.What UV flies do we offer? When did these come into the range?
Where do I start? We have countless. In fact, many of our patterns have both UV and non-UV variations. Take for instance the KJ Hot Rib Hare’s Ear Jig. This was developed by Kieron Jenkins who works at Airflo in Wales. The “Hot Rib” denotation within the name signifies the UV material within the fly. In this instance it’s Glo-Brite Floss. If you were to shine a UV light on this bug, the ribbing would pop and glow a fluorescent orange color. It’s an absolutely deadly fly for trout.
As another example look at Roza’s Pink PT or Roza’s Pink Hare’s Ear. These are both modern UV twists on classic patterns. Rather than a standard copper or gold bead, they both use a pink slotted tungsten bead. These are fantastic on days where standard variations of these flies are getting lost in the drift due to poor lighting, conditions, or picky trout.
Many of our new flies also incorporate UV materials. Some examples of this are the Sparkle Stimulator, Keslar’s Mini Gulp Sculp, Boroff’s Bling Caddis, Roza’s Dark Neon Jig, The Hot Rib and Coppertop Duracells, our Hot Spot PTs, Flagler’s Frozen Fox, and Daniel’s UV Polar Jig. And this is just to name a few from our new flies for 2022.
And this isn’t just on our trout patterns. Our bass, pike and saltwater ranges all have patterns with UV incorporated. Jake Villwocks “The Roamer” is a great example. There are a couple of UV components in this bass bug but the one that stands out the most is the Laser Dub that’s used for the head of this fly.
4. So, why UV materials on flies?
We all know how picky trout can be. We’ve all been there. They have very well-developed eyes which allow them to spot the slightest abnormality within their habitat. In addition, some scientists believe that many trout can see light within the UV spectrum. This means that, in theory, a brown trout can see a complete range of colors on the UV spectrum of color where a human cannot. There is some debate here, but we’ll get to that soon.
Within the drift, real bugs don’t have naturally occurring UV properties. So, assuming trout can see UV light, if you were to incorporate a material with UV properties into a fly, it would stand out to the trout. On the wrong day—or in the wrong fishery—they may be put off by this. But on the right day it may well be the single thing that gets your fly noticed at eaten. Like many other things, it will act as a trigger.
5. When does UV make a difference?
I’m sure everyone has their own stories to share here, but I’ve had great success with UV flies under cloudy skies. Additionally, dawn and dusk are known to be good times to fish UV flies as there is more ultraviolet light to react with it or reflect off of it.
6. A dynamic picture
It has been noted that younger trout see UV better, and as they age they lose a lot of their UV abilities. This means that they can perceive UV light in more conditions than older trout. So, these UV patterns will be more effective more often on this younger age class. As trout get older, they’re less perceptive and develop better vision for blue light instead. At that point it’s unclear how much UV they can actually detect (versus blue light) as their eyes change. It’s also unclear how UV vision varies from species to species, and how the effect of intelligence/education of a trout (in a pressured fishery, for example) impact their reaction to UV materials. Basically, the research is far from conclusive.
7. What do you think?
At the end of the day, not everyone agrees on the effectiveness of UV materials in flies. From many, many 1,000s of collective hours on the water, we certainly do. But do you? Leave us a comment, email or message on Instagram or Facebook and let us know your experience!
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