My first taste of professional fishing came 2 years ago at a B.A.S.S. event in Alabama. The Top 150 event at Wheeler Lake was in the spring and I had been drawn to fish as an amateur. Meetings are planned a day before the tournament starts and I was there early that day to get a fishing license. After making the purchase I went down to the launch area to make sure I could find it the next morning. It was about 8am and a few of the pros were launching their boats for the last day of practice. Putting his boat in was Roland Martin. I thought to myself, "What the heck I drove 7 hours to get here, I’ll ask him if I can go out with him to practice". And I did, and he was nice enough to let me go out with him. I had a great day talking to him, as well as watching and learning from him. (I also caught a few fish, too!).

On one of his areas he was casting to large stumps just about a foot under the surface of the water. He could see them clearly and I couldn’t. I had on a pair of polarized glasses with gray lenses. He was wearing amber glasses. Roland would point them out to me, but I couldn’t see a thing. I couldn’t figure out why he was seeing the stumps and I wasn’t. I thought this may be that he had on more expensive, better quality glasses than mine. But mine were fairly good glasses of a good brand. This made me wonder what kind of special glasses he had that made it easy for him to see into the water.

This past summer I had the opportunity to be an observer for a WCF event in Monroe, La. The event was held in August with sunny skies and hot temperatures. One of the pros I was able to ride with was Gary Klein. Gary was really a great person and a gentleman to be around. What a technician and knowledgeable fisherman! We started the day in the arm of a large creek that morning. Gary was targeting any piece of structure he could see out in the water away from the bank. Later on we moved to an area with vegetation. Here he was casting to cuts and points in the grass. He too was wearing amber lenses.

It was not until after this experience with Klein that I realized the advantage of fishing with glasses with amber lenses. Amber lenses aren’t just for sight fishing in the spring!!! Roland Martin used them to see the algae covered (green) stumps. (Amber lenses brighten green). Gary Klein was using amber lenses to see limbs and submerged vegetation. These anglers are "looking" for any advantage they can find to catch a fish.

The best sunglasses I have found are made by a company called Lure-Eyes (www.lureeyes.com) . The frames on these glasses are 100% titanium and the lenses are polarized polycarbonate. These polycarbonate lenses can withstand a powerful blow. Also of equal importance is the UV protection from the lenses. Since damage from UV rays are cumulative (the damage adds from year to year) it is very important to have sunglasses that block UV rays from the sun.

Also, the advantage of polarized lenses is obvious. Polarized lenses eliminate glare from the water enabling you to see into the water. As for the advantages of shatterproof lenses, just ask pro angler Shaw Grigsby his thoughts on that subject. At the same WCF tournament in which I was an observer, Shaw hooked into a very large bass. At the moment he didn’t realize how big the fish was. It turned out to be about a 7-pound largemouth that he thought he could swing overboard. But, his rod broke while he had the rod up to his face as he was lifting the fish. This sent what was left of the rod in his hands into his face. If he hadn’t had unbreakable lenses on his glasses, he may have sustained damage to his eyes.

So, if your serious about getting a better look at fishing, try a pair of amber lens sunglasses. You’ll be pleased at the results, and you’ll also have an advantage over some of the other fishermen out on the lake. Just think about all the money you’ve spent on equipment and lures. Don’t buy cheap glasses when it comes to eye protection and quality optics. Remember you can replace rods, reels and lures but you can’t replace your eyes!