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UV Light: everything looks different
DILLON GIVEN: PONDERAY, ID
Whether you are a believer or not, one cannot deny the curiosity factor involved with UV reflective flies and materials. Does it really attract more fish? Currently, nobody REALLY knows. However, as a UV believer, I fish my UV flies harder, and with more confidence than my flies without UV. That to me makes tying with UV worth it. This article is mainly for the believers. If I happen to convert a few skeptics in the process, I will count that as a win in my book.
Every feather, thread and synthetic fiber reflects UV differently. Astounding isn’ t it?
Chasing a magic light around the fly shop, seeing it shining its purple glow on everything in sight has brought more joy and depth to fly tying than I thought possible. This new obsession has lead me to examine everything in the fly shop under a UV light from beads to fish mounts. Most materials were rather bland, while others were little gold nuggets of UV goodness. The few gold nuggets I have found have changed my outlook on favored fly tying necessities forever.
Everything looks different under UV, for example, white UNI-floss almost hurts to look at under a UV light, while white ultra-thread only delivers a light glow. This may be the subtle difference of a 20 fish day, or a 2 fish day. I now carry a UV light every time I shop for the latest and greatest fly tying material. In doing so, I have discovered that sometimes even the same product reflects UV light differently.
I stumbled across this little discrepancy after glancing over Hareline’ s white Finn Racoon Zonker strips. Two of the three packages reflected UV light vibrantly, while the third only delivered a faint glow. Why’ s this? Nature. It’ s important to understand that many animals, like most birds, are extremely UV dependent when choosing mates. Simply put, the more UV displayed from a male bird, the more desirable he is to a female( and fly tier). This got me thinking. If every package of hair or feathers reflects UV differently, then what about flies? So I took it to the bins. Shortly after, I had another break through. Even flies of the same pattern, in the same bin, reflect UV differently. Watch out next time you buy flies!
Professional tiers cycle through gobs of marabou, dubbing, and beads. In doing so, they will run through patches of material that reflect UV vibrantly, and others that don’ t.
Next time you are buying material for your favorite streamer, bring along a UV flashlight. You will be amazed at what you find.
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