Fishing is a sport where eyewear is essential whether the participant requires a prescription or not. The need to protect the eyes from the harmful ultra-violet rays of the sun is intensified due to the amount of reflected light from the surface of the water.

Angling is one of the most popular sports in the UK with an estimated four million people participating on a regular basis. The angler is, by nature, outdoors, and should have a good quality sunspec that will give the wearer protection from ultra-violet rays and also provide impact protection from any flying particles and objects, particularly fish hooks!



Most anglers are well aware that they need polarised filters for their fishing sunglasses in order to remove the glare from the surface of the water. This glare makes it impossible to see what is happening beneath the surface, but by selecting a polarising lens the wearer will be able to see what the fish are doing or spot potential hazards in the water.

This poses a problem in that light conditions vary from day to day and a lens that works for one session won’t necessarily be ideal the next time that you go fishing; and the light can, of course, change whilst you are fishing on any given day due to varying weather conditions or simply the time of day.

The serious angler may also wish to choose a different tint colour depending on where they are fishing and in what light: yellow is perfect for seeing all the way to the bottom of shallow water and on overcast days - yellow uses all available light to enhance contrast; brown enhances grassy river or lake beds and is great for contrast and variable light conditions; grey is ideal for spotting darker fish in deeper water and for very bright conditions.

For those who do not require a prescription there are many wrap-around styles that have interchangeable lenses which make it easy to vary the tint depending upon the light conditions. Many of these frame styles can take a prescription insert which sits behind the tinted lenses.

Drivewear^®

For those who need a prescription and are unsuitable for the models with a prescription insert then consideration should be given to Drivewear® lenses. These lenses are, as the name suggests, designed for the driver who can benefit enormously from a lens that can combine polarising technology with photochromic lens design. At Rawlings we see many anglers who have traditionally worn a polarised fixed tint lens but found it to be too dark in low light conditions. Many of these have opted for a Drivewear® lens which will provide a full sunspec tint in bright conditions but lighten and alter its colour on an overcast day or in low light conditions. These lenses are available in single-vision, bifocal or varifocal designs.