Jump to content
Fly Tying
zamboknee

Regular chenille vs UV chenille

Recommended Posts

One reflects or refracts UV ... the other doesn't. Recent research shows that some fish see more in the UV range than previously thought ... so UV chenille might be better.

 

And welcome to the site.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

UV when applied to fly tying materials can mean 3 different properties of "UV materials."

 

The most common is UV fluorescence. This is the UV chenille that flytire has posted. Notice the brighter the colors of UV material. This is why.

 

UV fluorescence is when the material ABSORBS the invisible UV light and CONVERTS it to visible color of light. Since the INVISIBLE UV light is now VISIBLE light, the material looks brighter. But since UV light is gradually absorbed by water, as the fly gets deeper, the UV fluorescence effect gradually dims. So flies tied with UV Fluorescent materials are more visible to trout and can act as attractors.

 

Water absorption spectrum of UV and visible light. Visible light range is in yellow. Notice that below 400 NM the water absorption of UV light starts to increase meaning that the greater we go into the UV light spectrum, there is gradually less of it as we go deeper into the water.

 

TL3o1.png

 

The second way UV can be applied to fly tying materials is UV reflectantance. Just like fly tying materials reflect colors that we can see, so materials can reflect UV light that we humans cannot see. Although we cannot see them it is agreed that very young trout can see these UV colors. There is disagreement as to whether adult trout can see these UV colors. You can listen to this podcast where Tom Rosenbauer interviews Professor Russ from Stanford University. Included in the interview is trout UV vision. The interview begins at about 40 minutes into the podcast after the “flybox” section of questions and answers.

 

Regardless if we cannot see the UV reflectance of fly tying materials, how can we match UV colors to the naturals reflectance of UV colors?

 

The Orvis Fly Fishing Podcast with Tom Rosenbauer

 

The third way UV can be applied to fly tying materials is UV phosphorescence. This is when the material ABSORBS the invisible UV light and CONVERTS into an energized molecule. The energized molecule decays overtime and released the energy as visible light. These are glow in the dark materials that continue to give off light even after the UV light is turned off. These materials are used to tie glow in the dark patterns that imitate fireflies. And they are used for glow in the dark strike indicators to locate fly patterns when fishing in the dark.

 

One pattern that used phosphorescent material is Harrison Steeves Firefly.

 

http://www.flyanglersonline.com/flytying/fotw/9197fotw.php

 

I suggest this article on UV reflective and UV reactive (fluorescent) tying materials. Read the comments section as well. The comment by 1M1Ucla pretty much mirrors my thinking on the subject.

 

Shining a Light on UV Materials | MidCurrent

 

Reed Curry wrote a book on Trout and UV Vision and by extension promotes using UV reflecting materials for fly tying. The problem, as I have mentioned in the past, is how do we know what UV “color” to use when we cannot pick our the right “shade” of UV because we cannot see into the UV spectrum.

 

Read the comments on this blog to the interview of Reed Curry.

 

Ultra violet fly tying materials catch fish, Q&A with author Reed Curry | The Caddis Fly: Oregon Fly Fishing Blog

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

 

That was an interesting and understandable quick read! Thanks for sharing.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...

×
×
  • Create New...