Frustration with my eyes.
- This topic has 5 replies, 5 voices, and was last updated Dec 30, 2013 at 4:45 pm by
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Had one of those days on the water yesterday that make me want to give up small stream fly fishing and take up golf or maybe something more manly than golf like knitting.
🙂
My eyes are not what they used to be and my prescription reading glasses don’t focus anywhere near enough to see a #16 for tying on.Any ideas out there for this situation ?
I was thinking of asking my optometrist if they can make me so tough glasses that are focused much closer than standard reading glasses just for fishing.
Anyone been there ?www.dsaphoto.com
A picture is thousand words that takes less than a second while a thousand words is a picture that takes a month.
Presuming that you don’t wear corrective lenses for distance, I’d get one of the magnifiers that clip on a cap bill and flip down. They should offer enough close-up correction to tie on a fly, without your reading glasses.
Here’s the Orvis version: http://www.orvis.com/store/product.aspx?pf_id=1269
Most fly shops or on-line stores have some variation of those (clip on hat, on glasses if you do wear them, etc.)
They work fine for occasional knot tying, but if you were going to use them to tie flies for hours, I’d search around for magnifiers with a bit better optics (e.g., go to your ophthalmologist and ask him). Assuming again that your current reading glasses don’t quite give you the magnification you need.
Buzz
David, I am 66 in a few weeks and started having the same problem you describe years ago. The best investment I ever made was a pair of Orvis sunglasses with RX progressive lens several years ago. Of course, there’s other brands than Orvis, but getting prescription progressive lenses makes for a much better on-the-water experience. Without them, I could barely handle any fly smaller than a #8 let alone see it floating on the water. With the glasses, 6X tippet and #16 flies are still small, but manageable. Whatever your near or far vision requirements are, a high quality pair of progressive lenses will definitely improve your ability to handle small flies on the water plus give you a overall better vision experience near and far. Also, since I tie my own flies, I quickly recognized what materials and colors were the most visible on the water and tailored my tying to them. Gook luck.
Strategy without Tactics is a Slow Route to Victory, Tactics without Strategy is the Noise Before Defeat - Sun Tzu
I’ve worn glasses and contacts since I was a young kid.
Now that I’m in my 40’s, my eyes are becoming more farsighted.
What I do is use 2 pairs of glasses on the stream.
I wear my polarized sunglasses to fish with.
When I need to tie on a fly or mess with a tangle, I slip off the sunglasses and put on some readers.
I have both of them secured with one of those glasses keeper around my neck.
It can sometimes be a little bit of a pain, but it works well enough.
Kind of surprising though, the glasses and their loops around my neck never get tangled.
On my sunglasses I use one of those Costa wire loops and a cloth on the readers.
I use some pretty heavy readers which allows me to tie the smallest of tippets to the smallest flies.Brian
Buzz, just ordered the Orvis magnifier and their new +4 magnifier glasses that focus closer – thanks for the suggestion.
Mike, I’ve avoided the prescription polaroids because I have 3 different pairs for different water.
Also, would I have the same problem with the focus distance with them that I have with my normal reading glasses ?
With our health insurance I can get a pair of glasses made reasonably cheap so I might ask the opto the question.Brian, things around the neck are a huge problem because I normally have a whopping great camera there..
I recently tried a small chest pack instead of the vest for example, and found the whole set-up a complete cluster bonk. lol
That’s why the flip down magnifier looks good to me – it’s out of the way when not in use.
The whole tackle/camera situation might be the subject of my next whinge post !Thanks for all the suggestions.
www.dsaphoto.com
A picture is thousand words that takes less than a second while a thousand words is a picture that takes a month.
My favorite magnifier for old eyes is the Flex Spex (http://www.flexspex.com). These flexible arms clips to the side of the hat and can be moved out of the way when you don’t need them.
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