Reviewing Bajío’s Rose Tint Sunglasses

December 2024

aka: Murphy’s Law of Sight Fishing

This weird thing seems to keep happening. Whenever I set out for some sight fishing (spotting and targeting individual fish), the sunniest days seem to magically cloud up with overcast skies. Even before I head out, I'll check the weather, physically walk outside to confirm the sun in fact exists, and still by the time I rig up, clouds roll in out of nowhere and complicate my day. Without fail. Unfortunately this affliction has been bothering me for some time, carp, my limited and precious saltwater days, even with trout. The optometrist says I'm fine, but when needing to spot fish, I've struggled. Thus; Murphy's law of sight fishing, and I've had enough...

I've noticed that my go-to sunglasses, with copper lenses, seem to fall short under patchy or dark skies. Though copper is often recommended as the standard freshwater lens, they don't cut it anymore. At least when the sun doesn't cooperate. Too often I lose vision under patchy or cloudy skies. So I've bit the bullet, and took a drastic step to correct the issue. I broke down and bought some sunglasses designed for lower light conditions. Part of this upgrade included finding mirrored frames which claim to improve the glare reduction that comes with overcast skies. Do they stack up?

Initial Testing

I didn’t have to wait to start my testing. Especially in the spring around the Front Range of Colorado, the sun comes and goes as it pleases. But I set out with both pairs of sunglasses in hand, like a true nerd, to do some A/B testing. Full disclosure, I was comparing Smith Chroma-pop copper lenses against Bajío rose mirrored lenses.

Under full sun, the differences seemed subtle at first. With a bright sun I could easily find silhouettes with both pairs. But overtime, with increased glare and spotting fish further away, subtle cues became more important to distinguish. The question of, “is that a fish?” was more easily answered with the Bajíos. Another note, as the sun really disappeared and glare from clouds reduced visibility through water, I struggled to spot fish with both pairs of shades. So maybe I shouldn't expect miracles. Still, partly cloudy and shady conditions gave the advantage to the rose lenses.

After the first two days of spotting fish and comparing the lenses, I decided that the mirrored lenses held the advantage, at least for my eyes. Even though it’s impossible to impartially compare these two pairs of glasses, two days is hardly enough to make a final judgement.

Time has past. I even had the opportunity to fish these shades in Hawaii for bonefish and Florida for Tarpon, not only under a mixed sky but also in bright conditions. I think I’m sold. Don’t count out confirmation bias, but still my fish spotting skills took another step forward with the rose lenses. I was worried that when conditions became really bright they’d not perform well as general eye protectors anymore, but I never felt like I wasn’t wearing sunglasses. I liked having a slightly brighter field of view. That actually improves in spotting fish too.

My main reservations actually happened back on my home trout stream. At first, I didn’t think these sunglasses offered any advantage in the river. The visual game in rivers is admittedly a different animal, and these sunglasses were more that functional, but lacked the a-ha fish spotting I was after, initially. However, as more time past, now with the arrival of Winter, I no longer feel the same reservations and find myself enjoying the advantage of rose lenses on sunny days, in darker waters, plus they also prove beneficial in shadowy canyon stretches.

Not sight fishing? Well things are even easier when spotting sighters, indicators and dry flies.

Conclusions

Rose feels like an odd color choice and without many online opinions out there circulating for anglers, I wanted to chime in that they overcame my reservations and could easily operate as a main pair of fly fishing shades. If you’re hunting for a secondary pair, low light glasses might be the way to go, and these filled that need for me. In fact, they’re my go-to pair for everything now. Who would have guessed…