So, i picked up the latestsalmon trout steelheader, and in it was an article pertaining to the effectiveness of UV enhanced baits and lures. Seemed like somewhat of a Pro-Cure advertisement, but was very informative. Im just wondering what the general consensus amongst regular folks was. Ive tried UV brined herring a bit at drano, but seeing as it was my first attempt at curing herring the dang things ended up so soft they just got destroyed through trolling. anyone else have any other experiences with this?

I like uv lures, not much of a bait guy, but could not say that they do better or not. I did buy a uv flash lite and went thru my tackle box in a dark room. What i found is that some of my better lures had uv paint on them even though they were not sold as uv. its just that some colors and dyes are uv and have always been. One example is the hot spot flasher in green with a red tape stripe on one edge. the red stripe is really bright uv. Well a guide and a tackle shop owner I know have always swore buy this flasher. the guide did not buy in to the uv idea as he has always done good with out it. turns out he has unknowingly been using uv the whole time on his favorite flasher and several of his favorite spoons, coyote with green and red stripes. I say better safe then sorry.

From my understanding fish only pic up and hone in on the UV spectrum during certain life stages so they may not be more effective than any other lure during certain times of the year/for certain species. I added several UV dodgers to my kokanee box this year and these lures FAR outproduced any other dodger that I had in my box and it was clearly a notable difference. Some days we would fish 1 UV sling blade and 1 classic sling blade and ONLY get fish on the UV setup, I have become quite impressed with UV presentations this season and have been adding quite a bit of them to my tackle inventory.

This is true. However, my understanding is that UV lures don't require a fish to see in the UV spectrum. UV lures are merely a specific type of fluoresence...defined by excitation by one wavelength of light resulting in emission of a different (and longer) wavelength of light. The distinction is that in traditional fluoresence both the excitation and emission wavelengths are in the visible specturm whereas with UV the excitation is not visible (but the emission wavelength is visible).

So, if you are fishing under conditions where only UV light is present, then a UV lure should be easier to see because it will emit visible light. Traditional fluorescent colors would give no added benefit.

Fish not seeing your offering is rarely the problem, but the industry needs a new way to hook fisherman

One thing im having trouble figuring out is when does a salmon, well slamonoid, strike out of hunger, and when do they strike out of agression. Can you effectually read a body of water and figure out what type of strike the fish in the body of water will produce?

Mowsley,

Yes. An adult salmon or steelhead in freshwater strikes for reasons other than hunger because they are not actively feeding to sustain themselves, although steelhead feed opportunistically at times. So they strike because of a latent feeding response (hey, it's all they've done during their time spent in the ocean) or aggression. Except when steelhead are engaged in opportunistic feeding on loose salmon eggs or insects, it's impossible to know whether a fish strikes due to its feeding response or aggression. In any case you can be sure it isn't due to hunger.

Sg

SciGuy: Hit the nail on the head.

Let me shed a little light on this subject as I have done a lot of research. This is kind of a simplified explanation. Using a UV light to check out your lures is fun but all it will really show is what lures are fluorescent. Fluorescent lures most of the time are hot pink, chartreuse, cerise, some oranges and white. Fish do not see fluorescent colors any better than regular colors that we see. UV is a light spectrum that we cannot see with our own eyes.

There have been some arguments that steelhead and salmon do not see UV once they leave fresh water, this simply is not true.

There is overwhelming evidence that all spiecies of salmonids see and use UV at ALL stages of thier life cycle, that is to say before, during, and after smoltification.
UV Research

And in multiple spiecies of salmon : Multiple Species UV

These articles not only show that UV is a life long sight process, that it is intended for finding food...oops forgot that link (SpringerLink ) and that it intensifies as they reach maturity starting when they move into less than 40 ft of water. It is an effective way to catch multiple spiecies of fish. New reasearch into salmonids comes out of Canada almost weekly.

There is no secret lure to catching more fish. Just because something is UV enhanced won't make a steelhead move 100 feet to hit your lure. It can in my opinion help an experienced fisherman get an extra fish or two throughout a day or possibly put one fish on the board during a very slow day of fishing. From my tests it only improves a product and in certain condition's I think UV can make a difference.

good stuff guys, thanks.

Very close. When UV light hits a fluorescent lure it absorbs the UV light and absorbs some of that energy and gives off energy of another color. So, a lure could absorb UV light and give off red color at a depth that a visible spectrum red lure would look black. Likewise for other fluorescent colors; you can use a UV flashlight and see what the fluorescent color given off is.

But UV light, which penetrates deeper than visible light, can also hit a lure and give off light in the UV spectrum, which salmonids can see but we can't. What we would see by shining our UV light, is probably just a purple glow which is at the low end of our visible perception.

Some better fishers than I am think that many of the traditionally successful lures are successful because they reflect, or emit, UV spectrum light even though we did not know it.

S_S puts it very well.

As far as an ad for Pro cure,I use their UV double redd in my tuna for my Superbait, and have reached a point where I let everything I catch go .How much salmon can a guy use.G