Hey guys, my first post here on Sealine. Awesome site! I've been reading up on the UV stuff and something about it bothers me a bit. If the object glows under UV light, it simply means it converts UV light into a visible (well, human-visible) wavelength, like the fluorescent clothing motorcyclists wear these days. And this may still be very useful for fish that see in the human spectrum and not in the UV spectrum. But for fish seeing in UV, it wouldn't be brighter. It would simply be a different color because the wavelength is shifted, right? A pure reflection like a metallic spoon would actually reflect UV light as is and it would go further under water than human-visible light (it has a higher frequency) and if the target fish saw in UV, it would see it from further away which could actually be better?
The point I'm trying to make is that they market that UV paint in a very misleading manner. It is simply a color-shifter. If your target fish can't see in UV, like humans can't, it looks very impressive because it converts UV into human-visible light. But if your target fish CAN see in UV, it can actually be a bad thing because human-visible light doesn't travel as far as UV light under water. That is after all what all the fuss is about: UV light travels further under water. So the question is, which species of fish can see in UV and which can't? And also, is there some species which can see in UV but not in the full human spectrum? For them, the color-shift might actually make the lure invisible! And also, if the fish can see in both UV and the human-visible spectrum, is the color-shift worth it? I mean, the baitfish simply reflect the UV light as is for the most part and doesn't convert it into human-visible light. So the lure painted with this stuff will look different, yes. And maybe that's the real advantage? These are the questions that I struggle to find answers to. Maybe someone could shed light on the matter, so to speak? Thanks and sorry for the long post! Hmmm, maybe I need to draw a picture...
fai-lure
