If you're not there yet, chances are you will be someday. The day when the eyes on hooks get smaller, fishing line becomes thinner, and your arms aren't long enough to bring these items into focus. Ah, the joy of age-related farsightedness, what the eye care specialists call presbyopia.
 |
| Bifocal sunglasses can help you see up close while also shielding your eyes from the sun. |
I've dealt with this condition — albeit stubbornly initially — for a few years. Here are some tips you might find useful in your own personal effort to minimize the frustration.
- Try a pair of bifocal sunglasses, such as the Bass Pro Shops Fish Eyes Bifocal Polarized Sunglasses. They have reading lenses built into the bottom. Everyone if different, but I had no trouble adjusting to them. I now wear them not only when fishing, but for driving too...so much easier to see those little icons that seem to be part of the dash display on all recent vehicles.
- The next time you're in a dollar store, pick up a handful of cheap reading glasses. Then leave a pair in your boat, fishing vest, tackle box, vehicle, anywhere you might need them when on a fishing trip. As useful as the shades-with-readers are, they aren't much help when you're night fishing, or during dawn and dusk twilight periods.
- Another option in the magnification category is the "clip-and-flip" type of magnifier that you attach to the bill of your fishing hat. It's been a few years since I've tried one of these devices. At first, I was pleased. In time, however, the mechanism that held the magnifier in the retracted position weakened, allowing the lens to gradually creep down. This was just one model, though. Other than that irritating fault, I liked it.
- If you fly fish, or otherwise deal with small hooks (say, size 10 or smaller), consider giving a tippet threader a try. I picked up one, and love it. A magnet holds the fly/hook in place, and you simply push the tippet (or line) through a channel — which is lined up with the eyelet — and the fly is threaded. Pretty slick!
- 2750 views