Maui Jim- Opens the Underwater World.

One common theme that came out with the anglers that I talked with this summer was the concentration of fish in shallow weed beds. While trolling and casting crankbaits is a good way to contact fish when weeds and fish are scattered, it's not the most effective way when fish are relating to small weed clumps. In this situation you are better off pitching to the fish.

This scenario happened to me last year in a clear water lake that had sparse patches of deep weed. These spots were located by cruising along with a front troll motor in combination with a pair of polarized sunglasses and actually physically looking for weeds and fish relating to those patches. In one such weed bed alone I spotted a huge pike right in the middle, several big smallmouth along the edges, and a couple of walleye sticking their nose out of one of the thicker clumps. Talk about heart pounding work, especially when the big pike rose out of the middle of the cabbage week to have a look at the small tube jig I was dragging over his nose. Unfortunately he decided at the last moment it wasn't quite what he wanted for breakfast that morning.

If you are going to try this kind of sight angling though, the key is your polarized sunglasses. Barry Gillis sells Maui Jim sunglasses for a living and one of the reasons he can relate this to fishing is the fact that he worked as a guide at a number of northern lodges before he got into his current occupation. He knows the value of polarization and stresses that people check out to make sure sunglasses have this feature before buying. Gillis says they will be labeled if their polarized, meaning the sunglasses should filter most horizontal glare from refracted light, especially important when water is involved. Maui Jim sunglasses have taken the process of polarization a step further by making sure their process works from above, below and behind the lens, a process patented as Polarized Plus.

Gillis says by buying a quality pair of polarized sunglasses like Maui Jim a whole new underwater vista will be opened to you. I couldn't agree more!