Merchants have sights set on aiding the sight-challenged

Sporting goods stores are doing a booming business by catering to the aging eyes of baby boomers.

Even if they don’t need prescription eyewear for normal fishing activity, threading fine tippets through tiny flies can become difficult or impossible for anglers when they wade into the age neighborhood of 50.

Near-sighted anglers who need eyewear for all of their activity tend to favor prescription polarized sunglasses with bifocals, which cost in the neighborhood of $300.

Far-sighted anglers have less-expensive options for seeing clearly at all distances.

Like most stores that cater to fly fishers, Swede’s Fly Shop in Spokane carries several products to help sight-challenged anglers, including fly boxes with threaders that make it simple to get a tippet through the tiniest hook eye.

The Orvis Firefly has magnifiers that clip to the bill of a cap with visual bonus of a bright LED for low-light situations.

Static-stick plastic bifocals that attach like decals to sunglasses are a product Swede’s discourages anglers from buying.

“They come off when they get wet,” said shop owner Allen Peterson. “Not a good deal for a fisherman.”

While near-sighted anglers have been wearing prescription bifocals for years, farsighted anglers can now get the same convenience packaged with polarized sunglasses at roughly a third of the cost.

New polarized sunglasses with ground-in magnifiers from Ono Trading Co. work surprisingly well.

Normally I wear glasses only for reading, although each year I notice more difficulty in doing close-up tasks without my reading glasses. While steelheading last week I field-tested a pair of Ono’s.

I had forgotten I was wearing anything other than standard non-polarizing sunglasses until I tipped my head back slightly to check my fly and — whoa! The fly appeared large and sharp and I could even see the little nicks in my tippet that signaled it was time to re-tie.

Any doubts about the value of the product were dashed later in the trip during the trip home.

The Ono’s were of high enough quality that I left them one while driving. The “bifocal” magnifiers are set low in the large Grand Gosier model lenses and I didn’t notice them until, once again, I was startled to check a road map and be able to clearly read the tiny print without holding it an arm’s length away.

Although they’re available on the Internet, the Ono’s are getting out to sporting good stores and they may soon be available through Sportsman’s Warehouse, said Chris Nelson, Ono Trading Co. national sales rep.

Prices have ranged from $150 to $170 since the product was introduced, but the manufacturer has changed and prices are being reduced to range from $90 to $130 later this fall, he said. New models, including two for women, will bring the frame and color choices to 10, he said.

The Ono lenses are made of impact-resistant CR 39 composite, which is lighter and less scratch-resistant than glass but slightly heavier and more scratch resistant than polycarbonate lenses.

The ground-in “reader lenses” come in six magnifications ranging from 1.25 power to 2.50 power.

“We’re the only company promoting polarized sunglasses with a choice of different magnifications for the reader lenses, which are profiled so they don’t interfere with seeing things at a distance,” he said.

“We get a lot of good buzz from people who use these in everyday life, not just for fishing.”

John Wagstaff, a Spokane optician and member of the Inland Empire Fly Fishing Club, offers these general guidelines for anglers buying bifocals or magnifiers for fishing.

•Flip-down magnifiers are the least expensive way to get a good result for doing close-up tasks while in the field.

•Some cheap lenses with magnifiers aren’t worth the money at any price because they have distortion that can be disorienting and cause eye fatigue. The better sunglasses usually have ground lenses, not molded lenses.

•Before deciding on a magnification power, test the product by tying on a small fly in low light at the distance you’ll be working when you’re on the water.

“I’m older, so I hold my arms up against my chest to steady my hands to work 8 inches in front of my nose,” he said. “That’s the distance I correct for. Generally, I’d say get a little stronger magnification for fly fishing than you might otherwise need.”