Over the last few decades there have been an increasing number of luminous (often abbreviated to lumi) items of fishing tackle becoming available to anglers. There are now attractor beads and spoons, spinners and other lures, various items of terminal tackle and even fishing weights which all incorporate some level of luminosity into their designs. This article looks at these products and evaluates their effectiveness.
How Do Lumi Products Work?
Luminous products (whether they are used for fishing or any other purpose) contain phosphors. Phosphors are substances that continue to emit visible light once they have been energized with another source of light. In this way, once a luminous product containing phosphors has been charged up it will continue to give off light for some time. Leaving a luminous product in direct sunlight or shining a torch on it will charge the phosphors and cause it to emit light. However, using a UV torch (often known as a blacklight) will provide the best level of charging, as phosphors are extremely sensitive to UV light, and this will provide more charge to the luminous product than a standard light.
Do Luminous Fishing Products Lead to Catching More Fish?
There is no definitive proof that luminous fishing products attract more fish and lead to better catches for anglers. Indeed, the number of different variables involved in sea fishing means that it is all but impossible to ever definitively prove whether or not glow in the dark products outperform standard non-luminous fishing tackle. Despite this lack of solid evidence luminous products are very popular with UK sea anglers and many anglers are happy to experiment with adding lumi beads to rigs or using lumi lures instead of standard ones to see if it does improve their catches. The school of thought is that luminous products are certainly worth trying, and in certain conditions may lead to higher catches, even if it cannot be definitively proven that it was the luminous products that were responsible.
Lumi Lures
Today most types of fishing lure are available in luminous versions. Plugs are made out of plastic which contains phosphors making them glow in the dark, spinners can be painted in lumi paint, and, in a more recent development, luminous jelly and soft plastic lures are now available to anglers. Daylights and hokkai lures can also incorporate a lumi bead, and some more expensive designs are made from synthetic material which is luminous. These types of lures can be used in any sea conditions and at any time of the day, although it makes most sense to use them in certain situations. For example, when the sea is coloured or murky it stands to reason that fishing lures that are luminous will attract fish in a way that standard lures will not, and the same is true for anglers fishing in very deep water where less light will penetrate. Fishing at night or in low light conditions is another obvious time to experiment with using glowing lures. Luminous lures are used in the exact same way as standard lures, although they will emit more light if they are charged up with a source of light as described above. It may also be necessary to re-charge the lure every so often, in order to ensure it continues to emit light.
Luminous Terminal Tackle and Other Products
There are an increasing number of luminous terminal tackle items available to anglers. These include beads which are designed to be added to the hooklengths of a rig and attract fish to the baited hooks. Typically 5 – 8mm in diameter, lumi attractor beads are widely available from fishing tackle shops and online retailers. There are now also luminous pulley beads and smaller rig beads available to anglers. Further items of terminal tackle which glow in the dark include rig tubing, and small plastic attractor blades which can be added to hooklengths and there are an increasing number of luminous sea fishing weights available. Other larger tackle items which are available in lumi designs include rod tripods (such as Ian Gold’s Supermatch Tripod which comes with luminous heads and cups) and some fishing rods can also have luminous tips so that bites can be more easily seen when fishing at night. Luminous disgorgers are also now available to UK anglers.