Animals in the United States

Fly Fishing GearWearing Bajio Polarized Sunglasses For A Year Changed My Mind

Bajio sunglasses are relatively new to the eyewear scene. I kept hearing guides rave about them, and since I needed new sunglasses, I figured I'd give them a try. After a year of hard use in all kinds of conditions, here's what I learned.

Big striped bass landed and safely released. / photo provided by BAJIO

Right off the bat, the Bajios fogged up on me while poling the flats for redfish. Fogging is something I've dealt with in every pair of sunglasses I've owned, so it didn't surprise me - how Bajio handled it though, did.

Before I tell you what Bajio did, let me tell you about my past experience with one of the big five sunglass companies when I had similar fogging issues.

Hunting the oyster beds for cruising redfish / photo by THOMAS BARZiLAY FREUND

When I guided in Alaska, I was in the guide program for this big brand company (let's call them "X"). I bought a few pairs of their sunglasses before my season kicked off. They were well-made, but fogged up constantly while running the jet boat. Not what you want when you're trying to avoid rocks and logs.

I contacted the woman in charge of the guide program for company "X" and explained the problem. Her answer was, and I kid you not, "Well, they are sunglasses, that's what they do; they fog up. I don't know what to tell you." That was how it was handled, and sadly, that's the kind of customer service I've come to expect from the big brands.

A long and productive day on the Missouri river. Bajio's Hopedale sunglasses cut the glare of a sunny day and kept my eye fatigue to a minimum / photo by Jay D'Arpini

After that experience, I was expecting the same when I reached out to Bajio about the fogging. Instead, Bajio's response was simple and straightforward: "Let's get that fixed." No excuses, no attitude, just flat-out good customer service.

Turns out, the wrap-around style of sunglasses I'd chosen from Bajio sat too close to my face, preventing airflow. They recommended the Hopedale, a flatter design for better ventilation. Problem solved.

Bajio polarized sunglasses cut through the glare and protect your eyes from errant fly hooks. / photo by Ken Baldwin

Why didn't the mega-company help me? My guess is they just didn't care. The company had become so big, it felt like a numbers game to them – sell as many sunglasses as possible and keep the shareholders happy. Gone was their passion to make great eyewear.

Founder and CEO Al Perkinson of Bajio sunglasses walking the walk. / photo provided by BAJIO

Sunglasses are a passion for Bajio's founder and CEO, Al Perkinson. He built Bajio from scratch, focusing on quality and innovation. His sunglasses are a reflection of his commitment to crafting the best eyewear for the outdoors. He's built a team that shares his vision, and that's what sets Bajio apart – they genuinely care about the customer experience.

At iCast this year, I met Renato Cappuccitti, Bajio's VP of Operations and Rx. This guy lives and breathes sunglass technology. He's as obsessed with making great lenses as I am with fly fishing. I tried steering the conversation towards Florida fishing, but he kept bringing it back to lenses. He loves to fish, but he LOVES developing lenses. You know those trout bums John Gierach writes about? That's Renato, except his obsession is the perfect polarized lens.

The typical Bajio all company meeting. / photo provided by BAJIO

To get detailed specs on Bajio's lens technology, check out their blog. It's written by optics experts way smarter than me. But here's what I do know: their patent-pending LAPIS™ technology blocks 95% of harmful blue light and a ton of harsh yellow light. That's way more than the big companies. Because of this technology, wearing these glasses is like looking at a high-def TV.

Bajio Research and Development / photo provided by BAJIO

Eye and bear protection / photo by Rod Thurley

I want my glasses to look good; I want them to have a bit of style. But at the end of the day, I consider sunglasses a tool, a core piece of technical gear for my fly fishing. They need to cut through the glare and assist me in seeing fish, protect my eyes from stray hooks, protect my vision from the effects of too much sun exposure, prevent eye fatigue, and in the end, make my time on the water more productive and enjoyable. Design and style are nice, but quality and performance come first.

Sincere customer service is also a requirement. I'm done with mega-companies that don't care about their customers. Give me a company that's there for me after the sale. Plenty of companies sell quality products, but I want the one that backs it up with outstanding service. Bajio does just that. KB

"The gods do not deduct from man's allotted span the hours spent in fishing." - Herbert Hoover

Although I have not been paid by any of the manufacturers, some of the gear reviewed in this article was provided to me at no cost for evaluation. The views and assessments presented are entirely my own.

Polarized Reader Sunglasses For Fishing: The Best Upgrade This Old Fishing Guy Has Found In Years

As a lifelong bass guy with several decades in the fishing industry, somehow I had gone along all this time with no idea polarized reader sunglasses for fishing were even a thing. And especially over the most recent decade, that would have been really helpful to know. Technically, I'm not a boomer, I'm a GenXer. Like a lot of my peers and the generation of bass anglers before us, we've reached an age where we can't continue to lie to ourselves about some inevitable changes. While I was fortunate enough to live the first 45-or-so years of my life with perfect vision, every year since gets a little less perfect—especially when attempting small, close-up work, like tying knots. I try to stay lighthearted about it, but it's really frustrating.

So, for a while now, I've stashed an assortment of cheap reading glasses in most of my tackle boxes and boat storage compartments, trying to make sure clear vision is always close at hand. For the most part, that plan got me by, but it's way less than perfect. First, it's a bit of a pain to have to change back and forth between my sunglasses and my readers all day. Next, the readers do tend to get beat up pretty quickly and are almost always smudged up and dirty. And, I've had about enough of the inevitable "old man" comments from my younger fishing buddies. Oh they're so smug now, but they'll have their turn.

Who would have thought the simple solution to my problem was invented 240 years ago? Patented in 1784 by Founding Father and American entrepreneurial superstar, Benjamin Franklin, bifocal glasses split the lens into two parts—the top half for viewing at distance and the bottom half for picking out backlashes, um, I mean, reading. It's the perfect solution!

It was truly a great day when I learned polarized, reader, sunglasses for fishing are available from one of my favorite sunglasses brands, Bajio. They offer several models of stylish and super effective XL sizes for big guys like me. Specifically, I love the Stiltsville model, but they actually have five great XL choices available with or without bifocal readers. And fear not, all of you bass anglers with regular sized heads, Bajio actually offers 24 different models with reader bifocals with 1.5, 2.0 and 2.5X magnification.

These Bajio Caballo Reader Sunglasses solve a problem and look great. / Kurt Mazurek

The pair of readers I'm wearing are their Caballo model which fit my big ol' melon really well. Not only do they have the bifocal lens with magnifying readers on the bottom, they're also super cool looking. But I would say the most standout feature of all of the Bajio glasses I've tried, is that the lenses are noticeably, almost shockingly, clear and refined. According to Bajio, their polarized, color-enhancing, high definition lenses offer patent pending LAPIS™ technology to diminish eye-fatiguing blue light and complement banner days on and off the water.

Bajio offers a great selection of their XL fit frames with the reader option. / https://bajiosunglasses.Com/

Here are the frame and lens features for Caballo polarized reader sunglasses I have:Frame-Built In Sun Ledge-Narrow Temples-Ergo Rubber Nose Pads-Ergo Rubber Temple Tips-Two Way Flex Hinges

Lens-Patent pending Lapis™ Technology-Blocks 95% of bad blue light-Blocks 90% of harsh yellow light-Blocks 100% of UV light-Choice of 4 lens colors: Green Mirror, Blue Mirror, Rose Mirror & Grey-Choice of 3 magnification powers: +1.50, +2.00 and +2.50

The Bajio Caballo Polarized Reader Sunglasses / https://bajiosunglasses.Com/

And recently, while on an annual, weeklong, fishing trip with several of my similarly aged, closest buddies, I mentioned how much I've been loving my new glasses. And like me, none of them were aware that you could get high-quality, polarized sunglasses with readers built in. One by one, they tried the glasses on and each time the response was the same, "Wow! These would really be helpful while fishing." That made me realize that this could make a really helpful story for a lot of my fellow bass anglers struggling with a similar problem.

At first glance, these polarized reader sunglasses just look like stylish eyewear. Especially from the outside view that everyone looking at you wearing them will see, there's no way to tell they're bifocals. Upon closer inspection, when holding the glasses in your hand and looking at the inside of the lenses, you can see the outline of the magnifying portion along the bottom edge.

Some people might assume that the varying lens strengths are distracting when wearing them, but honestly it's a non-issue. Obviously, the concept works well considering it's been proven by millions of people over the past 240 years since Ben Franklin. Yes, if you put them on and try to be distracted, you can make it happen. But even then, if you keep them on for more than a minute and go about your fishing, everything appears very normal. Bajio's super clear, bad light blocking lenses provide a beautiful view of the water. But as soon as you break off that first drop shot rig in the rocks and need to re-tie, everything gets even better. Just tilt your head up slightly and your eyes down, and that 6-pound test and #2 hook come right back into sharp focus. Ah, back to my old (younger) self!

Bajio's Reader Sunglasses make seeing the small details easier than ever. / https://bajiosunglasses.Com/

And just like that, these Caballo polarized reader sunglasses have proven to be one the best upgrades I've made to my bass fishing gear in years. So, thanks Ben and thanks Bajio!

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