Performance fishing eyewear and technology get better every year. With new frames, new lens technologies, and new applications, keeping up with the latest and greatest can be a full-time job. Yet despite all these offerings, in the fishing world, the largest market share is directed at offshore and conventional anglers. Luckily for fly anglers, Costa—an industry leader—is setting out to change that. Costa just announced their newest addition to an already extensive lineup, the Fly Line. To save you some time and the hassle of deciphering all the sunglass lingo, we are bringing you this exclusive First Look into the Costa Fly Line, its technical specs, and its applications for fly anglers.
What’s New:
The Costa Fly Line is the newest offering from the brand giant. It sets to bridge a gap, bringing affordable and performance-driven sunglasses to the fly fishing world. Each sunglass is comprised of Costa’s proprietary injected bio-resin frames and paired with bio-polycarbonate or glass lenses. The bio part of the frames and lenses comes from plants. This means that Costa has found a way to take castor plant seed oil and produce a natural raw material known as bio-based plastic resin. This is part of Costa’s greater Kick Plastic Initiative, which is creating sustainable ways to manufacture sunglass frames and lenses.
The Fly Line borrows many attributes from Costa’s top sellers—the Reefton and Brine—like the wrap-around design and wider temples to block ambient light but with a new aesthetic. This new look is a versatile option tailored towards fly anglers. In addition, the temple tips feature built-in lanyard loops to prevent your shades from falling off your face and into the water. As its name implies, a piece of fly line will make a great lanyard in a pinch.
Costa’s main goal with these sunglasses is to bring a budget-friendly option for consumers looking to invest in a quality pair of glasses. MSRP starts at $154, which is the perfect middle ground in today’s market. With the release of the Fly Line, anglers get the addition of a new lens color, rose. The rose base color has gained popularity in the gold mirror lenses, but this is the first time consumers get a full rose offering. The rose lenses have a 14% variable light transmission (VLT), are non-mirror, and benefit from the 580 color-enhanced technology. There are 13 possible frame and lens color combinations available.
Tech Specs:
| Category | Performance |
| Frames | 8-Base Frames |
| Fit | Large Fit |
| Frame Materials | Injected Bio-Resin Frame |
| Temple Construction | Double-Injected Hydrolite Temple |
| Nose Pads | Hydrolite Nose Pads |
| MSRP | Starting at $154 |
| Lens Types | 580G (Glass) and 580P (Bio-Polycarbonate) |
First Impressions of the Costa Fly Line:
Over the years, the Flylords team has used just about every lens and sunglass frame configuration available. After receiving the Fly Line and understanding what makes a good pair of sunglasses, it was time to put them to the test. Our goal was to see how these perform for fly anglers and how they compare to premium glasses, considering their affordable price.
Upon unboxing the Fly Lines, you get the soft case and cleaning cloth that comes with every pair of Costas—a nice touch for a budget-friendly offering. The next thing we noticed was their weight or lack thereof. With the new bio-polycarbonate lenses, the Fly Lines are light. On the face, these glasses offer a great balance of lightweight feel without feeling cheap. If you have had issues in the past with eye/ear strain from sunglasses, we recommend going with the 580P. For anglers who prefer a slightly heavier pair of glasses, go with the 580G (glass) lenses.
The Fly Line model drew inspiration from the Reefton, an all-time favorite at Flylords, featuring similar wrap-around frames. Costa used an 8-frame design, which means the glasses curve around and hug your face to block out ambient light. Paired with wide temples, these glasses do an exceptional job of cutting glare and keeping you focused on the fish in front of you.
With this release, consumers also get a new lens color: rose. The rose lenses are designed as an all-around lens, similar to a green mirror or copper. From bright sun to cloudy mornings, these lenses cut glare and ease eye strain. The rose lenses also excel in various fisheries and locations. For flats anglers, these lenses make fish pop across light bottom. If spotting shadows from a distance is your calling, the rose lenses excel at picking up fish from a far. Take tarpon fishing, for instance. Seeing fish further out gives you more time to get into position and make quality casts for your best opportunity.
On our local mountain streams, the Fly Line also offers exceptional visibility. It is similar to an amber or copper base with its ability to cut glare, see through the water, and spot fish. The 14% VLT makes rose a versatile option when navigating streams and rivers. A true do-it-all lens, it performs great on open rivers with bright sun and shaded streams with overhanging trees. For trout anglers, having a single pair of glasses for every condition has its benefits.
With the Fly Line marketed as a budget-friendly option, we wanted to know how true that claim is. The starting MSRP is $154 for frames with 580P lenses and rises to $234 for 580G lenses. While by no means cheap, they do come in quite a bit lower than Costa’s other models and include similar styling and technology. As of now, the new rose-colored lenses are only available in 580G, meaning you’d have to spend more than the $154 entry-level price. This is the main downside, but as Costa continues to expand this line, we hope to see 580P in rose.
Final Thoughts:
Costa’s new Fly Line sunglasses are designed to be an affordable, dependable option tailored to fly anglers. That begs the question, do they hold up to that claim? After our testing both here in Colorado and on the flats of Florida, we can say they do. For $154, you get a performance-driven pair of glasses with exceptional coverage and premium lenses. They are a great tool for finding fish and an even better investment for those looking to get a new pair of glasses. The 13 different frame and lens configurations offer an option for any angler, and for the first time, consumers get rose lenses as an option.
