Question About Flashers

[Toonfisher]

What's the difference between a flasher and a dodger? What would be the application of each?

[GAMBLER]

The main difference between a flasher and a dodger is the action. The dodger has a side to side wobble and the flasher has a spinning action. Pro troll e-chips and spin doctors seem to be the best flashers out there.

[mikejonestkd]

The 8" protroll echips and the spin doctors have worked the best for us as well.

We also run luhr jensen dodgers, usually plain silver or trash can color. I think they are the 6" size.

[Blue Knight]

Gambler is right on with the difference in the action. Dodgers were the mainstay in the 70 & 80's when coho were the main target. Dodgers aren't very speed tolerant & with todays spoons that are normally run much faster it's tough to run a combination. Hot Spot were the first to bring out a plastic flasher & they've been copied by a number of other companies now. You can run them at any speed. On the west coast the commercial fleets are running them around 4.5 knots. I was one of the first to run their flasher on the north side of the lake & now it's hard to find a boat with at least one flasher down. I usually run my deep rod with an 11" Hot Spot & cut bait followed by another 11" with cut bait on the other side. My next two rods are either an 8" with a fly or trailing an Apex or a clean spoon or Apex. Dipsy rods are both 8" with flies or an Apex. The one thing the other flashers have yet to be able to come up with is that the Hot Spot can change direction of rotation. Everyone knows a change of speed or direction can trigger a strike even when it's tough fishing.

[chinook]

Don't get caught up in the fact that dodgers should only wobble side to side.We have taken many targets when the dodger has in fact been spinning at times. The old school of thought was that they(dodgers) should only go side to side, however there are now those who have found out otherwise. One way to test this is to use a thumper rig down the chute keeping an eye on the rod tip. Look for what one would consider a thumping action, this is where the dodger itself is going side to side.If this rod is not active, try increasing speed slightly, again the rod tip would then have a more pronounced pulsating action, which now it is spinning on occasion. If this then triggers strikes, try to replicate. But just to clarify, start out with dodgers on the slower side,-2.3-2.6 G.P.S. (obviously there are variables)but don't be surprised if rods are active at a higher clip. Having said that, flashers do take a ton of fish. My go to flasher rig is a pearl fishscale 11'' Coyote with a glow frog head with red eyes, pulling meat. If I were limited to only one rod come August this would have to get the nod. Nothing in this fishing is guaranteed, but most of the times this rig is as close as you are going to get. So, both dodgers and flashers have their moments. Alot of it has to do with what you are confident in running. Both will take their share of fish, just have to figure that out when that presents itself. That is what makes this sport interesting.

[Mick]

On the GLA site there is a post with a link to underwater footage of salmon/steelhead hitting flies and meat off of spin docs and I think E- chips. It was very cool to see fish and the way they look at/ hit different presentations. I agree that back over 10 yrs ago I was taught that the dodger/squid should have a side to side motion but seeing how those fish waited until the action was just right on the flies AND the meat made me wonder. Less than a couple weeks and we can maybee be out there again.(If the snow and ice melts) Have fun and tight lines. - Mick

[Blue Knight]

Mick just to clarify the second type of flasher was a Hot Spot. It's too bad it cut short or you would have seen the change in direction of rotation.

[Mick]

I do wish I could have seen more footage also. I only have dial up and it took too long to see the whole clip as it was. My 4 year old son loved it though. He thought he could play and catch the fish like the In Fisherman computer game I have . LOL