Flasher or no flasher

It seems like most people use flashers when trolling herring or spinners in the bay/tidewater areas. Is that really necessary? How much does that increase the odds of catching a fish over just using a plain old spinner?

Complex question with infinite answers. We have found that there are times when a flasher helps, others it hurts, others it is a wash...depends on water temp, water clarity, fish mood (fiesty or timid)...

You will probly get a lot of debate on this question. All I can say is, I have caught a lot of Salmon with out them. It's hard to beat cut and cured herring by it's self.

lots of grass/weeds=no flasher, no grass/weeds=flasher

ulua said:

lots of grass/weeds=no flasher, no grass/weeds=flasher

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I won't argue with your theory, but in my (limited bigwater, I've mostly been a trib guy my while life) experience, the flasher helps to catch the weeds before they hit the bait/spinner, keeping it fishing effectively a little longer.

I also think a person should do what they're confident with... always the most important thing.

I also think there isn't a clear-cut answer to the question. But I do believe that when trolling for salmon, it's not a bad idea to rig poles a bit differently (depending how many people you have), and see which one gets hit, then switch the others out (or not).

We can open a second can of worms on this debate, and get into distance between flasher and bait, but that might take us to 14 pages.

Last fish I caught was a coho from the bay, which was on a Shortbus Flasher (I think that guy lives by me somewhere, see his truck all the time), with probably about 5' of leader to a Toman spinner. Seemed to be what everyone was using that day (maybe different brands of gear), and the nets were flying like crazy.

But that question is one of those "ask 10 people, get 10 answers" sort of deals.

If most are trolling with a flasher and you are not your spinner or herring will stand out and usually get more strikes.For attraction try adding 1 glo bead to a spinner body or peg the same above your herring.The bead on a spinner body would of course only work if you make your own.My suggestions come from more than 25 years of trolling for fall salmon and the success rate for me just keeps getting better.I hope this helps.

I would say 99% of tangles are caused by how the line is lowered into the water. If the dropper, leader and flasher are properly rigged up then there really is no reason to ever have a tangle. We have not had a tangled rod in over 5 years. Using hand pulls can help with guys who let line out to fast and cannot get the feel for letting out the line correctly.

Any tangles I've had have been very minor, and under a minute to fix. Generally, you're running such heavy line (I'm not a big fan of braid, but often end up deploying a friend's rod who uses it), it's hard to tangle and easy to untangle.

But what S_S said -- gotta be careful when letting it out. I try to get the bait/spinner and flasher in the water first, to get them running back before the lead touches the water. Seems to work.

Another thing that helps reduce tangles is quality swivels.

Markk said:

Another thing that helps reduce tangles is quality swivels.

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X2...plus keeping the swivels cleaned of seaweed!

And wd40

All kidding aside I use a 60lb to 100lb test mono bumper infront of flasher to keep from tangles from happening.