Flasher Rigging

Flashers vs. Dodgers

 

 

Dodgers and flashers are both used very effectively to catch salmon. Many fishermen do not know the difference

between a dodger and flasher and end up rigging them wrong.

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Flashers are made to kick and rotate as they are trolled. The narrow tapered

end is the front. A bait or lure is connected to the back of the flasher by a tail

leader. A dodger is metal and a size 0 dodger is about nine inches long as

shown in the photo. The dodger is uniform at both ends and is not made to

spin. Its action is like a pendulum swinging  back and forth as it is trolled. If

you troll too fast and the dodger spins, you have lost its strong fish attracting

ability. Dodgers and flashers do the same thing in attracting salmon. Their

action puts out strong vibrations in the water that can be detected by salmon thirty or forty yards away. The salmon are attracted to these vibrations because they are the same as the vibrations made by the tail of a feeding salmon on the attack. Salmon in the vicinity will charge the flasher or dodger hoping to get in on the feed.

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There is a major difference in the way flashers and dodgers are rigged. Rig them wrong and you may catch a few fish. Rig them right and you will catch ten times as many fish. Flashers are made to ride from five feet up to twenty feet behind your weight, planer or downrigger release. Then you want your bait or lure three or four feet behind the flasher (tail leader). The size 0 (nine inch) dodger is close coupled and only about twenty-six inches behind your weight or release. Then you want the tail leader to the bait also close coupled about twenty inches behind the dodger. The rigging dimensions for both these devices is critical, particularly the tail leader length.
 

Flashers are more speed insensitive than dodgers. In other words, they will work over a wider range of trolling speeds than a dodger. Dodgers tend to have one speed where they work best. If this speed is exceeded the dodger spins and you lose its attraction to salmon.

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