It works extremely well for suspended- or scattered fish.

Large attraction radius-fish will see your gear from a long way off and will approach the gear.

A variety of lures or baits can be used.

You can cover large amounts of water to locate fish.

This flasher technique has several advantages: This added lure movement, combined with the flash and thump of the flasher, seems to be the trigger for fish to climb on like groupies on a tour bus.

The effect of this aggressive, kicking rotation is that the bait or lure in tow gets jerked around significantly more than with a non-finned flasher. The particular flashers that make this technique work so well, though, are those that have the addition of a kicker fin, or “agitator fin.” This little fin near the stern end of the flasher grabs water and results in a consistent, aggressive rotation of the flasher-more so than flashers that don’t have the fin. The author with a Chinook taken with a 360 flasher and Original Super Bait in Seahawk color.įlashers have been in use in salmon fisheries for decades. Rather, we’re talking about a specific type of flasher. We’re definitely not talking about dodgers, which are designed to wobble from side to side. The key to this technique is the use of what many refer to as “360 flashers.” That’s a little ambiguous, as all flashers rotate 360 degrees while being trolled.

It is highly effective at attracting fish and stimulating them to bite-even maturing fish in terminal areas that have slowed or stopped feeding. This technique isn’t yet used much in Alaska’s troll fisheries, but in areas like Southeast, Seward, Whittier, upper Cook Inlet, and Valdez, it should be. Its use has since migrated west down the Columbia all the way to the coast, and has spread to other bay systems such as Tillamook Bay, and indeed up and down the coast in saltwater, especially in areas where maturing salmon are gathering. The technique was employed first on the Columbia River in eastern Washington and Oregon several years ago. Flashers: the hottest current technique for icing Chinook and coho salmon up and down the west coast is undoubtedly Pro-Trollin’ This Chinook couldn’t resist a Hot Tamale Original Super Bait.

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