Flashers

[miles]

Hiya

A flasher is basically ANYTHING you use to attract the attention of fish, luring them into range. Fish are curious by nature, and its this trait that we exploit by using a flasher.

Flashers are mostly used on Pelagics but i know of some guys who use them quite succesfully on reef fish.

There are quite a few types of flashers, with the Rob Allan range of flashers probably the most well known. I prefer to attach a noisy lure to my flasher. the sound as well as the shiny surfaces of the flasher draws fish in.

I suppose most spearo's have their own way of working a flasher. I set ime at 8-10m deep, that being the depth i'm comfortable in. We normally have one diver jerking the flasher up and down, whilst the other dives down to the flashers depth. You then look out for any fish that have come to inspect this flashing noisy object. Try not to stare at the flasher, but rather the outskirts. Also swim towards the flasher, then turn away, as if you've just checked it out and moving off. Take special care to look ALL around the flasher. I had a large hammerhead swim right behind me in crystal clear water, also checking out the flasher........and i didn't even see the shark!! Thats how easy it is to miss a fish.

Using one guy on a flasher at all times also saves you freom swimming after your flasher after you've shot a fish. Also doubles as having a buddy watch you during your dive.

Pictures below is of my flashers. RA kamikaze and Rabitech Flasher!! The lure i've attached is called a Halco GT jig. We use them to troll for YF tuna. They have ball bearings inside which rattle like crazy when you jerk it up and down!!

Regards
miles

[spaghetti]

thanks miles (and thanks Mr.X for flasher post in another thread). This is the kind of advice i was looking for, just to make the concept clear. Now it's up to me trying out. Flashers are a thing i've never tried before (and none of my friends in italy), while fishes are getting more and more suspicious in my waters.
What we use here for aspetto are mostly acoustic tricks: a metal "tin-tin" sound (for bentonic fish), a "clop-clop" sound with the tongue or a deep "goo-goo" from the throat (for bass, dentex and smaller pelagics), or slightly clapping hands on the surface (for bass in shallow water). Sometimes it happens to work: couldn't say if it's just a habit or if it has any scientifical-ethological basis. We just do make those sounds, and some fishes come to aspetto: that's it.
PS.What about a DIY flasher made with fragments of broken cd's and transparent nylon line?

[miles]

Hiya

Do a search on the net. Loads of info on DIY flashers. Some of the most popular items are cd's (but they delaminate and get buggered up quickly), mirrors taped back to back, SS peices, SS knives , even that silver plastic containers wine comes in!!

Another trick is to put small thin strips of silver plastic onto your floatline. Sort of 30cm apart. Seen a few guys use it succesfully.

Regards
miles

[Griff]

hi spearos

I spent so much time and money with my diy flashers over the years that i have probably spent more than i would have buying a rob allen flasher (something i was avoiding in the hope of savng cash )
but in the process i learned a lot of lessons about what makes a good flasherm and i now have one that i wouldnt trade for a commercial one because of the diving i do.

here's a brief description of my flasher
a high density foam float cut from a kick-board.
thick nylon (like 1.5mm), about 20m of.
on the last 1.5m of line i've tied on an assortment of squid skirts and cut up wine-bag skin. the bottom has a big skirt and the weight (two largish lead fishing sinkers). i'll take a pic of mine tonight and post it tomorrow.

what makes a good flasher?
from a fish's perspective the flasher needs to be interesting, so lots of shiny bits (think baitfish) with some colour. Pink is the favorite here cause the ultimate sucker for a flasher, the king mackeral, which we mainly target here, likes pink.
so i've got some pink squid skirts, i've also got some other colours for a bit of variation. this is all for visual fish so i dont know about you guys who dive in swamp water, probably not too usefull.
noise also helps and lots of people use those halco rattle lures.

the other equally important aspect is the practicality of the flasher. I do mostly shore dives so i've got to lug the thing around. hence my flasher is designed to be low drag and not to unravel when the surf pounds it. (highly annoying when it gets snagged on the rocks on your way in or out)
using flexible flasher bits (wine bag skins are great) helps you to wind the whole lot up and clip it in securely.
i clip the flasher to the back of my float for the swim in and out.
i know a diver who uses a dink bottle. when not in use he opens the cap and floods it, so its neutral, and sticks it in his cray bag around his waist. when he wants to use it he just empties the water. cool idea if you have a bag all the time.

also important is the drag of the flasher when deployed. if you are moving and the flahser causes too much drag, it ends up way behind you and close to the surface. this is one of the problems with CD's. to offset this you need a big weight, so you add drag etc. squiddies and wine-skin bag-bits just go with the flow.

another crucial thing is the thickness of the line, thin fishing line is terrible to handle, and tangles sooo easily, so thick nylon is the way to go.
its also a good idea to mark off depth on the line, so that way you know you are sitting at 15m or whatever, usefull when you cant see the bottom.

the best way to dive with a flasher is you and your buddy share one, with one working the flasher and the other diving.
the fish will come have a look and then move on, so you need to be sharp like miles said. unfortunately sharks dont move on and they seem to love them. if there are sharks around i'd be careful when winding up, this happended to me once when i wasnt paying attention while winding up, the extra movement got the sharks excited and one charged right up to me.

i think thats all the info i can share. attached is a pic of the advantage of using flashers, a nice king mackeral of 10kg that i shot last friday.

cheers and good luck.
mark

[Mr. X]

The Rob Allen website was recently overhauled and includes several innovative new products, including several new designs of flasher. The one which caught my attention () is the Ghost Flasher. This apparently is intended to be part of the floatline that attached to your speargun (like a plain ghost leader presumably):

"The “no hassle” model that works throughout your dive and also when you rest on the surface.

The flasher is fitted in the middle of a Ghost Leader with floatation to increase its action. A good choice for general diving or in strong currents when you might become separated from the other models.
(code FLSGLS)"

Rob Allen spearguns, railguns and other spearfishing and freediving accessories.

[fleshy]

Im thinking about possibly making one of these for freshwater. I know it sounds dumb, but if theres anything I can do to draw some perch or crappies to one area... It might be worth it.

[blaiz]

Here is my diy flasher. just used some 250lb clear mano with a 3oz lead. Covered the lead w/ a skirt and added an old crocodile lure on top of that. Then I put 3 old spoons even distances apart with the mono crimped going upwards to add a little spring. Seems to work pretty well!