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Flashers

Thread Status: Hello , There was no answer in this thread for more than 60 days.
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Amphibious

Working Class Spearo
Mar 17, 2002
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Just put together a new set of flashers - have yet to test them out - let me know what'ya think. any suggestions?
 
Last edited:
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Looks good Will.

Only suggestion that I would reccommend is to drill a hole & put a little removeable string across so that you can let out line & stop it at any depth without any tangling, difficulty, etc.
 
What fish are you targeting , Willer ?
The size of the plates should approximate the prey size .
I would guess those will do well for mackerel . IMHO you should at least double the amount of plates and if it is mackerel you are after string a pink squid onto the bottom with a weight inside its body to prevent your flashers from being lifted by currents .
Enjoy ...:p
 
Should have put a better description with the picture:

The dodgers are silver (they look gold in the photo) , are 6" (15cm) long and 3" wide (7.5cm) and the same pattern on both sides. the squid contains a 1.5oz weight tucked inside the body. the float in the center is a "spinner float" used for salmon fishing, but has a low displacement.

I'm looking for a larger pink squid, but am so far unable to find one. this is to be a muliti species flasher - something to playwith on long drifts.

I'm thinking of adding a latex ring to the spool to keep it from freespooling. I may add a second spinner and a third dodger when a i get back to canada (where I found the parts)


Willer
 
This may be a stupid queation, but you are using a float right?

My dive buddy has something similar. two mirrors with a big squid behind them. it looks great underwater. the squid follows the plates around when you "work" it. it looks very enticing

good luck

mark
 
Griff
You really need to find a bigger weight to prevent it tanlgling this needs to go on the bottom so when you jig it up and down to attract fish the bottom stays at the bottom and lures wont tangle this could be a large lead ball sinker in a larger plastic squid try asking for plastic octopus or skirt for trolling lure as if you look on internet you will need to use the same name as in suppliers catalogue - this is a frustrating thing with computers ,they have no bloody imagination and cant guess what you want if you dont have exact name match!
Also you will need some way to adjust depth as fuzz said , try looking at rob allen flasher with chicken float to see how they do it they have small bungee that holds line on float at required depth, this works well.

Poacher
 
Worked on a new flasher system last fall and it came out pretty trick. It is a little more subtle, but it holds fish forever. I bought a 6 pack of softplastic, metallic 10" ballyhoo; pack of inline weight slides(with attached snap links); a few crimps; and a large 8 oz jigging spoon, w/ mylar flashing.

Alternate one slide and one crimp until you have 6 of each on the leader material. Tie off the bottom end to a snap swivel. Every 2-3 feet, pinch a crimp down. This is just to act as a spacer for the slides so that you end up with the slides bounded on either side by locked crimps. This allows for the ballyhoo to move naturally as the float bobs up and down. Next use the large snaps on the slides to rig the ballyhoo through the nose notch. Use a knife/scissors to slit the nose so that the snap is completely concealed. Attach the bottom snap to the jigging spoon or weighted squid. The ballyhoo are neutrally to slightly positively buoyant, so they sit horizontal as if schooled up facing into the current. Just jig it occasionally...the end result looks awesome in the water. Just make sure you carry extra ballyhoo, they get eaten occassionally. You can also add a few strips of mylar so that it is visible from even further away.

I'll try to get some pics up soon.

matt
 
neverthought about using the good ol "bullyhoo's"...maybe I will just drag a teaser dredge behind me:D

Do post those pics if you get a chance...Id like to take a peek at that.:hmm
 
Ultra cheap flasher

I recently put together the cheapest, nastiest flasher I've ever seen. What's more, it actually worked!

It consisted of the following:

+ 2 chromed oven coil reflectors that normally sit underneath the coil on a stovetop
+ about 15 metres of fishing line

For a grand total of $5 australian dollars (about the same price as a Big Mac + fries) I got a silver flashy thing that attracts fish. And, you only need to go to your supermarket to get it!

When jigged up and down the fish go nuts trying to work out what the heck it is.

Usage report:
Bass Point, 24/1/02:
When first deployed I got a lot of interest from a number of baitfish, as well as a couple of small kingfish. After a couple of minutes the interest subsided a bit. I towed it around for about half an hour before resuming jigging at the most promising point.
After 5 minutes more jigging away suddenly I noticed half a dozen good sized kingfish schooling around the flasher, attacking it when it was moved suddenly. I dove, shot one, but unfortunately the flopper on my spear disengaged when the fish was close enough to touch and the fish wriggled off the spear.

More jigging didn't make the fish reappear.

So you don't have to spend big money on fish-shaped apparatus, it looks like anything silvered will grab the attention of kingfish.
 
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Several of you have asked for pics of the flasher set-up I mentioned a few post above, I don't have a digital camera...so I tried to sketch it out. I hope this makes a bit of sense. Let me know if there are any more questions. My set-up uses 6 ballyhoo instead of four. Keep extras in the boat, they end up being irresistible to some fish and they end up eating them. Add a little mylar flash to give it a bit more viz from a distance, throw it out and hurry up and wait!

matt
 

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Thanks Matt & Amp

Ur set up is giving me more ideas how to make a flasher.
I plan to make a very OBSCENE flasher in a grand scale. I once jigged a dead 90cm ( +- 3feet ) Spanish Mackerel for fun and lots of fish came to it, including a beast of a shark.

Still confused what NOT to put on it rather than what to put on it.....:confused:

With my limited fishes, I need all the trick I can do.

Great topic boys.............
 
You guys go all out on the flashers. So far, we go the easy route. We grimp six chrome plates to around 30 feet of left over shooting line. We stagger the flashers and alternate them on different sides of the line. On the end of the line, there is a six ounce fishing weight. This allows the whole thing to jig in the swells. This thing really works for bringing in Ono (wahoo). The first time we used them, we had four Ono approach. My partner shot but missed. All four circled around right under me. I thought they would bolt but dove anyway. To my surprise, they slowed down enough for me to get a shot off. I stoned one and looked to see the other hanging around. My partner was reloading his gun so let the Ono dangle below me hoping the other would come in to investigate. Big mistake. Before my partner could finish reloading, the first shark showed up. Then another, then another. I quickly grabbed mine, knifed it in the head, then headed for the boat. When I turned around to face the boat, I counted twelve Ono all coming straight for the flashers. I ignored these, threw my fish into the boat then followed around my partner, all the while keeping an eye on the pesky sharks. Luckily two left and only one persisted in following us around. My partner reloaded, lined up on another and missed again. Turns out the handle on his gun was hanging on by one screw thus throwing off his shots. He eventually got one of the curious Ono still milling around the flashers and we both went home smiling (would have shot more but that's another story). There were other times that we had good sized Ono come straight in on the flashers and again we went home happy. So far we have never had Mahi come in on the flashers but I'm pretty sure it will work. Another partner of my uses a large kitchen spoon on the reef. When he sees a nice fish, he will drop the spoon then dive after the spoon when it is about half way to the bottom. Simple but effective.

Brad :martial
 
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