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Flashers

Thread Status: Hello , There was no answer in this thread for more than 60 days.
It can take a long time to get an up-to-date response or contact with relevant users.

Adrian

Deeper Blue Beachcomber
Supporter
Nov 23, 2002
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What exactly are flashers?

What species are attracted by them?

Talk about risque threads :duh :)

Adrian
 
Hi adrian

i think that you hit the nail on the head with your question "What species are attracted by them?"

a flasher is anything that you dangle in the water to attract fish's attention, to bring them within your range, and hopefully keep them there for long enough to get a shot at them.

as far as what species are attracted to them, i have had a lot of interest from all sorts of fish. Batfish and old woman angle fish circle it, biting the shiny stuff, and kingfish shoot in and buzz around it. you also attract the unwanted interest of the toothy, ten-gill variery :blackeye.

as far as ideas for what to use as a flasher go, here are a few options.

the silver bag from box-wine, cut into strips.
perspex mirrors, glued back to back and sealed with nail varnish
stainless steel plates.
fising lures like plastic squid skirts
christmas decorations :D
cd's but not cd-r's.

this list is what i have used. there are some other good ideas out there, so keep asking.

remember that you'll need a float and line to attach the flasher to. you also need a weight to keep it down. if you plan to swim when the flasher is deployed, the weight needs to be quite bit because the drag on the line pulls the flasher up and behind you. by big, i'm talking 200-300grams.

when using one, just jig it up and down so that it looks alive, and remember bot to stare at you flasher, mesmerised by the bright coulours, but to keep looking around for the fish that you are after.

cheers and good luck.
mark
 
Does it attract reef species with specific add on? Such as bream, dentex, grouper?
 
Thanks Griff,
I'll make one up and see what happens. There's a small school of Mediterranean "barracuda" (Sphyraena sphyraena) where I dive that are pretty skittish when I try to get close to them, so it will be interesting.

Adrian
 
That's a good explanation that Griff gave . :king

Adrain , have to tell you that from my limited experience barracuda are one of the pelagic species that show the least interest in flashers ... maybe it's different elsewhere . :confused:
 
well the barracude here in Kuwait go bazurk when we deploy our flashers.... it might be that for different species, or maybe even the same species in diffeent locations react differently due to their realized niche....

also...you might want to put flashing beacons with some mono fishing line attoched to it with a small lead weaight because the beacon is positively bouyant... it might be cheating though, but it works great for night spearfishing, which in itself is cheating cuz all the fish are basically sleeping
 
Originally posted by Abriapnea
That's a good explanation that Griff gave . :king

Adrain , have to tell you that from my limited experience barracuda are one of the pelagic species that show the least interest in flashers ... maybe it's different elsewhere . :confused:


Abri and Mishu,

The barracuda you have are "great barracudas". The ones here are small and needle like, not at all aggresive and travel en schools.

From Fishbase: http://ichtyonb1.mnhn.fr/Summary/SpeciesSummary.cfm?genusname=Sphyraena&speciesname=barracuda

The above is for Sphyraena barracuda, the big boys :D

Here is our "European barracuda"

http://ichtyonb1.mnhn.fr/Summary/SpeciesSummary.cfm?genusname=Sphyraena&speciesname=sphyraena

Adrian
 
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