flasher color, does it really make a difference

[Rum Buddies]

I've always thought about this and I like most people have tried dozens of different colors in the past.

I mean whos to say that a green hot spot wouldn't have triggered the same bite as a red hot spot.

If someone comes back to dock with a large fish caught on a sooke special then of course many guys will go out and use the same flasher and catch fish. Does this mean the flasher is a hot flasher or just that there was a lot of them in the water so of course more fish are gonna come back to dock with this flasher.

I've been using the e-chip flashers a lot and catching fish on them, but is that cause they make a difference or just cause I use them more often then others.

I suppose the same arguement can be made for teaser heads - we all have our favorite combinations, but is it the combinations that are catching fish or the fact that we use them more then others.
Any thoughts?

 

[scott craven]

I think you could get by with 3 flasher's
green/glow, purple/glow & purple haze...
these flasher's work good all year.
(maybe a green betsy thrown in for good measure)

 

[scottyboy]

well i did a little test this last week at my fav . fishing hole lol . chrome / green betsy. gold/green betsy . worked great caufgt all the fish , other colours didn`t even get a hit. boated over 20 fish on those flashers. really depends on water and where you fish . tight lines scotty

 

[Rum Buddies]

Very interesting scotty boy, can you say that all other factors were equal? Same depths, teaser color(assuming these were all chovy), times/tides ?

On a side note, do you guys think the flasher is representing a school of bait with an injured fish trailing behind(ie. easy pickings for a fish) or do you think the flasher is representing another salmon chasing bait which attracts the attention of other fish?

I know I've seen salmon chase hooked salmon to the surface, so that does kinda of fit the latter theory, but the first one seems plausible to me also.

If you believe it is the latter then would you agree that gold or bronze taped flashers would be a better choice later in the season as mature fish are darkening?

 

[scottyboy]

well it`s funny at nootka i had great luck with a crome plad flasher but didn`t work well at my fav. hole this past week . yes i was fishing same depths same colour same leader lengths . and at that time the betsy flashers kicked butt 4 us . tight lines scottyboy

 

[Degree of Freedom]

It definitely seems that color matters...however, I read an interesting article by Luhr Jensen that tells a different story. He mentions that water filters out colors based on depth. Red is filtered out by 30', yellow and chartreuse at 60', with green and blue the last to be filtered out. By filtered out he means the color appears gray [:0].

 

[marula]

I have a tough time thinking color matters that much as long as there is a light flash and a pressure wave created to get the fishes attention. Along side of the body is line of scales called the lateral line that is sensitive to pressure waves or movement in the water. I use to dive for years and at 60 feet, it gets pretty grey and dark and at 100 you see very little. Now i know there are you out there that have fished a lot more then i ever will and find color does matter so i'm going with that but its still difficult to imagine how.

 

[yo mama]

I think it is all in the fisherman more than the fish. The bottom line is thew flash that draws them in not the color. I've had numerous times fish come right up to the fish I was playing, aggesivly looking for something to chomp on because of the flash the hooked fish was giving off. I have always used the same set up time and time again since the eighties. Have always thrown down the latest and greatest and the only difference I found was the 10 bucks I was missing out of my pocket.

 

[KoneZone]

I met a Navy Seal professional Diver teaching dude one time at a Sportsman's show outside of Seattle. He said that they teach the divers the acrynym ROYBGIV to help them remember the colors that a human eye can see at different depths. It goes Red / Orange / Yellow / Blue / Green / Indigo / Violet. These colors will Grey out at certain depths which fluctuate according to water clairity and algee counts and light conditions. As a tackle manufacturer I can tell you different colors are popular in different areas. Chartreuse is the # 1 seller with the Greens a close 2nd. The newest thing as mentioned by another person is the Ultra-Violet flashers. I have read up on this and many baitfish emmit UV light when allerted. UV has also been measured thousands of feet deep. The ability of UV light to penetrate the water column is amazing. Thats why I say Pro-UV it's what the fish are looking for. [^]

 

[Rob Warren]

Well in the port derby I was into about 40 fish. I was running one oldschool red hot spot and one oldschool green hotspot. They both worked amazingly well. I don't know of anybody who did better with colors other than those two basics. I think the presentation of the bait makes alot more difference. After you get on to how to roll bait correctly you catch alot more fish than most. I was applying a couple different technics to get the bait the way I wanted it to roll. I tested this many times guiding for Tyee lodge and it makes one hell of a difference. I would try it on one side and not the other.. switch sides with it, and every fish we took was on a roll I did my tricks too. I showed my buddies on my boat during the derby after hitting the first 5 fish on my side, then it evened out and we where hitting em on both sides. But i still like to give em a choice between red or green.

 

[Rum Buddies]

ya I think I tend to agree, its the flash and vibration that is making the most difference - I mean most flashers have 90% of their surface covered in reflective tape, not solid colors.

I do think the roll is the most important factor of all and not everyone has an eye for it.

As for your little anchovy tricks - you can't post a tease and not mention what it is.

 

[Rob Warren]

Everyone who comes out on a charter gets to see my "tricks" that I have learned over 16 yrs of guiding. To give em away for free would be like shooting myself in the foot.

 

[dog]

I definitely think the Salmon instinctively switch into high gear and on to red alert when they see another fish moving quickly and erratically, the way a hot spot does. I think they just cant help themselves, it is in their genetic code or something, like a guy driving by the tackle or marine shop, or a cat watching a bird flit around. I was watching some Salmon in a big window at the Vancouver aquariun once at feeding time. Chunks of food were dropped into the top of the tank and were slowly dropping below the surface. The chunks generally got ignored as they slowly sunk, but finally when one fish grabbed a piece he would start moving erratically and faster, then all the rest would chase him. The original movement that sets off the frenzy looked just like a flasher in the water. Other than that, I like green or red flasher to match the general colour of my hootchy or spoon, but mostly prefer plain old chrome dodgers because line twist really annoys me.

 

[Rob Warren]

Tie a good chain swivel about 1-2 feet in front of the hotspot.. no more line twist.

 

[scott craven]

so, bead chain swivel, 2'mono, flasher,then leader and bait ?
i usually run my bead chain direct to the flasher....

 

[wolf]

I use a good sampo ball bearing swival guick change on my main line they work great as for colored flasher,YES it makes a difference especially in the later spawning months i have noticed a big difference from knight inlet to sooke as well in colors up in knight i use totally different flashes they work better up there I personally think the clarity of the water is why down here it is way more murky,


Good luck Wolf

 

[dog]

OK thanks Mr Warren, I will give that a try. Probably will use a big stainless ball bearing followed by a bead chain then the 2 feet to another stainless ball bearing on the front of the flasher. Still love to troll my old chrome dodgers trolled fast, occaisionally dragging in the mud to stir it up.

Still not sure what to think about colour. What do the commercial trollers have to say. Anybody have any news.

 

[Rob Warren]

I like to use both the good quick release AND the line tied chain swivel.. I have had chucks of seaweed slide down and lodge around the single quick release and stop the swivel action of it and whala.. line twist. thats why I use both the chain swivel AND the quick release.