Flasher Revolving Speed......

[Seafever]

As I peruse the the fishing bibles from time to time I observe recommended trolling speeds from 1.8 to 2.3 mph.

In other parts of the same books they will say the flasher should rotate about 1 revolution per second.

A nice lazy "flop" as it were.......


However.......in reality...........

I use Hotspot and O'ki. To get the flasher going 1 rev per sec I only need to be barely moving.

If I go "normal" speeds..(even going WITH the current), my flasher is hell bent for election, rotating at least 3 times a second...and I'm not even pushing the speed. Flasher can be 15 to 20ft back, same result.

Now if I go by the recommended method of "watching your d/lines until they make a 35 to 45 degree angle"........my flashers are rotating like crazy.

Rotating like crazy to the point of:- if it hit a salmon on the head , it would knock it the "f" out.

Commies have always said they troll faster with hoochies than the average joe. In most bibles it says to go faster generally with hoochies.

Not that I'm complaining... I catch fish.

But it seems weird that it doesn't take anything to make that flasher go really fast.

I'm thinking the rotation speed should be somewhat slower.....but that would mean I'd be cutting my boat speed to "slower than molasses going uphill". For hoochies.

Have YOU noticed this on your boat at all?

Do you go by the book....or what you see?

 

[outback]

i think you are over thinking the whole thing, but it is interesting to note. i usually vary speeds all day, and take note of when i caught the fish, and try and repeat it, if the results dont.

depending on where you are fishing as well - a fish set on getting up river (i.e inside nootka) are usually more picky then a fish feeding offshore

 

[adrianna3]

I've caught salmon with the damn flasher screaming like a propeller. I've also caught them going dead slow. Do what works best for you. Trial and error.

Dave

 

[Seafever]

hmmmm.......down in the basement in my tackle archives I have 2 Super-Hotspot flashers......They are heavier than a normal Hotspot.....Jack Gaunt writes about them in his old book. They will reverse direction at intervals.....

They are red. I prefer green so I don't fish them if at all. Maybe I'll give 'em another go......

I'm just thinking that a flasher revolving at propeller speeds would scare fish away........but if you get fish that way then I guess it doesn't.

Some of those Great lakes flashers have a wider revolving arc......but nobofy seems to use them out here.......

 

[Drewski Canuck]

A boat named "Eight Years of Begging" was going a solid 4 MPH off of Hoisse Point many years ago, and killing the Springs in a pack of 50 dead boats. We started going that fast and faster, and never looked back. Can't imagine the speed of the RPMS on the Hotspot flashers, but we cleaned up day after day.

Do what works. If it doesn't work, do something else!

Drewski

 

[Seafever]

No doubt it does catch fish , Drewski........but I'm looking at the thing spinning around and I figured if I went any shorter leader on the hoochy, a salmon would never be able to catch it.........but I guess they can.

Makes me wonder how many I missed because they gave up chasing it, though.....

Leader recommendations seem to be in the 32 to 37" range ( back of flasher to nose of hoochy). I've never gone longer than 38".

I've read a few posts where guys went......hold the phone!!......4 to 5 FEET! on hoochies at times and got fish......

I've never tried going that long but I might give it a shot just to see what happens now that the bigger "migratories" are around........

 

[eaglemaniac]

If you want a slower revolving flasher, try an Abe n Al. You can watch the pulses on your rod tip. They work like a hot dam but are hard to reel up from 180 ft. and probably not suited to most rods used nowadays. eman

 

[Seafever]

That the old-style metal ones you're talking about?........Is a standard Scotty downrigger clip strong enough to keep them from pulling out due to resistance?

 

[Derby]

If you want a slower revolving flasher, try an Abe n Al. You can watch the pulses on your rod tip. They work like a hot dam but are hard to reel up from 180 ft. and probably not suited to most rods used nowadays. eman

Loved that flasher back in the day......lost a derby winner on year with one of those flashers....

 

[reelfast]

abe n'al is not a flasher, its a dodger. it wobbles side to side. a flasher rotates on its axis, totally different actions.

 

[eaglemaniac]

Probably not, although we just threw on a 8oz. weight and slayed just the same. My how things have changed. eman

 

[eaglemaniac]

Hey rf. Believe me Abe n Al #1 rotate, although they do make lot's of dodgers. eman

 

[Birdsnest]

The closer to the ball that you have your flasher the faster it will turn. The more distance you add between the flasher and the canon ball the larger the circle it turns in and at a slower rate of revolution. These rates of turn can be adjusted with speed where faster is faster and slower is slower.
Correct me if I am wrong but this has been my observation.

 

[Jencourt]

abe n'al is not a flasher, its a dodger. it wobbles side to side. a flasher rotates on its axis, totally different actions.

Pretty sure the good old Abe nal 1 made a circle I still use one from time to time. only dif is the circle is bigger than a hotspot ect. and also to add the scotty clips do hold them fine.

 

[Birdsnest]

Pretty sure the good old Abe nal 1 made a circle I still use one from time to time. only dif is the circle is bigger than a hotspot ect. and also to add the scotty clips do hold them fine.

I agree. talking about the full sized version.

 

[spring fever]

Abe and al was definitely a flasher!! Not a Dodger

 

[bigbruce]

Sorry if this is a really dumb question, but I'm a relative newB to this whole fishing game. Which end of the flasher goes to the rod - the narrow bit or the wide bit?

 

[Seafever]

The narrow end of the flasher hooks onto your main and the lure goes off the fat end.

After a few seasons, you start to try different things and rigs. When you find you can't stop messing around trying things and you start coming up with all sorts of whacky ideas, you will be classed as "certifiable".................I'm almost there now.

Then you can fish them any way you want........

 

[bigbruce]

Thanks, SF, that's what I thought - and the way I've been doing it....for now...

 

[Seafever]

Bruce.....most flashers come with a ball bearing swivel on the mainline end. So that the flasher will not twist your line up as it's working. I like to add an extra ball bearing swivel to that to doubly ensure no line twist. There has been the odd time when I fished them the way they came out of the package and I ended up with twisted line. Not very often ....but it has happened. I was just kidding about the "certifiable" thing...........running them backwards isn't going to help much. If you are on the fish.....standard normal rig will work each and every time all things considered......