My son insisted on buying the green Coho special a couple years ago when he was 9. I tried to talk him out of it, as I figured it was another gimmick that would prove unproductive. It was his money, so I figured if he wanted to waste it, go ahead. We were in Alberni fishing for Socks, and he wanted to use it. I thought it was a waste of time, but I rigged it up. I attached a tiny pink plastic Macks spoon to the Kinfisher flasher and sent it down. To my surprise it proved to be one of the hottest combinations of the trip.
I haven't really tried it since that trip, but my kid got his moneys worth from just the one trip. I can't attest to how it works for other species, but it sure seemed to work well on the slow troll for socks.