Swivels On The Back of A Flasher.......

[Seafever]

Ever tried running a flasher backwards? I have....it has at times been an idea to for Sockeye fishing. Where you get an enhanced flailing action off the flasher at a really slow speed. Now let's project that same effect to when you have a feisty Chinook on and it is running away from you at speed. The flasher is now running backwards and it will behave much more violently than when it was going forward. It will be be all but trying to yank the hook out of the salmon's mouth. Having some good swivels on the back of the flasher might help a bit. Those that tie direct with no swivels on the hoochy or flasher....well you have a direct non-forgiving line to the overly erratic effect of the flasher running backwards, towed by the speeding Chinook. Since the flasher is now behaving like a flailing nutball it will probably scare the living crap out of the salmon as it whacks him on the butt like a schoolteacher's butt paddle. I would also venture a lot of fish are lost simply because the flasher being towed backwards by the Chinook is behaving so erratically that it just pulls the hook out on a fish that is not well-hooked. In this example I do not mean that you run a flasher backwards for Chinooks. I mean that when the fish is running, the flasher will behave differently because it is being towed backwards by the fish.

 

[scott craven]

Not sure i understand this post ?
are you warning people against running the flasher backwards ?

 

[Finished Business]

I accidentally rigged a flasher backwards in Bamfield in early April targetting winters....pretty sure that rod took most the hits, only realized half way through the day, but I didn't change it as it was quite productive...haven't ran one backwards, and given the results on that trip....not sure why!

 

[Peahead]

If you want to get an idea what a fish would be towing when the flasher is backwards, just pull a flasher the correct trolling direction through the water quickly - like after you have popped the terminal gear from the cable. Give it a big yank a feel the drag and watch that flasher spin a 3 or 4' circle.

Do you want your fish pulling that ? Not me. Line would also likely snap when a decent fish took a big run unless you had very strong main line and leader. Backwards flashers have been used for sockeye but I'd never do it because we often hit nice Chinook when sockeye fishing.

 

[ComfortZone]

I accidentally rigged a flasher backwards in Bamfield in early April targetting winters....pretty sure that rod took most the hits, only realized half way through the day, but I didn't change it as it was quite productive...haven't ran one backwards, and given the results on that trip....not sure why!

yup! that rod prob took 70-80% of the hits in that time period...remember we even considered switching over the other side backwards, but if memory serves me we left it as is...maybe ill give it a shot this weekend lol

 

[Seafever]

R.S. Craven.......as the last two sentences in my post indicate (which I went to great pains to add so there would be no confusion)......I am talking about when a salmon is running and the flasher is connected normally. The salmon is running away from the boat ...and......so....the flasher will now be going backwards through the water because he is towing it.

 

[Peahead]

Ok following your last post Seafever ,I think .....when you asked "have you ever 'run' a flasher backwards, I thought you meant "have you ever 'rigged' a flasher backwards". I see now you probably meant have you ever watched a flasher as it moves in reverse direction ( like when a fish is pulling it)

I think you might want to re-experiment with the action a flasher has when it moves backwards (when a fish is pulling it) - it does may make some little strange erratic moves depending on how the fish fights but the important thing is that it is far more streamline and not spinning a 3-4' rotation going in that direction. There is WAY less drag when a salmon pulls, as compared to the flasher being trolled by a boat in the flashers proper trolling position going foward

One reason flashers are sometimes rigged backwards (especially for Sockeye) is that the flashers still provide an attractant as they move but they actually impart a different and slower action which Sockeye usually prefer because they feed slower on a slow moving bait like shrimp and Krill rather than a darting fast moving bait like herring. If you are using dummy flashers I suppose running them backwards would have the advantage of less drag on the cables especially if you have a dozen dummies !!!!

The flasher rigged normally will spin and rotate when its moving foward even at quite slow speeds. If you speed up the flasher will rotate faster and faster and cause major drag so if that flasher was flipped and rigged backwards and a Chinook took it going at 20 miles per hour, the flasher would be spinning with huge amount of drag as the fish was trying to run. Not sure that adresses your post but I wouldn't RIG flashers backwards for that very reason of drag when a fish took the line.

 

[Seafever]

I don't run flashers backwards for Chinook. I'm just talking about when the fish is running AWAY FROM YOU with the flasher connected normally....which in effect would be the same as the flasher going backwards. But on times when I HAVE run the flasher backwards for Sockeye...I noticed that the flasher had a much wilder action even at those very slow speeds for Sox. Which would be good for Sox.....because you can get the flasher to do more erratic stuff at such a slow speed without it being "off the charts". The back end of a normal 11" flasher has a slightly bigger area bend on it than the front of the flasher.......and it behaves strangely when pulled in reverse, be it you rigged it that way or the fish is doing it for you by pulling the normally-rigged flasher away from you as it goes on a long run.