A Flash in the pan. Some things just work.

This post is a bit different from all the others. Normally I just write about the basics of where we fished and what we caught. I decided to let you all in on a little secret that has been working for me for a few years now, especially for dorado and sailfish.

Years back, I had a few discussions with my spearo mates regarding the flashers that they used. There were many different configurations and theories about them but the basic concept worked … and worked well.

I decided to make my own flasher, but for ski-boat fishing, taking into consideration the pros and cons of diving flashers.

Since then, I have tweaked them to a point where I am really happy with their performance. So much so that I do not fish without them. I first made them public knowledge after a convincing win at the St Lucia 12x12 species comp. Dorado were not very easy to come by and every day we managed to get our numbers. Most were on the rod right next to the flasher.

Next up was the St Lucia Snoek Derby where the top performing teams were pulling them. There was then a request to make a smaller version for the snoek and it proved dynamite.

I then wanted to know how they operated from a diver’s point of view so I gave it to a mate on the south coast. His feed back was great. The flasher made no metallic noises, they had twice the action in the water and on the odd occasion, the fish would swim up and actually grab the flasher.

I then turned my focus to the smaller billfish. Heading to Morocco to fish for white marlin. Trolling at around 5 knots, I put out a flasher behind a trolling weight. It swam just below the surface so that we could see anything coming up behind it. I was pleased to see several fish raised by it. Granted, we did also have a dredge in the water and other teasers, but it was interesting to see how the fish would become more aggressive around the flasher than the straight running teasers.

Here at home in local waters, I trolled two flashers off the stern while pulling swimbaits for sailies. It worked a treat, not only for sails and dorries, but also for the small 20 to 40kg black marlin.

This December, I tried it while live baiting for marlin. We had a live bonito swimming on the starboard side and the flasher on the port stern cleat. I’m not sure if it brought the fish in, but we caught a black marlin for out efforts. What was interesting is that a big hammerhead came up to look at the 5 flasher blades before it spotted the lone bonnie. This gave us time rip the bait in and save it.

I have been lucky to play around with different methods to incorporate these flashers into my fishing and now use them when slow trolling for gamefish, on the surface and on the downrigger, when fishing for sailfish, off the riggers and in the small dredges I make and when drifting. They are surprisingly versatile and I will not be caught without them.

If anyone is interested in buying a set or two, drop me a comment with your email address and I can send you the prices.

Below are some of the many fish taken with the flashers.