I'm curious to know how long of leaders folks use with various lures/baits behind flashers (i.e. hoochies, coyote or coho killer spoons, flies, cut plug herring, etc). I'm sure everyone has their preferences. How does that leader length change for salmon type, or if you use dodgers.

In Sept at Sekiu for coho, I found that a 40" leader to a coho killer spoon from a 00 chrome dodger outfished everything else we tried at Sekiu, including the same set-up on Hot Spot flashers. (Non-stop action!)

For cut-plug and big kings (which I haven't fished for much recently), I used to like a 60" leader on a green Hot Spot.

Anyone else?

I havent used any hardware since 1999 after a trip to Rivers Inlet B.C. After seeing how they fish up there for huge kings.They use large cutplug herring thats it.
So when I got back from there I decided to try it here. I use blue lable herring on a 6'leader to a bead chain I let this out about 40' behind the boat than hook it to the downrigger. No flasher.
And stick with the 5 rules for catching kings.
1. fish early
2.fish deep
3.fish close to shore
4.FISH SLOW!!!! (REAL SLOW)
5.fish tide change
Since I started doing this my catch rate has improved at least 10 times over how it was before.
For coho I speed up using the same setup. This is easy fishing and you dont have to lug around a 20lb tackle box.

My preferences:

I only use Hotspots (unless I fishing for Pinks- white dodger)...

Hootchies- 36" (Blackmouth), 50" (Summer Kings- 6" hootchies)
Apex- 55" (Blackmouth), 70" (Summer Kings
Spoons- 42"-46" (Blackmouth), 55" (Summer Kings) I modify my spoons so there are effected off the flasher.
Bait, when and if I use it (very rarely), Blackmouth 44" and Summer Kings- 55"

Again, these are only my preferences...

Downriggin'

To DR's list I'd add one more;
24" with 40-50lb leader to a Grand Slam Bucktail for BM's or Summer Kings.

Here's my take:
Hot Spots:
summer kings
42 - 44 inches for hoochies, 40 inches or so for spoons.
blackmouth
36 - 38 inches for hoochies
same on the spoons
silvers
38 - 40 inches for hoochies, 34 - 36 inches for flies
Metallics like Abe & Al
kings (summer & BM,) & silvers
28 inches for hoochies
31 inches for flies
same for spoons
This one worked the best for the silvers in Sekiu this year, cop car coho killer or old style size 3 "freak" spoon 40 inches behind a large fish flash. As you can see I rarely run bait, but I always marinate some herring in anise & WD-40 to add as strips to the hoochies & flies, not on the spoons as it kills the action.
Good luck and tight lines, Jeff

I'm a Hotspot fan and drag either a Coyote or Coho Killer behind it on 5-6 feet of 25 lb. leader, specifically Trilene Big Game. Why? My mainline is 50 lb. Power Pro, 12 pound diameter so it knifes through the water with no slack to the downrigger release, and lets loose with the slightest touch. But man, the stuff is like steel cable, and if you get a hot fish that slams it going the other way or jumps on your leader you are snapped off like right now. So I use the long "rubber band" leader material. With this setup I get the hook in most fish that bite and land a good percentage. The long leader doesn't seem to affect action, and basically the whole thing works for me

Considering the speed that my little boat trolls at (1.5 MPH) I put everything 20-24" back from the dodger or flasher. This really works good for kings, silvers, and sockeye. I have found the closer to the dodger/flasher the better. There is just something about a rubber hoochie or bare hooks gettin' the crap whipped out of them by a dodger/flasher that just turns the fish on.

I know this is not a normal rigging technique. Consider it cutting edge.

Spawnout,

Do you catch many garbage fish with the spoon that far back off the flasher?

I've experimented with many leader lengths and spoons. One thing that I've noticed the most is the amount of garbage fish I catch the further back the spoon. With a 3 3/8" spoon I am exactly at 42" (back of the flasher to the end of the spoon). Any closer, smaller and more salmon. Further back, less salmon and more garbage.

Downriggin'

My Question is why is someone using 50lbs. main and 25lbs. leader for anything around here and in the ocean.I use nothing more then 25 lbs. main and 15lbs leader for everything. I have a drag on by reel and a outboard on my boat for running down fish. With no one out in the sound really to speak of aren't you suppose to fight a fish not long line then. This includes Grays Harbor. And to go out to a river well I don't know if 50lbs. is enough.

Just curious

The stiffness of the 50 pound line really gets your fly/hootchie whacking around. It really makes 'em jump!

One of my favorite tricks is a standard mooching rig maybe 6 feet long to a Sampo ball bearing. Stack this 6 feet above and 12 feet back from the ball with an Abe and Al's 6 feet off the ball.

No flasher on your line. Great sport!

Well, lessee, DR, I catch very few fish other than salmon on this rig, but mostly because I troll fast when using a hotshot and spoon - probably 2.5 MPH minimum. Never have caught a dogfish, and occasionally I do get a rockfish or lingcod, but I don't think it's because of my leader length - I've caught probably more of these fishing straight herring with no flasher.

And smolt, I'm actually using 12 lb diameter line, Power Pro seems to call it 50 lb but that's just the way they rate these "super" lines, I don't really believe it. The reason I use Power Pro I explained earlier, and the reason I don't use their 30 pound or smaller like is that anything smaller than their 50 pound won't stay in the downrigger release. And I settled on 25 pound leader more for convenience - I get a big spool of the stuff and use it for all my salmon fishing, herring rigs mostly but also on spoons and even on sockeye rigs. I like Trilene Big Game as it is both hard and streatchy - a good shock absorber. It has great action on bare sockeye hook rigs. It resists abrasion from teeth and it resists shock from sudden insults like a big hog jumping 5 feet out of the water and landing on the flasher. And the places I fish are sometimes crowded and require heroic efforts with my direct drive Penn 109 to stop the fish from tangling up with the inevitable neighboring boat(s) gear or wires, or if they do then I need every bit of that 25 lb to keep him from breaking me off while the nitwits decide it's my line they are setting the hook into instead of a fish . Finally, there is the seal that grabs my fish and forces me to land him and the fish too. Have that happen a few times and you'll wish for that 50 lb. line and more