Now that we've wrapped up another BM season I'm interested in what kind of conclusions those of you that tried the new breakaway flashers came to after trying them. For my part I caught 3 smallish fish with mine before I put it away. Only 1 of them tripped the release(quite the fiesty fighter). 3 times I brought the setup in to check and the release had been tripped(Missed fish?) CONCLUSIONS - The device works but I would only use a lure that has its own action in case the release lets go on its own. I also would install a stop closer to the release pin so that it wont have so much play in the line between the pin and the stop at the front of the flasher

I just wanted to move this one up to the top. I saw them at the shows this year but wasn't convinced. I figured they'd trip and I'd be pulling up resetting them. Great Idea though, curious to see if anyone else had success with them.

Maybe there's more than one brand, but I don't see how the brand I have could just trip without the lure hooking something.

are you guys talking about Hotspot style flashers?????.

I have used breakaway flashers and have had very good luck with them. I hate the normal large flashers because unless you get a good king they really take a lot of fight from the fish. I fished them last summer in Canada and had tremendous luck. In fact they were out fishing normal Hot Spots. In the sound this winter I found that most shakers don't release them but legals above a few pounds would always release them. You can adjust the pressure of the release but for summer fish that's not necessary. I do believe the one's made by Gibbs are better than the models sold this year at the boat show. You can't get the Gibbs around here though you need to get them in Canada.

I bought one at the sportsman show but since I had a long run of not catching any fish I decided not to try an experimental flasher. I plan on giving it a try this summer. Hopfully I will be hooking a few more fish.

Just a thought and along the same lines of thinking. Has anyone experimented with the mini-flashers? If so, are they as effective as the standard size? At a Salmon University presentation one of the guys mentioned using the smaller size quite frequently which led me to believe they are equally effective. A small flasher doesn't fix the problem entirely, but is a step in the right direction.

I have a number of the mini flashers in my arsenal and have caught fish on them I normaly use them at the Tulalip Bubble and silver fishing.

The 8" flashers are equally effective. They have a slight disadvantage of not producing as much sound as a large flasher or are they as visible in deeper water. To fix the sound problem, attach a split ring to the ring connecting the barrel swivel at the ass end of the flasher and add a Colorado blade or willow leaf. The blade will bounce off the barrel swivel sending out more sound. The fish can't see it, but they certainly hear it. I normally do not use a 8" flasher deeper than 125' for visibility reason- I want fish to see my gear coming!

Lastly, rule of thumb for leader length will be 2 1/2 times the length of the flasher- 20" is a good starting point. I like B-2 Mini's or 2 1/2" hootchies right at 20" and mini spoons (like the Kingffisher) at 25". I measure from the back plastic edge to the end of the bait (not hooks).

If fish are shallower than normal (less than 90') a 8" is better than the 11".

Also, you'll probably notice that you will catch larger Blackmouth on a 8" flasher to boot!