What is your opinon on th length between release and flasher? I usually run anywhere to 10 ft to 30 ft depending on things like how shallow I am fishing and how crowded the fishery is. I give my flasher enough room to work, but does it make much difference after that? I do not use a black box which I think might make you want to fish closer to the rigger cable. Give me you opinon - important detail, or too much time on my hands?

Steve

I have caught fish with the flasher close to the release (usually about ten pulls). But if things are tough I'll go back farther. Running two riggers there becomes a tangle problem if they are too far back. Of course for trout I go WAY back. For salmon I've not seen much difference.

I adjust accordingly to the mood of the fish. If the fish are real active and are attracted to the hum of the rigger cable I will have them tight to the ball like 10ft. Like Mike C said you don't wanna run them too far otherwise you'll get a tangled mess. So about 40ft lead length is the max for me when running flashers. If their still not hitting that then I rely more on dipseys, leadcore, wire, etc....

I recommend testing the electrical current before making a determination of length...

Something not mentioned here is hooking power of the rod when the "drop back" is too long. In most cases 10-15 feet is the furthest you'll want to run. The flasher will work correctly and hooking power is optimal. The further you "drop back," the less hooking power you'll have.

I hear a lot about water clarity, light intensity and so forth... Remember this, a fish is go to hit regardless- he's hungry or aggreviated! Take a look at coho. They'll hit right next to the boat!

Chinook are the same, however they do require so sense of protection (wind waves, ripple, low light periods, etc). Most of my Kings off the Puyallup this year were caught 20-25 feet down with a drop back of 15 feet!

Experiment a little and find what works best for you. I do recommend taking notes on the different lengths you decided. I am sure you'll notice a difference in the amount of fish that are in the boat when you shorten the length..

the man has spoken!

I have always found my best success with the flasher no more than 10 or 12' back from DR cable. You have a more positive hookset and less chances for tangles when it's way back there.

I fish my flasher up to 60' behind the weight. Most of the time the hooksets are no problem. However last time I went to Neah we all of a sudden started missing hooksets so I shortened it up to about 10' and it made no difference on the hooksets but we got half as many hits on that rod.

Then I ditched the downrigger/flasher setup and went to a fly. Got just as many hits that way and it was a LOT more fun!

I usually run 25 to 30 feet for kings and 30 to 50 for silvers. No particular reason other than I tend to fish deeper for kings so when the fish hits there is plenty of line out to have a nice fight and with the silvers I like to have a further back so I can play the fish alittle more (ya troll all those hours with out catching anything, when you do hook up enjoy the fight for a few minutes!).