I probably have hundreds of Flashers. Many vintage old metal dodgers and Flashers. They mostly all produce at one time or another. Some work much better in specific light conditions, bright sunshine vs. Overcast, late night, early morning, dark water, gin clear.. Etc. Etc...
I think guys give the finish on the flasher way too much emphasis. Not sure if Captain Downriggers website is still up, or not. He had some very innovative ideas in lure and flasher presentation on his website. He actually removed the tape or bought untaped blanks and claimed they were superior to off the shelf Flashers. Some he taped up with a thin glow stripe.
That kind of got me thinking. I had a lot of Flashers with damaged or peeled tape on one side. I used to give them away or chuck them when they got beat up, as I figured they were pretty much useless.
After reading his modifications he did to his Flashers including drilling holes in them I thought I'd do some experimenting with my junkers I had kicking around..
I'll be dammed if the totally untaped Flashers didn't out produce some of my favorite taped versions at times. Some years those were the hottest Flashers I had. Sockeye seem to really like untapped Flashers in red and chartreuse colors at times. The springs also seemed to like those colors as well. Although the springs seemed to prefer them with a small diamond shaped bit of green tape added.
I also have taken a saw and bucked off a chunk at the rear end of those untaped Flashers and the fish seemed to like that mod as well. So, I guess what I'm trying to say is that in my opinion the tape finish on a flasher is way over rated.
