O'Ki vs Hot Spot

goitzy

goitzy

Member
I stood in front of the flasher section for who knows how long pondering between colors and brands and in the end purchased more plugs and lures to satisfy the gear obsession.

Whats everyone's opinion on which brand / color works best or is there a difference between comapanies? I know based on water clarity, low light, and depth have an affect on performance but i'm talking if your going to buy 4 flashers what would they be?
 
I personally like O'ki better just because they add a clip to the bottom end of the flasher...makes changing in and out quicker so I don't have to add one myself. Both work fine for their matching patterns....
 
#340, yellow green mist, Oki Big Shooter. My fav for summer.

For winter my fav is purple HotSpot, silver Mylar one side, glow the other side.

You'll get a hundred different opinions here. LOL. Will be fun to watch.
 
Why the rub against the company that invented the flasher that revolutionized trolling?
 
Buy the one that's cheaper, never seen a difference. Both work great and catch fish, not sure why I have the 2 standby colors and then the yearly rage "hot" color in the boat. Still have a whole drawer full of new not out of the bag other years hot colors???? Will probably do same this year when locals (Duffer) lets secret color slip.

HM
 
Interesting.

Personally, I tend to prefer Hot Spot...literally never had a problem....and I like the Gibbs Product..and I am getting more familiar with the Gibbs Guide Series.. Which I have heard some good feedback...the blades must

I find that the Oki's prefer a slightly faster troll....at least the one batch I had. I have some criticism of some of the Oki's...I have seen a couple fail to rotate out of the box. I have some criticism of a Gibbs...I have seen 2 Different Gibbs shatter mid section...for literally no reason. I take issue with some of the blades on certain Gibbs and Okis.



I like
 
No preference on company, whatever is cheapest, or better yet, factory 2nds and garage sales. Must have at least a ball bearing swivel on the front, one at each end is best.

My favourite four are: red blade w/silver + glow; purple blade w/gold + glow; purple haze(plaid); gold betsy, cop car with some green tape added, green and yellow glow (no tape); chartreuse blade w/ plaid tape, green with silver tape, coho special, wonderbread, all plastic chrome, all white.

I mostly use them with hootchies or as dummies.
 
I like the hot spots with the agitator tail fin. They swing farther and impart more action to a hootchie. When I fished them side by side against similar colors without the tail fin, they outfished the others about 2:1.
 
Ill take hot spot over the imitators every time if the same colors are avaliable. Oki swivels and clips are cheap.
 
I am a big Hot Spot Fan. They are made in Victoria BC. Not offshore. They use quality new plastic. Not recycled, and Sampo swivels, A big deal when you have something rotating like a flasher.
Fishing with the inventor Jack gaunt offered me these tips, First they were made for the commercial Fleet back in the day. Over other flashers (metal) they lasted longer. No corrosion and little maintenance, They kept their shape, so you always have the same action. Best trolling speed calibrated by water passing by boat (Not GPS ) 2.8 miles per hr. Colour was often determined by the tint of color that your motor wash put out. best general leader length was 3.5 times the length of the flasher. Most productive color over the years Silver over red plastic. It is believed that the plastic helped separate any electrical bleed. There are other differences over the competing flashers that I will not get into. I will also say that Gibbs and O'ky make great flashers as well. I am sure there are characteristics in theirs that I am not aware of . I fished with Ok"y for one year and have never fished a Gibbs. Hot Spots for 32 years and before that the Pal.
 
Oki's have been built in Sydney since 1972.... like to be able to have the option to customize built my flashers.... :)
 
I love everyone's passion about sport fishing. I have never had issues with either O'ki or Hot Spot in quality but i don't fish as much as some. I have used chartreuse plaid, gold betsy, and green silver as defaults. I am looking for something i'm missing there has to be that little gem i'm looking for and fishermen like hunters are always elusive to their responses. you ask me where i shot my deer this year i might just say in the head ;) but will always share if you do :) ... as a gear ***** i have mission to find that new toy. I have been thinking a purple / silver but haven't decided brand yet. On a side note i have heard some positive to Gibbs guilde series flashed but never used them. I would be interested to hear any feedback from those as well.
 
coop said:
I am a big Hot Spot Fan. They are made in Victoria BC. Not offshore. They use quality new plastic. Not recycled, and Sampo swivels, A big deal when you have something rotating like a flasher.
Fishing with the inventor Jack gaunt offered me these tips, First they were made for the commercial Fleet back in the day. Over other flashers (metal) they lasted longer. No corrosion and little maintenance, They kept their shape, so you always have the same action. Best trolling speed calibrated by water passing by boat (Not GPS ) 2.8 miles per hr. Colour was often determined by the tint of color that your motor wash put out. best general leader length was 3.5 times the length of the flasher. Most productive color over the years Silver over red plastic. It is believed that the plastic helped separate any electrical bleed. There are other differences over the competing flashers that I will not get into. I will also say that Gibbs and O'ky make great flashers as well. I am sure there are characteristics in theirs that I am not aware of . I fished with Ok"y for one year and have never fished a Gibbs. Hot Spots for 32 years and before that the Pal.
Click to expand...
I Love learning fishing facts on here.. I knew about the 2.8 mph thing and growing up in Campbell River my dad would only run hotspot flashers, think that's why I spend the extra 5 bucks on the Hotspot flashers most of the time but I will buy other brand flashers but the Sampo swivels are a must in my opinion.. thanks for sharing the history Coop. :p
 
I personally dont care what brand I run but for some reason I really like a green flasher with silver on it. I have paid big money for all the fancy glow and uv flashers and I really havent noticed a difference between them and the plain green ones.
 
On page 87 of his book - Bucktails and Hoochies - Jack Gaunt (inventor of the Hot Spot flasher) states that:

1. "Hot Spot was developed when I was commercial trolling and was mainly intended to work with hoochies".

2."The Hot Spot rotates slower than most in a wider arc, therefore we recommend tail lengths as given before, which are generally 2 to 3" longer than used with most other flashers"

Hopefully this helps!
 
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