Dodgers and flashers can be presented on downriggers or with leadcore lines. They can run behind Dipsy Divers, boards, or outriggers. Tackle is determined by method. Use rods and reels appropriate to the rigging when deploying attractors. Specialty downrigger rods, Dipsy rods, and others work fine with dodgers and flashers, provided the appropriate lines are used.

Charter captain Tim Dawidiuk has provided In-Fisherman with video, television, and print input for many years now. He’s uniquely situated, as emperor of the Howie Fly manufacturing business, to comment on dodger-flasher specifics. “I think it’s critical to use monofilament ahead of dodgers and flashers,” Dawidiuk says. “Superlines have a place, but mono leaders ahead of a flasher or dodger produce more fish. Superlines are fine, but splice in at least 20 to 30 feet of mono ahead of the attractor. I don’t know if it’s a visibility thing, a resistance thing, or a harmonic thing—can’t say. I do know I catch more fish when I have at least 20 feet of 17- to 25-pound Ande Premium mono ahead of the attractor when using leadcore or copper lines. Mono offers more resistance, and you want resistance, at times. Some people say the thinner the better, but that’s not always true.”

“On a downrigger, 20- to 25-pound-test mono is sufficient,” Dawidiuk adds. “On Dipsy and wire-line rigs, length of the mono leader is determined by length of the rod, and I use 40-pound test with those options for added resistance. At the end of the leader I tie on a quality 60- to 80-pound-test ball-bearing swivel. Most attractors come with a quality swivel on the front, but adding a swivel further reduces line twist while making it easier to switch attractors for a color or style change. Clip on an attractor and you’re ready to put something behind it.”

Standard Setback Lengths

Dawidiuk ties loop knots at the end of his standard 50-pound-test leaders when packaging Howie Flies for a quick, easy hookup onto the clip on the tail end of the attractor. “The standard setback for a fly is 18 to 24 inches,” Dawidiuk says. “Some people play with leader length, but you lose control outside that range. Stiffness is the key, thus the 50-pound leaders. It increases the action. A 40-pound mono leader, by comparison, eats a lot of the action with give and flex. Fluorocarbon is stiffer than mono and makes a better leader for that reason. So I use Ande 50- and 60-pound-test fluorocarbon leaders.

“With cutbait, run a 60-inch leader behind 11-inch flashers. Run floating minnowbaits, small J-Plugs, and spoons 24 to 48 inches behind the attractor, longer than with a fly because the dodger is just an attractor with these baits—not a tool for moving the lure. Of these lures, light flutterspoons have historically performed best behind attractors—but you never know, so experiment. Casting spoons don’t do anything—too much weight. Theory says match the hatch, but 31⁄2- to 41⁄2-inch lures work best about 90 percent of the time.