Color and Depth

By on June 12, 2015

Each week one of the Salmon University experts answers reader questions in our “Ask a Pro” feature. This week’s questions are answered by Tom Nelson. Submit your own question here.

Q: Great site you guys have, wish I knew about it sooner. I have read material from another salmon pro who uses red Hot Spot Flashers for Kings. In all of your references you refer to green flashers. My understanding is the red works best for Kings and green for Silvers. What are your thoughts and recommendations regarding each? Thank you – Dave

A: Either color will work. The most important thing that flashers do is create sound. Secondly, flashers allow you to troll faster and cover more water. The more water you cover, the better chance you have of catching fish. When we refer to green flashers, really what we are talking about is glo flashers, which always glo green. If you are fishing the top 50 feet of water, the chrome flashers will work, but once you get deeper than 50 feet, you are better off using glo. But remember, still the greatest virtue of the flasher is the sound it makes.

Q: I’ve fished Puget Sound for years, but always for Kings, Coho and Pinks. Guess you could say I’ve been a fair-weather fisherman. I’ve picked up a new boat this year, a Pursuit 2470, with a hardtop, side enclosure, drop curtain and (at my wife’s insistence) a Webasto furnace. So…I guess I’m ready to fish this November and December for Chums. I’ve never targeted Chums–have hooked a few incidentally while fishing for Coho–and wonder where I should be fishing and what gear I should be using. I keep my boat at Edmonds, any good areas on the East Side of the Sound, or do I need to head over to the other side? Thanks – Steve

A: Pound for Pound, Chum are probably the hardest fighting fish in Puget Sound and once you learn how, are very easy to catch. We have information on how to catch Chum on our website. Chum return to most rivers in the Puget Sound area. The main returns are down the east side of Puget Sound and into Hood Canal.

image courtesy Kenneth Spencer (CC BY-NC 2.0)

Tom Nelson
Tom Nelson is the publisher of salmonuniversity.com. Known throughout the Pacific Northwest as the “Dean of Saltwater Fishing,” he has helped develop and test tackle and gear for Scotty, Pro-Troll and Silver Horde, is a regular speaker at area sports shows, has taught more than 5,000 students how to fish during his classes at western Washington community colleges, and is the co-founder of the Puget Sound Anglers.

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