Why the salmon bite gets tough, experiment with the with the size and placement of your dodger

When the summer Pacific salmon bite gets tough due to fishing pressure or hot, sunny and calm conditions, it’s time to experiment with the size and placement of your flasher or dodger.

Attached to the line ahead of the bait to simulate a slashing salmon or school of baitfish, these flashy attractors are typically large, but I like to go much smaller when things get tough. One of my favourite tricks for years, for example, has been to use a Silver and Gold NuWrinkle Williams Whitefish spoon, with the hook removed. If that doesn’t produce, I instead attach it to my cannonball as a “dummy flasher” so it’s farther away from the bait.On the flipside, if the salmon want nothing else in the water but my bait, I remove the attractor altogether.