downrigger flash.

[DaGoose]

Sounds like lots of great advice already.

I bounceball a lot for halibut here on the west coast with dodgers and we do pretty well (there's heaps of photos and rigging diagrams on my website). It also catches all the other gamefish in the area too. Attached is a picture of a 53 1/2 lb yellowtail we got a few years back. The halibut (27 & 32 lbs) were recent, two weeks ago.

At the risk of sounding like a braggart, my partner and I took
1rst, 6th, and 8th place (out of 10 spots) in a recent month long WON tourney in May. We fished two days. My flattie rigs also captured 2nd and 4th place as well. I only bring this up because I hope some of you give the technique a try for the flat ones on the east coast. It really works great once you get the system down.

As said, with the dodgers optimal trolling speed is around 2 mph. Just lower the rig in the water and watch the dodger waggle back and forth to see if the speed is right, since current plays a factor too. We keep the trailing leader short, around 14 inches, so the action is not lost on the target bait. Otherwise only the dodger waggles and the fish are more likely to hit it.

Hope this helps out somewhat and apologies for the threadjack and spam.........

Rick