A staple fishing technique from the late Seventies and early Eighties. Coho were the prevalent fish species during this time period. Lake Ontario anglers cut their teeth on dodger/ fly fishing. As the fishery slowly transformed into a Chinook - steelhead fishery, spoons quickly replaced dodger and flies! So much in fact that dodgers and flies  have almost become extinct on the Lake Ontario' angling scene! 

Savvy anglers have never strayed far from them though as Dodgers and Squids are Hot fish catching machines during August and September. You can work them over a wide range of speeds and get them deep where the BIG boys are hanging out If you know HOW!!
I smile, a knowing smile, when standing at the launch ramp and listen to the banter from returning sportfishermen. Dodger and fly you got to be kidding! You can't catch salmon with them! or They are only good for coho!

Wrong on all counts!


The traditional approach to dodger fishing is to fish them off riggers. With a 10 to 15 foot lead. Boat speed needs to be slow so that the dodger just rock's back and forth giving the squid, fly or spoon some action. Too fast and they spin making a mess. And a mess they can make, A real mess often losing precious time when the bite is ON!

Run properly the dodger will snap back and forth and will occasionally take a complete spin. Most dodgers right out of the package will run between 2 and 2.2MPH with out further tuning.
Slow generally means under 2.0. Some dodgers are more speed tolerant. Unfortunately fishing this way forces you to go to an all dodger program or at least to baits or spoons that work at slower speeds.

There is a better approach!

Jim Gilbert makes a polished stainless steel dodger that  prism tape can be added for colour variations. The advantage of this dodger is it can be tuned (bent) to allow various speeds to be attained. Increasing the bend in the lead lip of the dodger will allow greater speeds to be run. If the action is lazy increase the bend on the rear lip. By playing with these bendable dodgers the perfect action can be attainted to allow almost any combination of plugs and lures to be run with dodgers. I've run these dodgers over 4.5 MPH without problems.

The main disadvantage is they are very hard to find at the local stores and secondly they have a very poor colour selection. I've only seen these dodgers in chrome, red or chartreuse.  Sprucing up the Gilbert dodger with extra prism tape allows greater creativity and flexibility.

Rigging TIPS....

-  Off riggers it's generally recommended that the lead be one and one half the length of the dodger used. 14 inches to 18 inches is the preferred squid or fly length. This length allows maximum action to the fly.

- Small spoons can be also run behind a dodger. small spoons like Eppinger Chucklets, Cop_E_Cats, Flutterchucks  and Lure Kings Mini Predators are sure fire winners. The distance can vary behind the dodger up to 4 to 6 feet. The spoon doesn't need the action of the dodger to impart action to

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