To double side or not to double side??

[SuperD]

SB, since nobody wants to post a picture of their product, do you have a dodger with some of that tape on it you can post?

 

[SilverBullets]

SB, since nobody wants to post a picture of their product, do you have a dodger with some of that tape on it you can post?

Here's a couple. The Delta tape (side without the ladderback) looks very close to the same as the tape Shasta uses... goes from light blue to dark blue then purple to red.

edit: pictures added to show how the Delta tape changes colors

 

[kelson]

I do a bunch of salmon fishing in the salt and do some custom dodgers and flashers for that fishing. This is the best deal I have found on tapes. They are pre cut to fit an 11 In. Hot Spot flasher.....roughly 3 In. x 11 In. in size and two per pack. I can usually make 2 to 3 finished sling blade style dodgers per pack.
shopwtp-inc.com

K

 

[HiTechKoke]

Quackster - Great tape work and definitely tape them on both sides. My kids love making their own designs that are similar to some of yours and they are effective.

This has been a good thread.... here's my feedback .... a lot of it derived from subjecting myself to hours and hours of underwater video which some of you are probably pretty aware of through Youtube....and referenced indirectly in the thread.

Looks good.

I don't know if the one side coloring from manufacturers is related to effectiveness or cost savings.

Definitely a cost issue. I wish the tackle manufacturer's would just offer a double sided option for their popular dodgers for .50 more as it would save us all a bunch of work. Not to mention that IMO they are coloring or taping the bottom side of the dodger that gets very minimal view to a Kokanee given its angle of approach to the setup.

... I attended a kokanee seminar with one of the leading California tackle maufacturers once. His line of dodgers are only taped on one side. He had been fishing some of the local lakes here and a brought a few of his rods to show the class...interesting thing was the dodgers he had on those rods had tape on both sides! That's gotta tell ya something...

and to add to this among those in the California derby circuit the same mentality applies, they request extra tape or double tape the dodgers on their own.

Only my 2cents but I really wonder how much benefit you would get from tape on the bottom since the majority of the reflected light is coming from the sun (which I have found is almost always in the sky ABOVE). Guess it wouldnt hurt though as long as you dont mind spending twice as much in tape.

A very important observation, for reflective purposes the tape is likely better served on the top side instead of the bottom.

I could be wrong but I allways thought the side of dodger that the tape normally comes on faces down as your trolling...at least that's what I see when the dodger is under water along side the boat. I believe the reasoning is because most hits occur from below. I've seen video though that seems to show them coming in from behind and above also...that's why I tape the other side. Like you mentioned the side facing up towards the sun is where the majority of the reflective light is coming from...might as well take advantage of it.

Good video homework SB. I'm just going to come out and say that the majority of Kokanee approaching the lure setup are NOT coming from an angle well below your offering. Yes that's a controversial statement but the videos I have taken for the last two years support it. They come in from a very limited angle that lends themselves to quickly become parallel and then they get more focused on the lure instead of the dodger. There's plenty of video to support they come in from above as well but from limited angles in general.

Bullets, you are 100% right. For some reason I assumed because I see so much color as my slingblades drops into the deep that the tape was on top. That being said, I would totally agree with taping the top. The videos I've seen of kokes taking a lure seem to be from behind but you are prob right that they can come in from anywhere. More color could only help 101chromefish101

More good video observations....In the end the Kokanee ends up behind the lure and stalks it accordingly. This can be 5 second stalk or a 5 minute stalk, literally.

The question is how did the Kokanee get to that point and what is the role of the dodger when the fish is directly behind your lure set and will never see the bottom side of that dodger? My opinion is the role of the dodger has already changed from a color or tape enhanced attractor to one that keeps that lure active and one that also keeps the Kokanee interested by nature it looks like another fish swimming along. Kokanee seem to like company and/or have an insatiable curiosity like a cat to a mouse, it's been tough for them to let me know this yet, still waiting on few more years of evolution.

when I put a dodger under a bright light, the full chrome side of the dodger is brighter than the diffused light of the tape side. also, my perception of the dodger action is that as the dodger rocks from side to side, each side of the dodger sees daylight.

One thought here is this is very dependent on your speed, dodger type (bend in the sling blade). The U/W videos give a pretty good perspective of how very little that bottom of the dodger may get exposed to the surface sun-light or even the majority of the Kokanee that come into the picture. It might not take much exposure to be effective though.

Kevin

 

[DLM]

I do a bunch of salmon fishing in the salt and do some custom dodgers and flashers for that fishing. This is the best deal I have found on tapes. They are pre cut to fit an 11 In. Hot Spot flasher.....roughly 3 In. x 11 In. in size and two per pack. I can usually make 2 to 3 finished sling blade style dodgers per pack.

K

Have you ever tried the "pearl"? It looks like what some tackle manufactures would call UV, but it is hard to tell from the picture.

 

[SuperD]

Dave, the pearl is more like a true pearl where the color looks white from dead on but shows other colors as you look at it from other angles.

 

[MMDON]

That was a great read HiTechKoke! Thanks Kevin for all of the insight from your videos! 101goodpost101

Don

 

[SuperD]

What's all your opinions on painted vs. taped? Some of my favorite dodgers are painted.

 

[SilverBullets]

What's all your opinions on painted vs. taped? Some of my favorite dodgers are painted.

Some of my favorites are painted also. I just cleaned and polished close to 100 dodgers and realized my earlier statement of adding addtional tape to all of them wasn't quite accurate. Since alot of of the Vance's dodgers have paint on both sides I left them and the CB Wild Things alone. One painted dodger in particular (Seps Watermelon) has helped put alot of kokes in the boat over the years. I do add tape to the other side of those (uv and silver prism) but I think it's the contrasting colors and black dots that really gets their attention.