I've become somewhat enamored with the Ace Hi fly. I've had really good success with my limited usage. I bought one on a whim and was like, "hey, these things are pretty good." However, the last time out, the one I was using broke off.

So, I go off to the tackle store to replace it. I'm looking through the assortment of colors, and man, I don't remember there being so many choices. I wonder what color I'd been using before. They aren't obviously different like hootchies. And, I'd bought it kinda randomly.

I see there's glo, UV, and "laser". What's laser, anyway, I ask myself. Wow, this is harder than I thought. Hmm.

I ended up buying a greenish one, because I like green for coho, and a pinkish one, because I also like light pink for coho at times, but I looked on the website and see there's several greenish ones and lots of variations of uv, glo and laser. So... what color are you using... especially for coho?

Thanks in advance... would like to hear the various opinions out there.

My go-to lure this year has been the green UV spatterback. The blue spatterback has been a close second so far for big coho.

[quote=Captain Q]My go-to lure this year has been the green UV spatterback.

+1

+1, They've been putting fish in the box for a few years for me.

I also really like all white UV.

Do you run them just like a hootchie?

How long of a leader do you use? 40 lbs test?

I like this thread. What about for kings?

I use 60# test for stiffness, and since I have had several takes using these lures and hoochies that bit right through 40# test. Next time I want that fish.

24-30" Coho.
36-44" Kings.

Thanks for you input! Great feedback. I started using UV coho killers last year and they seemed to outfish the glo colors. I just wasn't sure what the "laser" was to these lures. Sounded like a gimmick to me.

I will be up at Sekiu in a couple of weeks and hope to get some big silvers because I only got one chance to fish for kings this summer and the freezer is looking pretty sparse.

I pretty much exclusively use the smaller flashers now. I think I'll keep my leaders pretty short-- probably 24" or so.

lol laser is just an all flash model no hootchie tentacles like glo ones or uv

For Kings, lengthen your leader to 5'. We did well on Kings in the ocean using the UV green spatterback. The Ace-High outfished the traditional stuff 3-1.

I agree with Sky Guy on the leader being 50-60 pounds. It really puts the action attraction for the Coho. I prefer the white UV and the purple UV.

Spud
FISHTALE 2

TOOO LONG! Way too long, go short my friends, better action, more bites.

4 dead coho would likely disagree this morning, if they still could....

Agree with Addicted. Hammered Kings all summer on far shorter leaders than those listed above.

Part of the "how long is your leader length' equation that's rarely mention is trolling speed. How fast are you trolling with just a 16" leader? Don't answer in mph, just in wire angle....45 degrees? 50-55?
If you are running 16-18 inches leader, but only 25-35 angle on your wire, then you are appropriately matching your leader length to your fishing speed.

I troll pretty fast, and think a 24-30 inch leader gives a hoochie or ace-hi enough action while not making it too difficult for a fish to grab.
I've had 16-20 inch leaders on, but for the speed I run my boat it looked way too wild. Each angler needs to find their own happy-medium based on how they fish.

I don't feel like leader length is all that important..24" to 36" should give enough action for most trolling methods. .02

Can someone please include a picture...?

I've noticed some people measure leader length from the rear hook to the bottom of the flasher blade. Others measure from the nose of the hootchie to the swivel on the bottom of the flasher blade.

How do you measure? When you look at the lure action beside the boat what do you look for?

My boat really needs a kicker - it simply doesn't troll down. My downrigger angle runs about 55 to 60 degrees if I'm down about 60 feet. The GPS says 3.6 to 4.6 mph but that may not mean much given current, wind, accuracy of GPS etc. Of course heading into the tide current the speed drops way back to 1.75 to 2.5 mph and the downrigger angle goes down to 40 or 45 degrees. Usually I try to go with the tide tho.

For some reason I get more fish with an old fashioned metal 12 inch Silver Horde flasher as compared to the plastic flashers most people are using. This may be related to troll speed.

With flies I've used a 18 inche leader length on a 12 inch metal flasher measured from nose of the fly to swivel on flasher with good success on the coho.

Hi Fly's did extremely well for me this king season, outfished everything. Color, UV, glow didn't seem to make a difference. Leader length was key , all my kings were 20-25 inches. This may seem short for kings but this is what worked. I know guys that were running them longer and not catching half the fish I was. No longer than 25 inches!

yep, everyone is different, but 22 to 24 was the norm., and an occasional 18" was used successfully. True though, boat speed/line angle do matter for sure. I'm just sticking with short cuz I am a stubborn dude, and it was working. Also, Sky-dude is running heavier leader, quicker action, I use 40#. That's my norm, though, 40# UG and 22 to 24 inches of length, color not too important.