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Fellow fisherman Pacific Pride posed the question about what length leader to use with various lures behind an 11" flasher. Incidentally, with artificial squid start out with the recommendation on the package (30") and shorten it from there. I also start with the same length if I assemble my own squid. Sometimes, when I'm with a buddy one of us will run a 30" leader and the other a short one, say 24", for blackmouth, and on down to 16" at times for other types of salmon,such as sockeye or pinks. On a full-size flasher, the lure with a shorter leader whips around faster, which may catch more fish if they're feeling aggressive that day. I never know how they're feeling on any given day, so I just experiment. Also, as recommended by local successful anglers, Silver Horde's Golden Bait green spatter-back squid #OG142R has been the all-time top producer and go-to saltwater salmon lure for me. It consistently catches all types of salmon year-round especially when trailed behind a Hot Spot flasher (my favorite is dark green with mirror prism on the sides),
The second all-time top producer is a Coyote 3.5-4.0 glo-green spoon fished at 42" behind the same flasher.
The third is a blue/white bucktail fly (I believe Wally Whale makes a good one) on 30-36" of leader, or less, behind the same flasher.
The fourth is green-glo or pearl colored medium-sized plugs. Troll plugs by themselves without a flasher.
The Coyote and bucktail fly, often catch more shakers if they're in the area. If I am using one of these and this happens, I switch back to my go-to, the squid. If I continue to release shakers, I reluctantly put on a plug as it is generally too big for the shakers to get.
I have found that Power Bait salmon scent chartreuse paste on all these lures has produced well, but as of late have had some trouble finding it. Also, when trolling I generally go slow for all salmon except silvers. For salmon anglers this means 1.5-2.5 mph for blackmouth, mature chinook, pinks, chum, and 2.5-4.0 mph for silvers. When considering speed, I consider the action of my lure in relation to the angle of my downrigger cable. If the angle is heading toward 45 degrees or more out from the stern, I'm probably trolling for silvers. If it's a fair amount less than that, I'm probably more on target for the other species mentioned. I try to keep in mind that the cable angle and lure action may not jive my speed indicator (GPS, plotter, etc.). In other words, I may only be going 1.5 mph, but my cable has a lot of angle because I'm going against the tide. It is easier to troll with the tide, but at times you do catch more going the other way.
Happy Fishing!
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