Having saved the club from relegation Hodgson was allowed to spend big in the summer, and Zoltan Gera and Bobby Zamora scored the goals that capped a fine team performance.
Bolton were poor, though, and barely saw the ball in either half, although Heidar Helguson managed to pull an undeserved goal back against his former club with eight minutes remaining.
Hodgson was able to field his new strike-force for the first time as Andrew Johnson made his first start for the club after his £10million move from Everton alongside £6million man Zamora.
These two clubs had spent £30million between them in overhauling their squads after narrowly avoiding the drop and Fulham - who brought in 11 players that accounted for £21million of that sum - were clearly fired up, forcing a corner directly from the kick-off.
And the home fans, who saw Fulham stun Arsenal in their last Premier League outing some three weeks ago, were forced to wait until the 15th minute before their side took the lead, with Gera scoring his first league goal since his summer move from West Brom.
Zamora did the damage with a dangerous cross which Jlloyd Samuel could only head to Gera.
The Hungarian gleefully accepted the chance, drilling in a shot from 16 yards which slipped under Jussi Jaaskelainen's body and into the net.
Fulham were dominant - and they scored the second goal they richly deserved four minutes before half-time, and in some style too.
It was all Zamora's own work as he turned inside both Danny Shittu and Gavin McCann on the corner of the area before unleashing a 22-yard rocket inside Jaaskelainen's far post to register his first goal for the club.
Bolton boss Gary Megson had a face like thunder and waited just five minutes into the second half before making a change, bringing on the attacker Mustapha Riga for the defensive-minded Gavin McCann.
It made little difference though as Fulham continued to out-pass and out-move their visitors.
And Fulham were content to play keep-ball for the remainder of the game as they dominated proceedings, with Gera coming closest to adding a third when he headed against the bar from Kevin Davies' cross.
Somehow Bolton hauled themselves back into it as Helguson scored against his former club, getting the slightest touch as Davies headed a free-kick back across goal.
But it was too little too late as Fulham claimed the three points their high-class performance merited.