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[gman]

Went to the lower river this afternoon. Not many people out where i was - i was alone for a while at a spot I didn't expect to be. Maybe everyone moved to the upper river, or maybe it was because it was raining.

Started fishing roe at my chosen spot and hooked a coho om my second cast, but unfortunately lost it.  Hooked two more and lost them too.  Finally managed to land one that turned out to be wild, before eventually landing and keeping a nice hatchery coho. This was all in about 30 minutes, and in the pouring rain. I had visions of limiting out but of course things slowed down after that.  Much less action over the next 2-3 hours, with only one more coho lost and a couple of chums landed.

River was in great shape and it was nice to see decent numbers of coho still coming through. 

[bigblue]

Arrived around 11 am at a spot on lower river where I had landed many bright chrome cohos this season.
Visibility looked good, flow looked good and no one on my side of river. Very good.
As I was setting up my rod, guy accross the river on the other side lands a good sized chrome coho.
Signs are pointing to a good day of fishing today, so I thought.

I bait up with nice pink roe on a #4 gammie and cast to a likely spot.
Sure enough, a full take down and as I set the hook, I momentarily feel the weight of a nice big coho. But no hook up.
So, I change to #2 gammie with 24" leader and recast.
This change has always lead to a hook up this year.
After a few casts, another full take down, but again no hook up.
So, this time I shorten my leader to 18" and recast.
After a while, another full take down, but again no hook up.
Hmmmm.... I am starting to get agitated and the guy across from me lands another big chrome coho.
Maybe my hook setting is sloppy, so I shorten my leader to 12".
No strikes any more, so I go back to my usual 24" leader.
A few solid strikes, but again no hook ups.
The spots I had the strikes normally don't hold jack cohos, so I don't think it was them stealing my bait.
After two hours of futility trying to get a hook up, I left that location to go up river.
I still can't figure out why I had more than half dozen solid take downs and could not manage to hook a single fish.

[c-pin]

The same happened for me about two weeks ago. In fact, it's happening a lot for me this season. There is a good side to this ...... at least your offering is being taken, and you can gain confidence in that.

As far as the leader thing goes, .... if I go down to a 12" leader (or shorter), I use split shot. I get good hook ups with that. What weight set up were you using ?? If I am using my standard 18" - 24" leader, I will use pencil lead.

Good Luck .... Tight Lines,  John

[bigblue]

I was using a 25g DNE float with three 1/4 oz egg sinkers.
So far this season the cohos were not really lead shy as long as flow was good and I held back just a bit so that the bait would flow a little ahead if possible.
In other rivers where they are lead shy, I would normally use a 11g Drennan, but I did not find it necessary on the lower Vedder this season targeting fresh fish.
Maybe I should down size when this happens again.

[gman]

SOmeimtes when that happens to me I focus on  shorter casts and drifts and keeping the line straight to the float with none on the water. That way you can get a better hook set and drive the hooks in harder. SOmetimes it seems to help and other times nothing seems to help... 

[Morty]

Was out early Monday morning as well - a little too early - ended up standing at the side of the river for 20 minutes waiting for enough light to easily see the float through the whole drift.  Not many guys out, I guess the 2 week vacations for Coho fishing were all used up  Took about 1/2 an hour before anyone had a hit and then it was slow for about the next hour before it died off.  During the "bite" I brought a wild of about 4+ pounds to hand and then shortly after landed a similar sized hatch doe.

The "died off" period lasted about an hour, then surprisingly when the sun came out bright both: more fishers arrived, and the fish were hitting again.  By 10:00 it looked like those who could stay would get fish - I had to head back to Surrey for work.

[slick vic]

count to two then hook set. same thing happened to me earlier until I started counting. 

[bigblue]

count to two then hook set. same thing happened to me earlier until I started counting. 

I think you could be right on the money here slick vic.
I guess your rationale is to give more time for the fish to turn completely before setting the hook.
When I think back, all my strikes yesterday came from closer distance than usual for that spot, so my hook set was very likely quicker than before thus giving the fish not enough time to turn before setting the hook. You must be a fly guy.
I will definitely try this next time on the Vedder. Thanks.

[mikeyman]

I find hitting it to fast will rip it out of the fishes mouth. If fishing roe, with a size 2 hook, seems like when they grab it, they don't let go, most times I wait until the float is completely under, can't miss, that is unless you wait way to long or are sleeping. I think sometimes to the hook just doesn't grab. It is also good to leave the hook point exposed slightly. It is the best part of short floating I think when you see that float dive, fish on!

[slick vic]

I think you could be right on the money here slick vic.
I guess your rationale is to give more time for the fish to turn completely before setting the hook.
When I think back, all my strikes yesterday came from closer distance than usual for that spot, so my hook set was very likely quicker than before thus giving the fish not enough time to turn before setting the hook. You must be a fly guy.
I will definitely try this next time on the Vedder. Thanks.

haha, you are right.I do lots fly fishing but some time I like to switch back n forth between float n fly. double joyment 

[FlyFishin Magician]

I find hitting it to fast will rip it out of the fishes mouth. If fishing roe, with a size 2 hook, seems like when they grab it, they don't let go, most times I wait until the float is completely under, can't miss, that is unless you wait way to long or are sleeping. I think sometimes to the hook just doesn't grab. It is also good to leave the hook point exposed slightly. It is the best part of short floating I think when you see that float dive, fish on!

Stratocaster and I have been using size 4 gamis and have done fine so far this season.  Many of the coho strikes have resulted in the float merrily "twitching" - NOT DIVING!  Yes, there have been days where I lost lots of fish.  However, in general we've been able to get our limit of hatchery coho almost every time out (unless I intentionally didn't want 4 fish - my freezer's getting pretty full and I don't really need more fish).   I try and set the hook by gently, but deliberately, lifting the rod tip as opposed to "bass-masters" technique of lifting the rod.  I see lots of guys try and set the hook and seeing their float sail back over their head into the bush behind.  If I miss a fish after an attempted hook set, my float might move a bit, but stays in the water.  Again, this has worked for me - and I don't want to risk spooking the fish with a violent hook set...