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.