Ah, the crisp fall days are here, as the Coho arrive and the leaves yellow, falling like the temperature into the river.

Yes, my poetic skills are about equivalent to my success fighting Coho salmon.

That being poor, if present at all.

Crossed the river, already seeing silver bullets leaping everywhere, hopeful that one would connect on the end of my line. Everything was perfect..... the beautifully tied coho smasher jig, black and purple withering with every pulse of current, the cast into likely holding water, the subtle twitches surely driving nearby fish mad......

Nope. No takes. Switched colors to the black and chartreuse beast, then lilac n' purple. Nope, nothing more.
Switched to a 50/50 dick nite and cast it out. First cast, whap-whap, fish on! A 4lb humpy buck, sporting intermediate fall colors. Released him, thinking I had something figured out.... then went an hour without a strike.

Switched back to jigs, targeting an ultra snaggy piece of holding water sure to hold some chromers. Fourth cast, bam! Fish on! He peeled line and thrashed about at the surface, revealing beautiful chrome sides. Silver on! And then he wrapped around a log and broke off. Well damn.

Re-tied a new jig on, called "bleeding purple." First cast, whap! Fish on, another coho! He took line and dove down after appearing on the surface. And then he spit the hook. I thought I had him pretty well locked up too. Damn.

Began losing jigs left and right. Switched to a 1/8th oz Kastmaster as a last resort, cast it and jigged it up once..... Bam, fish on! This little chrome hen (3ish lbs) came right to the surface just shaking her head, and spit the #6 Siwash like it was chewing tobacco. Damn.

As I left and re-crossed the river, I noticed some rolling fish in some more turbid water. Trying to make something out of nothing, I cast out a #4 vibrax and immediately felt a tug. Managed to snag a colored humpy buck with the spinner. Quickly detached him and re-cast in the opposite directon of the first cast, seeing another rolling fish. Another tug, another fish on. Brought him in, and was shocked at what I discovered. I had snagged the SAME HUMPY in almost the exactly same place (I saw the mark from the previous hookup). Released him and proceeded across the river.

I was then greeted by Mother Nature in the form of a freak monsoon. Stranded in the middle of the river, hoping that no lightning was in the clouds. Luckily I got off the river just in time to startle a river otter off the bank. I was completely soaked by the time I reached my truck.

Time to tie some more jigs and re-adjust my mode of attack.

0/3 on adult silvers
1/1 on legally hooked humpies
2/2 on the same illegally hooked fish

#humpyego #cohoNoNo

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