i arrived at the smacktalk hole around 10:00, complete solitude on my side of the river for 200' in either direction, as far as i could see. overcast conditions, with a few mist showers, a wonderful pacific northwest fall day. i twitched black/purple marabou jigs today and was putting on a clinic on the humpies, then i talked to some guys on a boat who said they caught some cohos so i decided to save a spot on my stringer to try for one. by this point id already kept 3 pinks and released 12 or so, then it happened. i got the bite, set the hook, reeled up set the hook again to be sure, and the fish started head shaking, i got it pretty close, close enough to see it, thats when i realized it was a coho, and i immediately loosened my drag. at that very moment it realized it didnt like me so it took off pulling a ridiculous amount of line off my drag, and really put up an immense fight. as i started to finally get it close to me again it started doing the infamous coho death rolls and ballistic airborne displays just a few feet out from me.. i kept steady low pressure and started backing it towards the bank and landed her. a beautiful dime bright 25" coho, my first usa caught coho of the year! that ended my limit. i took a few minutes and just relaxed there on the side of the river, then hauled my limit back to the car.

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