i think the missing salmon were hiding with the smelt, smelt seemed to be located differently this year on my pond, the whole summer seemed different, more sun, less rain etc. i was finding smelt in really shallow water this year, almost no need for downriggers for me, towards the end i was leaving the downriggers off the boat and just sticking with 2 to 4 colors lead and maybe 150 to 200 feet of wire line. wasnt catching unless i was in shallow with the rocks losing flies. every year is different, where were all those big salmon hiding last year on winni when everyone was in a panic, they were there this year, didnt hear any bad winni reports