Hey 8 foot,
I agree with what the others have said, returning spawners are not like blackmouth. They will be suspended, not hugging the bottom. Early in the morning I have had the best success at 40 to 55 ft. Later in the day I rarely go deeper than 80 ft, that seems to be the magic number for me around Pt. Defiance. Some other things that you might try are to shorten the leader on the bucktail just a little to between 42 and 44 inches, or use a cop car (black/glow), army truck (green/red/glow) or green spatterback hooch with the same leader length mentioned above, or try a 3.5" Coyote Spoon in green/glow or army truck colors with a 40" leader behind the hot spot. Picked up a 16lb king down here in the south sound on the hot spot and green/glow spoon combo at 70 ft at about 8:00 in the evening 2 weeks ago. Are you tipping the bucktail/hooch with a herring strip?? I like to put a strip on that has been marinated in anise oil and WD-40, not on the spoons though as the strip will kill the fluttering action. Hope this helps!!
Good luck and tight lines, Jeff

[ 08-01-2001: Message edited by: Jeffhead ]