it's not the chew smell, i spit copenhagen spit on practically all my steelhead & springer egg knots when i tie them....

if you can, cant your pole just to either side of the wash (or as close to the edge of the wash as you can get) you'll pick up more kings. if you can't get on the edge or just outside the wash you will be forced to fished deeper....

i agree 100% on the smell, i put mike's shrip/anise or spray bang anise oil on my hands before handling bait & any time i am going to touch the bait... I also spray it into the plastic bag I am going put the cut plugs into..

learn how to plug cut your own bait, (there are very few humans that can be trusted with the bait, much less attempt to cut it without proper training), always use the coho side of the block, use a good SHARP filet knife, cut it like bread as close to without touching the gill plate, make certain the edge it straight, crisp, & smooth without any burrs, use extreme care to get the guts out so as not to rip or damage the belly, keep ice under & on top of cut plugs in a little cooler, check your bait everytime before you put it down & after every thing that happens to your pole that looks fishy, (bring it up slow), when the bait is working right, it looks like las vegas...

it really doesn't matter where on the boat you drop your stuff down if you are certain your cut bait is right, silvers do indeed tend to hang higher up in the wash though but, it certainly doesn't exclude you from the kings by "having to" fish the wash, frankly i couldn't care less where on the boat i fish, i would of course prefer the port side but, hey i figure if i am lucky enough to be on a boat, trolling for salmon, i personaly would never raise the matter of where i am fishing (unless of course, it was my boat) as long as i get to cut my own bait, rig my own stuff, & pull the # of pulls I want to...

for what its worth, when i get to fish the wash, 25 is my number (w/ 4 ounce, narrow beam EZ Diver & red triangle flasher) & I do get more silvers than kings but, i get at least my fair share of the kings too ....