July27/09 Port Renfrew Marina Report

Port Renfrew Marina is seeing Chinook fishing starting to improve. This past week there were far more spring salmon hitting the docks than in recent weeks. One problem is keeping your bait in the water without a Coho taking it. It is not uncommon to go through 3 to 5 packages of anchovies a day in order to get the springs. Coho are getting bigger with the hatchery fish in the 5 to 8 pound range being taken both on shore and at Swiftsure Bank.

Halibut fishing is still great at Swiftsure and are being caught both on the troll and jigging. No barndoors but lots of chickens. The exception is the picture you see on the report on Dwayne' Issac's 3 Halibut all over 100 pounds. (see last report for details)

Swiftsure is still the hotspot for Chinook. They are being taken on plugs, spoons and hootchies, the popular colors being in the whites with rainbow shades. They are finding them at a depth of about 170 feet on the downrigger.

Please Note: With the fog lately it is advised that you don't fish the "Chicken Ranch" without radar as the freighter traffic has been quite heavy.

Notable Catches:

• Noel Atkin    32
• Cory MacInnes   34
• Marty Fladager   30
• Rick Ditherbide    34
• Rick Stubbs          36
• Greg Grover     30, 33.5
• Tim Wilkerson on charter with Millertime charters    44

Notice: Port Renfrew Marina is happy to announce we finally have our ATM up and running. So far, so good! The Davey Derby was held this weekend and we will have results and pictures in a weeks time or so. In the meantime you may want to check their website at www.daveyderby.ca Campfires are still allowed in the campground but with this heat please exercise caution!

Bud & Rex

July 15/09 Port Renfrew Marina Report

Mid July fishing at Port Renfrew Marina is nothing less than spectacular at Swiftsure Bank. Limit catches of Chinook, Halibut and Coho are the norm. Coho are found in big numbers throughout the area. Chinook in the mid 30 pounds are being caught on plugs and hoochies at depths of 150 to 200 feet.  White plugs seem to be a top choice. The seas have been noticely calm lately with no wind and occasional light fog but as we all know in Renfrew that can change at any time.

Along the shoreline spring fishing is still fair though the good news is that the big springs are showing up. Camper Creek and the rockpile have produced Chinook into the 40 pound range. There were over 15 springs over 30 pounds caught in just the two days this past weekend.

Notable Catches:

• Ian Batty                 32
• Marion Randall      41
• Terry Van Weiren     32
• Wanye Schiffner      31,  33
• Nick Laddish           30
• Phil Rankine            34
• Mike Styba              38
• Shane Telford          32
• Chris Arnold           35
• Ken Webb                42
• Rick Bourne            33
• Kerry Rawlick          39
• Bruce Cook             35
• Traci Englot            40
• Todd White              38
• Desi Hatchard of Viciousfishcharters 34,  35

Our apologies to any of the notable catches we missed. If you catch a spring 30 or above or any other large catch please let us know in the office so you will get recognition in our reports.  

Halibut barndoors are still being caught by the highliners. Halibut of all sizes keep coming in. One unbelievable catch came to the dock in Duane Issac's 17 foot Double Eagle. The three anglers had a 161 and two more each weighing in at 100 pounds! How the boat didn't sink is even more amazing!

Sockeye is rumored to be open possibly this Friday July 17th. We will try to keep you posted and you can call in at the office to get an update. The number is 250 483-1878, or toll free 1 866 565-2354.

Please note: The ATM at our office is still not working. We will be making another attempt to get this problem corrected so until this is done please be advised to bring cash with you as we are a cash only business.  We are not set up for credit cards. We are so very sorry about the inconvenience since we had this machine running all last year and customers began to rely on it and now we don't have it. Both ourselves and the company we are dealing with are trying everything to correct this issue. Also there is apparently a sign on the Cowichan circle road saying that the gas is closed. We are trying to correct this also since it is not the case. We do have gas, for car, boat and diesel.

Important: Power Supply. Please note that the power Port Renfrew Marina supplies is ground fault and as we all know we get some heavy rain here and it is only one of many things that can cause your breaker to trip. People using power at Port Renfrew Marina do so at their own risk and we cannot be held responsible for the possibility of this happening.  This is particularly important for anyone using a freezer to store bait or food. Please exercise caution.

Bud & Rex

Davey Derby -- July 24, 25, 26, 2009

Port Renfrew Marina is pleased to host the 9th annual Davey Derby, July 24, 25, and 26, 2009.  This event offers a great weekend's fishing, super prizes, as well as a good cause.  The derby is a major fundraiser for Port Renfrew and the Cowichan Valley. Entry fee is $45/rod, with all proceeds going to charity. 

Below is the thank you letter that the Davey Derby organizers sent to the Port Renfrew Marina.  The letter explains the good that this derby is doing in the local community.

But maybe more importantly....here's Des Hatchard with the winning fish, a 41 pound beauty!  Good fishing, good times, come on out to Port Renfrew and join in the fun!

***** 

The Dave Nicholson Benevolent Fund, its participants, and our associated charities would like to give thanks to the fine people at the Port Renfrew Marina for their kind donation to the 8th annual Davey Derby.

Through your help we were able to raise over $21,000 at last years’ event which was sent out to: the Cowichan Valley Food Basket Society, Chemainus Harvest House, the Lake Cowichan Community Services (Soup Kitchen), Lake Cowichan Food Bank, Cowichan Food Connection (Bread Bus), the CIBC Run for the Cure, Victoria and Cowichan General Hospital’s Neo-Natal Care Units, Cowichan Valley Search and Rescue, the Cowichan Lake Salmonid Enhancement Society, the San Juan Enhancement Society, Victoria’s Pink Salmon Foundation, and 6 families in the Cowichan Valley area who are were facing difficult financial times through loss of a loved one or serious illness.

You should feel proud that through your continued help The Davey Derby has been able to raise and distribute over $80,000.00 since our inception. This could not have been accomplished without the help of the caring people at the Port Renfrew Marina. Thanks again,

Audie Williams Derby Organizer

July 4/09 Port Renfrew Marina Report

Port Renfrew Marina is starting to see the season get going. Fishing and crabbing in May was great and we were hoping for the hot streak to continue but things slowed down in June. We are now into July and we are expecting the fishing to pick up for the summer as it usually does. Predictions are for good returns this summer. We have been seeing unusually great summer weather and most days, nice calm seas. Chinook returns to Port Renfrew Marina continue to be on the quiet side but with steady improvement. The shoreline seems to be fair to average with a few good catches. Spring fishing at Swiftsure Bank is very good with Chinook being caught in the mid 30 pound range. White hoochies at 180 feet is the ticket right now. The past week we have had unusually low tides and we still have some low ones so please check your tide charts.

Coho fishing is great everywhere. Two hatchery Coho are allowed with four possession. Any lure, any depth seems to work. The average sizes are 3 pounds to 8 pounds.

Sockeye may be open around the third week of July. We will try to keep you posted with any updates or new releases.

Halibut fishing continues to be on par with past years and the average size of the "chickens" seems to be a little bigger. The northeast corner and 170 at Swiftsure has been very good.

Notable Catches:

• Blair Houdayer 26, 27, 27, 28
• Tom Mawson  34
• Riley Swansen  23
• Calvin Kennet  32
• Eric Eckdahl  26
• Jordan Bruvold  32
• Hugh Hamer 28, 30
• Bob Huber  22, 30
• Mike Graham  30
• Terry Van Wieren  22, 25, 29
• Art Abrahms  31
• John Rogers of Jolly Rogers Fishing Adventures 30, 22, 24, 23, 20 100 Hali
• John Wells of Hindsight Charters limit of Springs and  131 Hali
• Bruce Miller of Millertime Charters 9 Coho, 8 Spring, 5 Hali
• Mark Perkins of Ace of Kings Charters  4 Hali 50 to 80,  9 Springs
• Desi Hatchard of Vicious Fish Charters 6 Red Snapper, 9 springs 4 Hali one 99

Dates to Remember: The Davey Derby coming up is July 24,25,26. The Port Renfrew Marina Labor Day Derby is Sept. 5th & 6th. The Coho Derby is to be announced soon.

Please Note: We are sorry that we STILL do not have our ATM machine working. We have tried everything to speed things up but to no avail. We are pressing for a quick repair and hope to have it in operation soon.  Please try to remember to bring cash with you so you won't run into problems there with no access for getting cash.  Also our phones have been on and off with some working issues so if you have struggled to contact us we are sorry for that inconvenience also. We have done some major changes and we think they are now in good working order. We are also working on getting more picnic tables made and there will hopefully be more available soon.

Wishing everyone a great fishing season and a wonderful summer, please practice safe boating.

Bud & Rex

June 10/09 Port Renfrew Marina Report

Following the fantastic May Chinook fishing Port Renfrew Marina is seeing typical early June results. Quality size big springs are hitting the docks but not in great numbers yet. Spoons and anchovy are what has been working at a depth of 37 feet generally. We have seen 2 springs that have made the over 40 board already this year, one caught June 5 and the other June 6th. Notable catches of Springs:

• Is. Outfitters 36
• Stan Robertson 35
• Eric Eckdahl 35
• Luke Bertrand 25
• Dan Harvey 45.5
• Keith Cook 42

Halibut fishing is good though the big barn doors are harder to find. The calm seas have helped anglers to catch their limit of chickens, always a nice size for eating. Ken Gillard caught a 70 pound Halibut on June 10th on a coyote spoon and had to net it.  A really amazing story though is on June 9th Randall Pruden and Carl Hien were fishing just west of Camper Creek for springs. They were using Purple Haze hoochies and barbless hooks when they knew they had a big one. It didn't take very long for them to realize it wasn't a spring but a Halibut. They could tell it was very big but had no idea it was a 120 pounder! They didn't have a gaff or spear so they ended up bringing it in with a net! They had to keep bending it to the right shape to get the fish in. How they kept a halibut that big on the line and got it in is what everyone wants to know! Apparently you don't have to go 25 miles out to sea to get the big ones!

Crabbing is still excellent with everyone catching their limits. They are getting larger and meatier and very sweet. Hard to compare the crab of Port Renfrew to any other crab!

Port Renfrew Marina now has all our garbage cans enclosed in heavy duty chain link fencing to keep the bears at bay. We are hoping this will discourage them for coming into the campground and look elsewhere for food. We are trying to take every measure to reduce the bear activity around the marina so please do your part. Please be careful about leaving fish and food stuffs around your campsite and boat and remove all your garbage to the cans.

Please note: To our complete frustration our ATM is still not working and we are hoping it may be in order by this weekend. If you are planning a trip to the marina soon please come prepared and bring cash. We apologize for any inconvenience and are working hard to get this problem resolved.

For anyone interested the marina now offers a seasonal launch for the boater who doesn't leave his boat in the water. The cost is $100.00 for the season. Please check the Rates page for any changes in the rates.

If you are a past seasonal customer and haven't contacted us regarding your spot you will now have lost your claim for your spot. It is assumed you are no longer interested in it. If anyone is wanting a seasonal spot there are still some available.

Bud & Rex