Archive for July, 2009

July 30 Port Renfrew Fishing Update

Thursday, July 30th, 2009

Good news from Port Renfrew Marina! It appears another school of spring salmon are passing through Port Renfrew, and fishing on “the Beach” is excellent. Yesterday saw many 30 pound chinook salmon weighed in, and most boats had their limit from mid-teens into the 20s.

Trevor from No Bananas Fishing Charters sent in this report and photo: “Swiftsure Bank is still very good with limit catches of halibut and spring salmon. The good news is the Beach is finally consistent with many 30-pound plus fish.” The photo is Dan McGiveron with a 42 pound Tyee caught Monday. Nice fish!

Time to get out to Port Renfrew…the fishing is hot!

July 29 Port Renfrew Fishing Report

Wednesday, July 29th, 2009

Port Renfrew Marina posted the following report on the fishing around Port Renfrew and Swiftsure Bank:

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.

Port Renfrew Fishing Report, July 23

Friday, July 24th, 2009
The fishing around Port Renfrew continues to be pretty good. The Beach is spotty, with some nice salmon coming in, but you have to put in the hours.

Out on Swiftsure Bank, however, the fishing is still excellent, with limits of spring salmon, hatchery coho salmon, halibut, and a ling cod or two thrown in for fish n chips.

Des from Vicious Fishing Charters posted a whole bunch of great pictures of fun days fishing from Vancouver Island’s wild west coast…come on down and catch some fish!


July 15 Port Renfrew Fishing Report

Wednesday, July 15th, 2009

Port Renfrew’s fishing has been amazing this week. Swiftsure Bank has been delivering up the fish, with quick limit catches of halibut and salmon.

The spring salmon are deep, 200′, and are mostly being caught with white plugs and hootchies — up to 20-30 pounds. Coho and pinks are shallower and will bite on pretty much anything…once you’re into a school of them, it is non-stop action. In a trip on Sunday, we couldn’t keep the gear in the water more than 5 minutes without a bite…double headers common.

The halibut were small chickens, up to 25 pounds, many caught using the regular jigging with a PowerBait grub or large spoon, but most caught while trolling for salmon deep. Port Renfrew Marina reports that large halibut have been caught lately too, up to 160 pounds. They are out there if you want to chase them.

Closer in to shore at “The Beach”, it has been off and on for the big spring salmon. Persistence is the key, with reports of long days trolling, but with success…many fish in the 30s caught this weekend and a few in the 40 pound class. Camper Creek and East Point are the current hot spots.

Come on out to Port Renfrew and get fishing!

Port Renfrew fishing report, July 3

Friday, July 3rd, 2009

Pretty good Port Renfrew Fishing to report. Port Renfrew Marina reports a few big salmon and halibut catches, and improving fishing all around. Here’s a photo of Des from Vicious Fishing Charters at the end of a pretty fun day…6 Red Snapper, 9 spring salmon, 4 Halibut one 99 pounds.

Trevor from No Bananas Fishing Charters reports: “The fish are back boys, salmon on The Beach was fairly decent yesterday and the day before. Camper Creek is the hot spot and both trollers and cutpluggers were geting them but the cutpluggers were getting far better fish with quite a few in the 30′s coming back to the dock. Swiftsure Bank is now in full swing with so many coho it’s almost impossible to get down for springs. On Tues I could not get my downriggers below 100ft without it popping off for at least 2 hours — while fun it’s a tad frustrating when trying to fish for springs. Eventualy the coho slowed and we found a steady bite for springs up to 25lbs. Oh ya huge water out on the bank the last couple of days but it should come down every day now.”

Jolly Rogers Fishing Charters says that earlier in the week The Beach was spotty, but Swiftsure Bank has been really really….huge schools of coho and spring salmon to 25 pounds. There are halibut around too, not fast and furious action, but if you look for them, you can find some.

Come on out to Port Renfrew and get your fun in gear.