Archive for August, 2010

August 30 Port Renfrew fishing report

Tuesday, August 31st, 2010

McGiveron gals with a 34 pound beauty

Late August fishing continues to be excellent, it’s prime time for Port Renfrew.

Kelly from Last Chance Fishing Charters reports that halibut are plentiful on Swiftsure Bank, and also feeder spring salmon at the Chicken Ranch.  Best lures have been white 5″ and pure glow spoons, and some magic hootchies, plus anchovies are working too.  He reports spring salmon in the 2o pound range on the south side of the Bank. He advises to start near the border, and troll with the tide, then run back once you are 3/4 of the way up the closure.

Mike Graves with a 50 pound salmon

Trevor from No Bananas Fishing Charters says much the same, reporting halibut up to 55 pounds at the Bank, plus a nice run of white spring salmon on the Beach — catching lots of salmon in the 30s, plus his SECOND 50 pound plus fish this season.  Some guys have all the luck (and a little know-how doesn’t hurt too).

He sent in a photo of Mike Graves with his 50 pound trophy salmon.  Some avid fishermen spend their whole lives searching for a fish this big, but this happens to be Mike’s first salmon ever landed!  Plus the first salmon he ever played, earlier that morning, was probably a 35 pounder and was taken by a sealion right at the boat.  Talk about beginner’s luck!

The sockeye are still being caught, but are reported to be less frequent than a week ago — anglers have to work to find the schools now.  However, they are reported to be a bit bigger than average now when you find them.

Trevor says “It’s gonna be a sad day when its over this year”….we agree!   Get out to Port Renfrew and get into the fishing while it lasts…

August 24 Port Renfrew Fishing Report

Monday, August 23rd, 2010

2 springs, 2 sockeye

Fishing this week is excellent in Port Renfrew!

Swiftsure Bank continues with its usual superb August fishing for spring salmon, coho salmon, and halibut.  Jolly Rogers Fishing Charters caught a 171 pound monster halibut for this week’s leader at the Port Renfrew Marina.

Closer to shore, the sockeye are in thick out in the tidelines (from 450-600 feet depths).  Most people are finding them from 40-90 feet deep, shallow early in the am, then deeper later am, and a slower bite in the afternoon.

The chinook salmon have been hot and cooler on the beach day to day, primarily in the Logan Creek to Walbran area.  The morning flood has had a good bite some days, with many boats catching spring salmon in the 20 pound range, and with some bigger fish in the 30s.

Trevor from No Bananas Fishing Charters reports Sunday that a run of big white chinooks are passing through.  He caught a 55 pounder and saw several others in the 40s caught.  That’s the second 55 pound salmon caught this week in Port Renfrew!   So, all going well, there may be some big fish photos coming soon.

If you’re interested in fishing the west coast of Vancouver Island, now is the time to get out there … your Tyee is out there waiting for you!

Tuesday, August 17th, 2010

On the way home from a day’s fishing Swiftsure Bank, we came across a pod of Dall’s porpoises, and they followed us for a few minutes, surfing our bow wake. Speedy little guys … they had their fun and then went on their way and we continued on. We had a great day, in addition to catching salmon and halibut we saw grey whales, sea lions, and eagles … amazing!

Another report

Tuesday, August 17th, 2010

Sweet Fish!

Dan & Mike Burkmar provided this report, of their fishing trip last weekend in Port Renfrew:

“Fishing was awesome for us, we ended up with 8 springs all between 12 and 34lbs. 3 were over 30lbs and got them all on the same day (Saturday). The place to be was the Walbran. And the high flood tide was the a very big *KEY*! Many fish were caught on it. Gold Flasher (Sooke Special) with a Gold Teaser head 57ft, produced our Tyees. The Betsy (Green and Glow) with a green teaser also worked very well for us at 33 ft. Some of our buddies went out to Swiftsure today (Saturday) and it was slow for springs by the sounds of it, but got a 90 lb halibut!!! The fish seem to be showing up now, hope it only gets better from here!”

Now that’s a great fishing report.  Way to go boys!

August 16 Port Renfrew Fishing Report

Tuesday, August 17th, 2010

Happy crew with Jolly Rogers Fishing Charters

The fishing in Port Renfrew this week has ranged from good to excellent.

Swiftsure Bank remains hot, with tons of fishing action for spring salmon, coho salmon, and halibut.  A good day out there is hard to beat.

Closer in to shore, sockeye fishing remains open for now, and anglers are reporting easy limits in the deep water off Camper Creek, 400-600 feet.  A flasher, short leader, and a pink or red squirt is the ticket, slower troll at 30-80 feet. And when you get into a school, you can expect double, triple, or quadruple headers. They like lots of flash, so get as many rods in the water as you dare!  Super chaotic fishing, super fun.

The Beach has been on and off for the last couple of weeks.  But even on the slow days, there’s still big king salmon being weighed in at Port Renfrew Marina.  Today they reported the fishing has gotten hot again too, with lots of big chinooks coming in. As well, they reported halibut fishing is expected to continue to be good this week, with nices tides coming.

All in all, lots of fun to be had, it’s prime time for Port Renfrew fishing!

Port Renfrew report August 2nd

Monday, August 2nd, 2010

The fishing in Port Renfrew continues to be hot and cold. Over the weekend, the reports were that the Beach was quite slow, with few fish being caught. Though a 39 pounder was caught to win this year’s Davey Derby.  However, reports from Monday and Tuesday are the Beach has really heated up.  No Bananas Fishing Charters says “ the beach is on fire up here boys the last couple days and off shore is insane … these tides are great this week flood flood and more flood.“  Port Renfrew Marina’s report says much the same.

Offshore the reports are still outstanding … truly awesome fishing for halibut, spring salmon, and coho salmon.  Check out this report from Chris73 on the SportsfishingBCforum: “Great fishing offshore! Halis in short order then limit of springs – most mid teens some smaller ones that went back, two tyees also for our group. Springs were deep for us today – hooked several halis too while trolling deep for the springs. Then crazy coho action little away from the chicken ranch. More wild cohos but we managed our limits with nice hatch cohos – several ones well over 10 lbs. Lots of fun! And a whale grand slam for us: grey, humpback, orcas, porpoises.

That’s fun fishing!  If you do go offshore, make sure you are well prepared with all the safety gear and keep a close eye on the weather — reports from last week were that it was rougher than usual out there, not for the faint of heart or small boats!

Good luck out there and play safe.

PS there’s also a rumour of a sockeye salmon opening in Port Renfrew starting tomorrow (Tues).  Will keep you posted!