For Port Renfrew Marina inshore Chinook fishing for most anglers is very good. East Point at first light has been very good but dies off later in the day. Camper Creek to Walbran has been fair to very good depending on ho you talk to. Some limit catches for some fishermen while others not getting a strike. This is not the norm... successful anglers are venturing into deeper water, 100 to 120 feet fishing 50 to 70 feet down and getting good fish. Cut pluggers earlier this week did VERY well at Camper Creek, some hooking a dozen fish a day. Offshore Swiftsure Bank has slowed right down for Chinook and halibut. One boat that did very well got their fish on Coho Killers! Go figure, needle fish at the bank.
Inshore halibut fishing has been very good with fish in the 60 to 70 pound range hitting the dock.
Notable Catches:
- Brent Cooper 30.5
- Phil Rankine 30
- Braiden Gorle 10 years old 31
- Chris Arnold 31
At Port Renfrew Marina we held our second annual PRM Spring Derby on Aug.8th and 9th. We originally started this derby for people missing the Davey Derby in July but this year the Kinsmen stepped up with theirs in July so rather than cancel it we fit it in for August this year. It is a straight forward derby and we had 54 tickets sold. The fishing was good for that weekend but although the numbers were good the fish were on the smaller size. The winners were:
- 1st place Ruth Haddad 27.12 spring winnings $675.00
- 2nd place Ryan Nicks 26.7 spring winnings $405.00
- 3rd place Ruth Haddad 21.13 spring winnings $270.00
- San Juan Hatchery $270.00 donation
Lizard Lake Wildfire: As nearly everyone knows there is a wildfire up past Lizard Lake about a half hour from Port Renfrew Marina. Many people are asking about conditions. At the marina there is no impact, we have no smoke and no sign of fire or issues although the Harris Main Road is closed until at least Monday and possibly longer. For now until further notice if you are coming to Port Renfrew or the marina from Lake Cowichan you will need to come by the Gordon River Road which has been opened. Approaching Port Renfrew from Sooke is not an issue. These links may be of some help in getting updates, www.sitesandtrailsbc.ca; www.bcwildfire.ca; bcwildfire.ca. Sorry, I can't seem to get these sites to load so you can just click on them, looks like you will need to copy and paste them into google.
Upcoming Event: Port Renfrew Marina will be having it's 18th Annual Labor Day Derby on Sept. 5th and 6th. This is our big derby with all kinds of activities. We will have an adult bullhead derby on Sat. evening and one for kids 12 and under on Sunday morning starting at 9:00 am. There will be prize ceremonies on Sunday after the derby ends with many, many great prizes! Tickets are $60.00 a rod and includes a t-shirt, dinner, beverages, and later that evening a live band for those who love to dance or sit and listen to music. This a fun derby loved and enjoyed by all. Fishing has been improving lately so lets hope it continues for the derby! Donations have been coming in but if you are interested in making a donation it's not too late or know a business that would consider a donation please make the effort to help out. Even if you can only do a single donation, if everyone helped that way you can imaging how many prizes we would have. It's for such a great cause and we must remember that protecting and preserving salmon stocks isn't just for this year or five years down the road but for generations to come. We all hope our children and grandchildren will be able to enjoy sports fishing in the future.
At Port Renfrew Marina we have three big items for raffling. The first is a Bradley 6 tray polished stainless steel smoker. It can do hot and cold smoke and is digitally accurate. A real beauty for smoking your catches and also meat and other things. It retails for $649.00 and tickets are $5.00 each or 3 for $10.00. The second one is a gift basket generously donated by Port Renfrew General Store with a of value $300.00. It is full of all kinds of great things, including two bottles of good red wine, salter caramel Baileys (new), 8 year old Bacardi Rum, and Absolute vanilla vodka, a box of Purdy's chocolates, stemless wine glasses, movie pass for two and many, many more things. Tickets are $2.00 each or 3 for $5.00. And third we have a Samsung 46" HDMI flat screen television donated by MVCC business, Marion and Howard Randall. It is valued at $569.00. The tickets are $5.00 each or 3 for $10.00. We also have a smaller gift basket to be raffled, donated by Debbie Gilmore in memory of her late husband, Gary. Tickets are $1.00 and all proceeds go to salmon enhancement to which Gary firmly believed in being an avid fisherman.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION: Coming up from August 24th to 28th Mainroad contracting will be working on the Deering Bridge. The bridge needs service and the work is under the bridge for the most part so doing it at night is not a viable option.Therefore, work will begin at 8:00 am and end at 5:00 pm and Mainroad's objective it to have the bridge open for the first 15 minutes of each hour throughout the day. This is their plan and as long as nothing goes sideways they will do their best to keep to that schedule. It is possible they may get it done in less than five days but so far those are the dates for the closure. So if you need to cross the bridge you would be wise to time it accordingly. There will be some work being done on the Harris Cove bridge also but the interruptions will be minimal.
Important: This year the CRD has stipulated that all compostable food wastes be separated from non-biodegradable garbage. We now have garbage cans for regular garbage as always and green ones for food waste. You can dump the waste in loose or in compostable bags only. These are the thin brown ones you can find in most grocery stores. We ask that everyone make the effort to separate their garbage as if it arrives at the dump with too much combined we will get cut off for dumping and it will then require people to remove their garbage and take it home with them! If you don't want to bother with the bags just simply put the waste in a bucket or container with a lid and then empty it when its full into the garbage can directly.
Bud & Rex