At Port Renfrew Marina what has been fantastic fishing in the last three weeks or more slowed down a bit during the derby days. There were 156 fish weighed in the two day event, which is a respectable number given some of more recent past derby's. Fishing slowed some but the weather was extremely beautiful on the water, calm and flat and almost too hot. For the most part every fisherman we spoke with had fun even if they didn't get as many fish as hoped for. Monday, saw a great early morning bite at East Point. There were multiple double headers till about 6:30 then things seemed to turn down. Tuesday, fishing picked up dramatically, first light at East Point and the rest of the day at Camper. Everyone was coming to the docks with limit catches.
There are some Coho already in the estuary but this is too early. We feel that this Coho season should be a good one and with the Coho derby coming up in a month we believe it should also be an exceptional one.
As pretty much everyone knows we at Port Renfrew Marina had our 20th annual Labor Day Derby and it was a huge success. Even though the fish are smaller in size and fishing had slowed somewhat everyone commented on how much they enjoyed the derby. The food went over well and everyone loved the band. The weather held up and it was a balmy evening with no fog!
The top three winners of the derby are:
- Harley Thompson in 1st place with a 27'.13" Also winner of side bet of $1640.00
- Riley Holman in 2nd place with a 27'.8"
- Merv Pywell in 3rd place with a 25'.13"
- Woman's biggest fish Barbara Clements with a 22'.2"
- Junior under 16 Max Gammie with a 21".15" (sorry, no picture available)
The winners of the children's bullhead derby held on the Sunday morning were Sawyer and Brooke MacKenzie with 16 and 36 respectively, bullheads caught.
Winners of our four raffles.
- Gift Basket: Dave Kilmer. The basket raffle made a wonderful $996.00, best year ever!
- Classic Compact Bar Fridge and case of beer: Steve Lesley. This brought in $545.00
- Calcutta Cooler: Steve Rogers. This made $870.00
- Islander Reel: Matt Kelly. This brought in an incredible $3092.00!! A fantastic fundraiser!
Over the years we at Port Renfrew Marina will have a customer who passes away. This year sadly Jan Eliertsen passed away after a fairly long illness. His wife, Judy used to run the Cookshack at the marina and is an amazing cook and baker. Every year one of our most favored live auction items is Judy's very famous New York strawberry cheesecake. This year she did it again and the winning bid for this piece of heavenly delight went for $280.00! We all wish her the very best and thank her for the donation even in her difficult time.
We at Port Renfrew Marina want to thank all the people who helped in many ways to make things move smoothly. It takes a lot of organization to make things go right and many hands make the work light and easier. We give great thanks to: Sharon Winters, who helped in all facets. Deb Gilmore, Brian Kitagawa, Vic Gee, Shannon Kelly, Diane Clark, Ken Sutton, Jill Hamer, Jim Bjork, Linda Holman, Steve & Marge Donaldson, Craig Larson, Paul Rickard, Gary Coad, and of course Dustin Mayo, Dave Peters and the Kinsmen. My apologies if I forgot someone, please let us know if we did, with all the running around some may have slipped past me!
Port Renfrew Marina wants to thank all who participated and bought tickets to support the local San Juan salmon hatchery.
The silent and live auctions brought in a total of $3889.00. Again we thank all who bid on these items and want to stress that the people who attended this derby to please support these businesses (see below) to show our appreciation that they are willing to donate to this cause. In this time of economy and the fact that businesses get inundated with requests it is to their credit that they willingly give to this effort. If you won a prize please take the time to call and thank the company and let them know how appreciative you are, a thank you goes a long way! Once we have had the Coho derby and tallied all the monies brought in we will be posting what the donation to the San Juan Hatchery will be.
Upcoming Event: Coming up in a month will be our annual Coho Derby "Winner Take All." This derby is on Saturday, September 30th and Sunday, October 1st. Tickets will be available at the Port Renfrew Marina only and are $25.00 a rod with $5.00 of each ticket going to the San Juan Hatchery. This derby is our most popular one we hold and we do get a huge turnout, the prize money is a cash payout to the person who catches the biggest Coho and the pot usually runs around $10,000 or more depending on attendance. Please remember we are a cash business and come prepared with cash and if possible small bills and change as it can be difficult for us since there is no bank in Renfrew!
List of Businesses and People who donated to the derby: In no particular order.
Islander Reel Island Outfitters Harbour Air Neil Hanson of Coast Reel Redl Sports Kenyon Wilson Surveyors Chris Clement of C.C. Investments Central Island Powerline Valley Floors Wholesale Sports Cabelas Harbour Chandler St. Jeans Gone Fishin' Alpine Marine Honda Canadian Tire Big O Tire Sleggs Lumber Renditions in Rags 49th Parallel Riot Brewery Rainforest Arts Saltair Pub Willow Antique Mall Silver Mine Jewelry Impulse Pizza Lordco (Lk. Cow) Home Hardware (Lk. Cow) Sooke Home Hardware Gord's Fly Box Irly Bird Subway(Lk. Cow) Country Grocer J&B Pizza & Burgers Jakes at the Lake Tomi's Restaurant Big Fish Lodge Port Renfrew General Store Trailhead Motel Port Renfrew Hotel & Pub Brick & Rosie Bricksworth of Choice Charters Gallery House Botanical Guest House Soule Creek Lodge Handsome Dan's Coastal Kitchen Artisan"s Well Bonnie Curl E-Fish-Ent Seafood Product Kelz Cake Shop Prestige Hotel Jake Jewelry Serious Coffee Westcoast Tire Western Foods Sooke Harbour Marine Sheringham Distillery 17 Mile Pub 17 Mile Liqour Store Route 14 Adrena line Zipline Fields A&W (Sooke) Shoppers Drug Mart Milestones Village Market Liqour Planet Superstore (Langford) Great Canadian Oil Change Three Gringo's Fairway Turmeric Restaurant Everything Wine Tim Hortons ( Langford & Lk. Cow) Floyd's Diner Thrifty's Foods White Spot (Colwood & Duncan) Glen Lake Meats Richlock Rentals Subway (Langford & Colwood) North West Aluminum Starbucks (Colwood & Langford) Darcy's Pub Denny's Boston Pizza (Langford) McDonalds (Colwood & Langford) Monti's Boat Sales SureSpan Scotty Downriggers Anglers Retreat Lorelei Green Shane Morse of Steel Pacific Mike Young Nisers Select Mortgage Joe Serpa Elite Sheet Metal Jim Hermanson of Great West Equipment Madil Equipment Adams Tarp & Tool Steve Holgate Steve Lamont of Maple Bay Marina Gerry Murray Coastal Outboards Bow Mel Bucky's Sports Greggs RV Victoria Flying Club Kelly Wagner of Gizmos Computers John Sheldrake Item Sooke Power Supplies Trotac Marine Silver Streak All Battery Don Colgrave Travel Bea & Ass. Gibbs Delta Ian & Deb McGregor Deans Marine March Meadows Bob Biggs IMax Theater Dumont Tire Tiptons Marion & Howard Randall EZ Lube Quale Electric Fastenal Larry Green of DSS Welding Superior Propane Butler Bros Chris Flint Lifetimer Boats Farmacy Coast Capital Savings Dave Mountain Berks Truck Repairs Bumper to Bumper Westland Insurance Lazy Gecko Restaurant Buckerfields Diamond Eye Care Hugh Hamer Princess Auto Doug & Susan Mills Enex Peninsula Coop Victoria Harbour Ferry Doghouse Restaurant ATP Tackle Red Arrow Paul Rickard Blanshard Street Winery Oigo Electrical Cable Supply Steve Beal Mark Perkins Duncan Iron Works Grant Hilliard Oughtred Coffee & Tea Bucktail Charlies Black Dragon Enterprises Lakes Marine Ampersand Distillery.
If there is a business or person we missed please let us know, we want all donators recognized!
Bud & Rex