May 21/10 Port Renfrew Marina Report

With the long weekend already upon us Port Renfrew Marina is starting to be an active place for fishing.  For the past three weeks we have had all kinds of weather, from cold hard winds, heavy rain to light mist, full sun and very calm seas.  In that time the marina has had great fishing results for halibut. Desi Hatchard of Vicious Fish Charters gets recognition for catching the first halibut over a 100 pounds two weeks ago and then last week a 110 pounder and many other mid size ones. (see picture in last report) Crabbing is amazing. They are large, hard shelled, sweet and in huge numbers.

Salmon fishing is on the rise. At Port Renfrew Marina we saw many springs come in around the 10 to 15 pound range and Sandy Fisher brought a 33 pounder in last week.

If you are a past seasonal please contact us as soon as possible regarding your site and moorage to see if it is still available. Spots are going fast.

Good news, the ATM is still working and it appears it will be fine this year. The pay phone is being repaired and should be up and running soon.

Port Renfrew Marina now has bait, tackle, ice, gas and diesel if anyone out there is unsure.

Bud & Rex

May 14/10 Port Renfrew Marina Report

At Port Renfrew Marina the fishing for halibut remains very good. Each boat returns with their catch limit, weather permitting, although recently the waters have been calm. We have been lucky with warm blue skies and little or no swells and people are taking advantage of it while it lasts. On the whole the fishing is quiet given the numbers of fisherman out there as it is still early in the season. Crabbing remains excellent! The crab are big and so sweet. Getting your limit is a daily occurrence. If you are looking for springs there are a few out there, mostly feeders in the 10 pound range. Congratulations go to Desi Hatchard of Vicious Fish Charters for catching the first 100 pound halibut this year.

It is now past the date for past customers to confirm their stay. If you are returning, we recommend you contact us if you have not already before you risk losing your spot. We can no longer guarantee it for you.

Port Renfrew Marina now has fuel, ice, bait, tackle and fishing licenses. The ATM is working and we seem to have beat the problems we were having with it last year. Unfortunately the pay phone died during a power outage we had in the winter and we are looking into having it repaired or replaced.

All of us at Port Renfrew Marina look forward to seeing everyone again and wish all a great season.

Bud & Rex

April 29/10 Port Renfrew Marina Report

Port Renfrew Marina officially opens on May1st, this weekend.  Another winter has passed and a new season awaits for a summer of fishing.  So far in the late spring we have had reports of good fishing for halibut. There are many "chicken" sized ones if you can get out there. The weather has hindered some boating and there have been many seasick people! Crabbing remains great, lots out there and they will vary in catch, some full with meat, others still with water in the shell but very sweet. Port Renfrew Marina now has gas. We have boat gas, car gas and diesel.

A reminder to all our seasonal customers. Please let us know as soon as possible with the deadline of May 10th if you are returning or not.  We have many new people inquiring and you don't want to be disappointed if you lose your spot.  Also if you are seasonal you may want to pay before the April 30th deadline. If you pay the fee in full before that date you can avoid the HST tax. 

For the retuning customers you will recognize Knut working again this year.  We are pelased to have him helping us again with his endless handyman abilities.

Regarding the phones and ATM, we do have them up and running this year so far! If we are lucky and all things work, we will keep it that way. If you recall last year the ATM had many problems, we hope we have eliminated them.

If you have been to Port Renfrew Marina this year you will see quite a few wonderful changes. Our indispensible caretakers, Wayne & Gwen Coleman have spent their winter cleaning up the grounds, trimming trees and marking off sites. We can't thank you enough for all your hard work!

All of us at Port Renfrew Marina look forward to seeing our returning customers and all our new ones. Wishing you a safe and exciting season of fishing. See you up there!

Bud & Rex

April 12/10 Port Renfrew Marina Report

Port Renfrew Marina is beginning to gear up for another season. We will be opening on May 1st. With the milder winter and the fair spring it has made it possible for our caretakers, Wayne & Gwen Coleman to have accomplished a remarkable amount of clean up,  helping  us get organized for the coming year. A big thanks to them!  The outlook for early Chinook fishing is very good with a strong run predicted for the Columbia River. There have been reports of springs being caught up to 26 pounds at Owen Point.  Halibut catches have already been very good for "chickens." Crabbing in the area will be starting soon and if this year is like all others in the past, the catches will be great.  Anyone who has tasted Port Renfrew Marina crab will be very excited to start the eating feast soon and if you haven't had the opportunity to try the local crab you should, as it is the BEST!

A reminder that all previous seasonal customers should be contacting us as soon as possible to confirm their spots from last year. If we don't hear from you by May 10th it will be assumed you are not returning.  As you may know the HST is going into effect this July and if you would like to avoid paying the additional 7% tax you may, by paying for your seasonal site in full by April 30th. To do so you must contact us personally by e-mail or phone to make arrangements for payment. Please do not call and try to complete this with our caretakers, the Coleman's. The GST is still in effect and applies to all services paid for at any time. If for any reason the HST is overturned or withdrawn and you have made a payment after April 30th then Port Renfrew Marina will refund you your 7% tax in full.

Port Renfrew Marina will have fuel (boat gas, car gas and diesel) by May 1st. We will also have bait available. If you have any questions or concerns please call or e-mail us and we will do our best to help you.

Bud & Rex

Oct.14/09 Port Renfrew Marina Report

Another season has passed for Port Renfrew Marina and its customers. The marina officially closed on Oct.12th and re-opens next year on May 1st. The 2009 season overall was a very good year. In the spring we had fantastic crabbing and halibut fishing. As summer came on the Chinook salmon were slow to come but for the most part it was very good especially in August when the springs over 40 started showing up in real numbers. All together we had 44 springs over 40 pounds this year and 2 over 50 pounds. The largest spring and halibut weighed in at Island Outfitters this year were both from Port Renfrew Marina.  In September the marina saw an amazing number of Coho's being caught with the best catch in any year we can remember of a 26 pound hatchery Coho by Desi Hatchardof Vicious Fish Charters. We also had a great turnout at all the derby's held at the marina with a record amount of $11254.00 that went to the San Juan Hatchery. At this time now that the marina is closed we ask that our customers who need to arrange storage or take their units or boats home do so as soon as possible. This can be arranged with our caretakers Wayne & Gwen Coleman. Their number is 250 483-1486 and you will need to call and arrange a time so the gate can be open. The marina number is now only taking voice mail and is not in operation to accept calls, if you need to speak to someone out there, then again you should call the caretaker.

Special thank you's: We would like to thank Andrew Hoffman, our phone and internet guy who has rescued us many times and donated many hours of his time to help us out and without his help we would have not likely had an functional ATM this year. We would like to say thank you to John Bridal our computer and website guy who has helped us endlessly with our never ending questions and help with posting the fish pictures on the reports.  Again we want to thank Knut for helping out the last two years and being so ready and handy to build, repair or take apart things at the marina. And it bears repeating we want to thank Wayne & Gwen Coleman our caretakers for their excellent efforts all season, their tireless help with camp cleanup, their super humor and last but not least the fantastic french fries and other goodies!!! We want to thank all our customers and friends who have supported us and the marina over the years, you make it a fun and great place to work!

Have a safe and healthy winter and we hope to see everyone back next year for the 2010 season.

Bud, Tedi & Rex, Diane