Port Renfrew Marina Report. May 8/16

For Port Renfrew Marina this report is similar to our pre-opening information as things are about the same fishing wise. Still a couple of weeks early for the May run of bigger Chinook. When they arrive all the regular spots will turn on. East Point is really productive when this run arrive, first light until about 7:30 am is the best bite. Hali fishing remains very strong though strong winds make for picking the right day more important than picking the right bait or spot. Sombrio and out to the west are the places to fish right now and "chicken ranch" salmon and halibut fishing will pick up around the second week in June.

Crabbing is still off the scale!Best catches in memory! They are hard sweet and quite purple in color. The numbers are staggering. This seems to be the same everywhere, Sooke, Oak Bay and Sidney are all doing well, although Renfrew crab always seem to be the sweetest and it could be because they are in out in open west coast waters where the currents keep the waters cleaner. The westcoast crab are at the top of the taste scale! One way or another you just cant beat them, its best to have a weighted or heavy trap so it sits solid and sure on the ocean bottom, this makes it more appealing to the crab, they don't like the movement of the traps floating and bouncing.

We have now been open for a little over a week and people are coming in and setting up. If you are a seasonal customer please make sure you contact us regarding your situation this year with you site. It will soon reach the deadline of May 15th to contact us if you are coming back or not. If you want the same site you must let us know asap. We have had many inquiries to sites and we need input from our customers so we don't give away a site that is still wanted.

Port Renfrew Marina now has fuel as many of you may know. We have boat and car fuel and diesel. Our ATM is up and running for those who need to access cash. For those of you who are not aware, we do not accept credit cards, we are a cash business only. Also, for those who may be wondering the marina will not have a cookshack this year so please come prepared for your trip. We are still having inquiries to fishing licenses, please be advised that Port Renfrew Marina is no longer a vender for fishing licenses. The easiest, cheapest and quickest way to get a license is to do it online yourself. If that is not possible you will need to find a business such as Island Outfitters, Canadian Tire, Eagle Eye Sports, etc to get a license. If you are an American doing your license online you need to understand that to fish in area 21 (where Halibut fishing is preferred) you will need to get your license once you are in Canada from a reputable sports store. If you get it online you will then need to re purchase your license so it's best to wait until you are in Canada unless you are coming for salmon only.

Important: It is beginning to look like it may be another hot and dry summer. If that is the case, we want to remind all our customers to be mindful of their campfires and any combustibles the may have around so we don't have any issues like last years fires hopefully.

Bud & Rex

Port Renfrew Marina Report April 25/16

Well Port Renfrew Marina is getting ready to open for yet another season! With the good news of our longterm tenure we can begin to do some much needed repairs and improvements. This will be a slow and expensive process that will take us a few years but at least now it can be started. Early reports are very good for big, hard, purple crabs in the bay! rumor has it that all but 1 of the commercial boats have left the bay. The crab is at its best now and for the next two months, sweet and so fresh!

Halibut is always good at this time of year as no one has been out all winter. Far too early for the "chicken ranch" so it is more of an inshore fishery so far.

Chinook, too early for fish of any size, though some around 5 to 8 pounds have been caught at the Rockpile on Coyote spoons. For all fishermen who will be heading out the river mouth, there is a large deadhead that needs to be avoided and is dangerous in any tide level. We are in the midst of making plans to have it removed but until then use caution.

So for all our customers we will be opening on May 1st officially but the marina will be open for customers to come and set up on the weekend. As always we want our previous customers to contact us regarding whether they will be returning this year and the deadline to keep their spot is May 10th. Please call 250 483-1878 or email us regarding your spot and let us know your intentions. This is an important step if you want to keep your spot from last year, each year we have new people wanting sites and if we don't hear from you we will assume you are not coming back for this year.

This coming weekend is our first one of the season and like everyone we are looking forward to a great fishing season with lots of catches with everyone staying safe. There is another warning out that again this year may be a hot dry summer and to watch for fires, please make sure you make safe choices with campfires, etc, so we can all have a safe and accident free season.

We welcome back all our returning customers and also all of our new customers for a good year of fishing and good times.

Bud & Rex

Great News in Port Renfrew!

Belated Happy New Year wishes to all guests of Port Renfrew Marina from the Watt and Coburn families. As many of you have known, securing long term tenure for our marina and campsite has been challenging in the past. As a result of negotiations that have taken place over the last two years with the Pacheedaht First Nation, we are pleased to announce a permanent resolution to this situation has now been finalized. As a result, we can now state with certainty that the Marina will remain operating in the foreseeable future.

At this time we would like to thank you all for your support in the past and we look forward to seeing you all again when we re-open May 1.

Bud and Tedi Watt,  Rex and Diane Coburn

Port Renfrew Marina Report Oct.13/15

The 2015 salmon season is now over. Spring fishing was fair to good with the fish being smaller this year. In the 19 years of the marina it is the first year we did not have a Chinook over 40 pounds. Some years we would have as many as 60 fish over 40 pounds! It seems each year there are less big ones although we did have many over 30 pounds. Halibut fishing was very good this season both at the Swiftsure Bank and inshore. It continued to be very good till our closing but weather and sea conditions were less than ideal.

Coho were the big disappointment. Many anglers (myself included) wait all year for the big San Juan fish to arrive. The Coho caught offshore were very small, 3 to 6 pounds for the most part. By Thanksgiving the huge local fish are usually filling the estuaries, this year no one has even seen one jump! Upstream to Fairy Lake is holding lots of nice fish for the freshwater fishermen.

This year was a struggle in many ways. We had to deal with a large wildfire that lasted over two weeks, road closures, bridge closures and hot dry weather that affected the salmon fishing and still seems to be. We all got through it and in the long run still had a good year.

As many of you know, the annual Coho Derby "Winner Take All" was won this year by Bruce Miller with a Coho weighing in at 14 pounds and 2 ounces. This is his lucky year as he won first place in the Labor Day Derby this year on Sept 5th and 6th and then managed to win the Coho Derby also. Have to say that it couldn't have happened to a nicer guy and family. The Labor Day derby raised $8377.00 for the San Juan Hatchery and with ongoing misc donations throughout the year bringing in $1850.00 and the Coho derby raising $5797.50 for a total of monies raised the the hatchery of $16,024.50 for this year! We are all so pleased with the numbers and hope it helps the hatchery stay sustainable. A big thank you goes out to all the businesses and people who supported the derbys in various ways, it all helps and it all adds up. Here is to meeting and beating that amount for next year! Also a big thank you again goes out to the people who helped pound the streets looking, asking and picking up donations for the derby. It is a thankless job and we couldn't do it without their help. These people are Sharon Winters, Vic Gee, Brian Kitagawa and Jack Hughes.

This past weekend was a busy one with putting away the docks and doing the annual clean up and dealing with storage and other things. A very big thank you goes out to Reid Warren, Todd Garrett, Wayne Coleman, Dave Mills and Odd Johansen who used his "supervisor skills." The weather didn't always cooperate so it was nasty work part of the time with torrential rain. As we always close on the Thanksgiving weekend there are some of us who spend our holiday up there and so we organized a big dinner with the few of us who are left behind. Eight of us had a Thanksgiving feast in the marina office! A great time was had by all who were there and it was a fun way to end the year.

Important: As the marina is now closed it is imperative that anyone who has a boat or unit still at the marina that they call and make arrangements asap for their removal or winter storage rates will apply. All boats must be out of the water as soon as possible. Port Renfrew Marina assumes no responsibility for any boats left unattended in the water. Weather conditions make leaving it in the water a very poor choice. As the marina is now closed you MUST call ahead to arrange access to remove your boat as the gate is kept locked. To arrange a time for this you will need to call Desi Hatchard at 250 483-1486 to let him know when you can come so he can be there to open the gate for you.

Reminder: For all our customers with accounts outstanding we ask you make arrangements to send payment asap so we can settle up things for the season. Winter storage is to be paid at the beginning of the season. Also a reminder that for customers who have made arrangements for winter storage for their units that you are allowed only one weekend a month to stay at the marina to come and check on things, this means everyone. Staying at the marina more often than that is not allowed for security and liability reasons. Again to come up you need to check in with Desi so he can be there to open the gate.

We at Port Renfrew Marina want to take this time to thank all our customers for their loyalty and love for the marina and sincerely hope all enjoyed their stay there this past season and wish all of you a safe winter and look forward to seeing you next year. Port Renfrew Marina will reopen on May 1st 2016.

Bud & Rex

Port Renfrew Marina Report Oct.4/15

For Port Renfrew Marina the highlight since the last report was the annual "Winner Take All" Coho Derby. While the Coho fishing had been slow anglers came out in droves for a chance to cash in on the cash prize and support the local San Juan salmon hatchery. Given that the Coho fishing has been on the quiet side we were more than impressed and pleased at the turn out of fishermen who came looking to enjoy a weekend of fishing for that elusive big Coho.The weather was superb with sunny skies and fairly calm seas. Fishing was fair to good number wise but for the most part on the small size. Lots of campers and campfires at the marina with stories and laughter everywhere. It was obvious everyone was having a good time, which is what it is about in the long run, the winnings are just a big bonus! Just when we thought all the springs were gone we had a few show up this weekend. They were all white. Looks like there may be a few to be caught out there.

• Marion Randall 30.5
• Darren Noble 33
• Mark Woodger 31

Talking to the hatchery manager, he reports that the local fish are not in the San Juan system yet. Hopefully the massive Alaska commercial Coho fishery has left some of the Vancouver Island fish! We have one week left to catch some nice Coho before we close for the season. Make the most of the time left! Last chance to catch some bright red Coho and from the results of the derby there may be some bigger ones out  there.

Coho Derby: With the slower fishing the numbers of tickets sold was up for speculation but true to form the anglers came and showed their support and 526 tickets were sold this year. The father and son team of Bruce Miller and son, Chris were the winners of the 2015 Coho "Winner Take All" derby. Their prize money came to $10,520.00 with a Coho weighing in at 14 pounds and 2 ounces. They also won the side bet of $3.200.00 giving them a total of $13,720.00!! Not bad for two days fishing! The runner up was Trevor Eccleston with a Coho weighing in at 13 pounds 4 ounces, unfortunately not giving him any winnings!

From the Coho Derby there was $2630.00 for the hatchery. The Simrad GPS donated by Island Outfitters raised $1340.00 with the winner of that Evan Driver. The Bradley Smoker donated by Port Renfrew Marina raised $1240.00 and was won by Grant Hilliard. There was misc donations done over the season and that raised $587.50 for a total of $5797.50 to go to the hatchery.

Well, this is the last of the derby's for this year, the season has been a different one with fishing being slower this year and with smaller fish....none over 40 for the first time since we have had the marina. Whether it is a sign of the times or an anomaly of the year, time will tell. Saying that, the season was still a good one as fishing is always a good way to spend your free time! We had amazing sunny warm weather and considering the obstacles we dealt with this year, such as the wildfires, the lack of rain, the road closures, it seems a good time was had by all for the most part.

Important Info: Please be advised that Port Renfrew Marina will be closing on October 12th this year. Please be sure to come and remove your unit and or boat or make arrangements at the office for winter storage. After October 12th the gate will be locked and entrance will have to be arranged with our caretaker, Desi Hatchard to come by and check on your unit. Please remember that during the closed season you are allowed one night a month to stay at the marina to keep an eye on your things, we are not open for weekend stays or for long stay overs. We we-open on May 1st of 1016. There is no launching after our close date due to insurance liabilities and safety issues.

Bud & Rex