Port Renfrew Marina Report July 31/14

For Port Renfrew Marina and the general area Chinook fishing remains steady. Not red hot consistently but most anglers are returning with fish. Walbran and Logan Creek see most of the action though with the San Juan fish starting to stage for the river, EastPoint to Woods Nose are worth a look. The Bank remains the hot spot but with this hot weather comes the fog! The "chicken ranch" is right in the freighter lane so make sure you monitor your radar.

Great News! Sockeye opens on August 1st! You are allowed 4 of these delicious beauties a day! Of course small pink hoochies or plain black hooks behind a flasher is the package. Note: put down as much gear as possible and don't stop to play your fish, keep them following your gear.

A reminder: Coming up in a month Port Renfrew Marina will be having it's 17th annual Labor Day Derby. The date is August 30th and 31st. Tickets are $60.00 a rod and includes a t-shirt, dinner, beverages and a live band on Sunday the 31st. There will be prizes for first, second and third and others, silent and live auctions, raffles and more. We will have a bullhead derby for children under 12 and since the adult bullhead derby went so went over the last two years we will be holding that as well. At this point Port Renfrew Marina has two items for raffle. One is a beautiful large Cuisinart BBQ with a convection oven heat with the lid down, 3 burners inside, a side burner, a rotisserie and storage below, donated by Audie Williams founder of the Davey Derby. Value: $500.00 tickets are $5.00 each or 3 for $10.00. The other item is a large gift basket FULL of great things, bottle of Baileys, 2 bottles of wine, one red, one white, a bottle of Palm Bay and a new liqueur, Criollo, a salted caramel with hints of chocolate, delicious over ice cream or in coffee. A 1  pound box of Purdy's chocolates, plastic margarita glasses, colorful acrylic plates and condiment dishes, acrylic picture frame, cedar salmon wraps, jams, and many more items. Donated by Port Renfrew General Store. Value $300.00 tickets $2.00 each or 3 for $5.00. Tickets available at the office. Proceeds go to salmon enhancement.

Bud & Rex

Port Renfrew Marina Report July 27/14

Chinook fishing along "the beach" continues to be fair and generally poor by July standards. The weekend we have seen a few more showing up on the docks. The weather has improved with the fog being higher. We have been experiencing some really low morning tides again so things may improve once they pass. Offshore at the "chicken ranch" spring fishing is on fire! Limit catches are the norm with the average size getting larger on a weekly basis. Spoons and hoochies are the lures of choice. The fish are feeding on herring offshore and needle fish inshore. Coho are getting larger with some if the hatcheries getting up to 8 pounds. Remember hatchery only unless you are fishing area 121, Swiftsure Bank where you are allowed 1 wild Coho per day.

Halibut focus is now at the J Bouy and the "chicken ranch." High slack is the time to put the grubs or herring to the bottom. With the slower currents the NE corner and area 170 will all be fishable.

Notable Catches: 

• Mark Gagen    32
• Roy Flower     36  apologies for the head cut off!!
• Mike Cozart    31
• Manny Gavilan   33  photo not available at this time

Note: Please note Port Renfrew Marina can no longer offer fishing license services.Please make sure you get your license before arriving at the marina. They can be done at home if you have internet and a printer or check around at sporting goods stores for who offers the service.

Upcoming Event: On Aug.30th and 31st of this summer Port Renfrew Marina will be holding it's 17th annual Labor Day Derby. Yes, it's only a little over a month until Labor Day, time is flying by! Tickets will be available at the marina only for about a week ahead of the derby. Tickets are $60.00 a rod and include a t-shirt, dinner, beverages and a live band on the Sunday night and a reminder that we are a cash business so please bring cashfor your ticket and stay.  This derby is to raise funds for salmon enhancement and to help the local hatchery. We have many prizes, raffles, live and silent auctions. This year we have two items so far that we are raffling, one is a large Cuisinart stainless steel BBQ with convection cooking with the lid down, a side burner and its a beauty. Value $500.00 tickets are $5.00 each or 3 for $10.00. Donated by Audie Williams the founder of the Davey Derby. The other raffle item is a large gift basket full of great things, a bottle of red wine, a white wine, a bottle of Baileys, a bottle of Palm Bay pink grapefruit vodka that is a great summer drink which can be mixed with just about any light pop or juice and a bottle of Criollo which a salted caramel liqueur with some chocolate flavors, a one pound box of Purdy's chocolates, two pretty acrylic plates and condiment dishes, an acrylic picture frame, cedar wraps for baking salmon, Kicking Horse coffee beans and an assortment of many other items. Value $300.00 Tickets are $2.00 each or 3 for $5.00. Donated by the Port Renfrew General Store. A derby's success is dependent on the generosity of many different people so at this time we ask that if you or someone or a business you know that may be interested in giving a donation of any kind please contact us in the office or by email and we can supply you with a letter. All donations are recognized at the derby and on the website and we encourage all our customers to show appreciation of donators by patronizing their business.

Other Upcoming Event: Nearing the end of our season Port Renfrew Marina will be also having their annual Coho "Winner Take All" derby. This derby is slated for Oct. 4th and 5th. Tickets are $25.00 a rod with $5.00 a rod going to the hatchery. This derby is very popular also and the winner can be going home with a ton of cash! Winnings often run around $10,000.00 of course the amount won will be based on the number of entrants.

Bud & Rex

Port Renfrew Marina Report July,17/14

  The Chinook fishing has slowed down some recently.We believe that the "super moon" in connection with the "super" low tides we have had, sometimes running for seven days straight, have put the brakes on some previously great fishing. The "chicken ranch" at Swiftsure Bank continues to produce small Chinooks (teens), hatchery Coho and small to medium halibut. With the weather warms up and gets hotter than normal in that area it then brings fog in, so make sure you are fully equipped electronically to fish in the area where you are close to the freighter traffic.

Onshore with the mellowing of tides the spring fishing should improve. While anchovies are still the preferred bait of choice, some anglers have had good luck with white hoochies. If fishing is slow try using some of those lures you have bought and never used. Some anglers have said that the fishing has been better in the afternoons. For the next few days we will have no low tide issues so things may be improving in that respect.

At Port Renfrew Marina we held our first ever Chinook Salmon Derby on July 12th and 13th, this past weekend. We were hoping to help reduce the disappointment of the well loved and missed Davey Derby. While we knew we couldn't match the level of that derby, Audie Williams always did an amazing job. Well, for a first time derby with a little less than a month to prepare and plan and get word out, the derby went well. Even though fishing was quiet, there was a decent turnout with 124 tickets sold bringing in $3100.00. The winner in first place was Reid Warren with a 31.8 spring winning $1550.00, with Mark Saunders coming in second with a 31.7 winning $930.00 and Kevin McKenna coming is third and winning $620.00. The side bet winner was Scott Campbell with winnings of $590.00. The portion from the derby that goes to the local hatchery is $710.00. Everyone was pleased with the winning amounts, not bad for two days of fishing even if it was quiet. Looks like we will try and have another one next year and it will likely grow as the Coho "Winner Take All" derby has over the years.

Notable Catches:

• Brian Paulson  32  caught before derby
• Reid Warren    31.8
• Mark Saunders  31.7
• Rick Stubbs  31.5   not in derby!
• Scott Campbell 31.7

As the summer comes into full swing and is reaching it's half way mark Port Renfrew Marina wants to remind everyone of up coming events. Coming up on Aug.30th and 31st we will be having our 17th annual Labor Day Derby. This derby is well known for being a great derby, there are raffles, silent and live auctions and many hidden weight and misc. prizes given out. On the second day of the derby we have included in the derby a t-shirt, dinner, a beer garden and live band. The monies raised for this event are all for salmon enhancement also. Last years donation to them was in the $27,000.00 mark! Tickets will be available at the marina shortly before the derby starts. Then Port Renfrew Marina will be having its annual Coho "Winner Take All" derby. This derby is extremely popular. Tickets will be sold as usual at the office and the dates for this derby are October 4th and 5th. Winnings for this derby have been at the lowest $5300.00 all the way to $13,800.00 with the average winnings being around $10,000.00. Again not bad for two days of doing something you love....fishing.

Winner of the Bradley smoker was Dennis Murray.

Bud & Rex

Port Renfrew Marina Report July 10/14

Port Renfrew Marina has been producing good fishing for a while now and along with the usual teenagers and ones in the twenties there seems to be a good amount of ones showing up in the 30's and even a couple in the 40's! The springs are here and just in time for the Chinook Salmon Derby this weekend! The derby is Saturday and Sunday and tickets are available at the office but also the early morning at Eagle Eye Sports and Wise-Buys Fishing Supplies after mid morning you will need to get your ticket at the marina if you haven't picked some up yet.The office will be open a little later than usual to accommodate late arrivals and the office will also be opening early on Saturday morning for the same reason. We are going to have low tides this weekend so if you are planning on fishing Saturday be advised you will need to launch early, no later than 5:30 or wait until 11:00 so an early trip is necessary. Weather wise it is looking good with sunny warm skies and hopefully calm seas. ALSO make sure you have your fishing license already as the marina is no longer a vendor for fisheries. The best thing to do is to go on line and get it yourself but you need the computer with internet and a printer. Notable Catches: 

• Greg Wickland  31
• Sharon Winters  32
• Dave Mills & friend      a really good days catch

Phones: At Port Renfrew Marina we have and will continue to have ongoing issues with our phone system. If you are calling us and get a repeated busy signal then that means the phones are down. This can happen randomly. We apologize for the nuisance and inconvenience but there is not much that can be done. We try to get on it asap and normally things are up and running after a day or so.  When this happens the best thing to do is send an email as the internet while slow seems to hang in there.

Don't forget: Port Renfrew Marina will be having its 17th annual Labor Day Derby coming up on Aug. 30th and 31st. This the one with the band, t-shirts, dinner, drinks and many prizes. Tickets will only be available at the marina. Then on Oct 4th and 5th we will be having our annual Coho "Winner Take All" Derby. Both derbys are a lot of fun and our focus is a relaxed atmosphere where everyone has a good time.

Bud & Rex

Port Renfrew Marina Report July 7/14

At Port Renfrew Marina the Chinook have arrived! It's been a wait but now there are lots of smiles in spite of the rain with lots of limit catches hitting the docks. Early morning till the evening, all day had good bite periods. Owen Point to the Rockpile was the place to be at first light, later in the day Cullite and Logan Creek came on. Best depths seem to be the 27 to 47 feet on the down-riggers. Anchovies or herring are definitely the bait of choice! No word yet from fisheries as to a Sockeye opening, our suspicions is that if they do open it, it will likely be in August but unfortunately we are usually given only a few hours notice. When we do hear we will try our best to let everyone know asap. Notable Catches:

•  Hugh Hamer   32
• Darren Keeler 38
• John Gordon 41  40 1/2
• Greg Wickland   31

The "chicken ranch" is still the place to be for quick catches of halibut and the teenager springs salmon. The action out there is very good. If the halibut slows there, a short move over to  bouy Julliet will produce fish.

Upcoming event:  This coming weekend Port Renfrew Marina will be having its first July Chinook Salmon Derby on July 12th and 13th. This derby is a simple affair with three top winners, first, second and third all cash prizes. The money won will be pending the amount of tickets sold and the winnings will be 50%, 30% and 20% respectively of winners. The tickets are $30.00 a rod with $5.00 of each ticket going to the hatchery. Tickets are available at the marina office or Eagle Eye Sports in Sooke and Wise-Buys Fishing Supplies in Colwood. There will also be a side bet that could prove interesting. If the two fish you weigh in total of say 37 pounds and the winning fish are all under that weight then you could be the winner of the side bet without even having a fish that qualifies for the top three weigh-ins. The weather is supposed to be great so come and enjoy a couple days fishing and maybe go home with money in your pocket. But as the saying goes, a bad days fishing is better than a good days work so how can you miss? A reminder; the marina is a cash business so please realize that we can not take credit cards for payments, please come prepared.

Port Renfrew Marina is raffling a Bradley Smoker and the winning ticket will also be drawn on July 13th after the derby is done. This a top quality smoker with 4 shelves and can smoke all your fish and meats, whatever you like to smoke. The smoker retails for $550.99 and tickets are $5.00 for one and 3 for $10.00.

Bud & Rex