Port Renfrew Marina Report Aug.31/15

This past weekend at Port Renfrew Marina will not be one anyone who was there will forget too soon! It was at the other end of the spectrum from the weekend before. Rains of biblical proportions descended on Sunday and Monday. Fishing has slowed down but the monsoons made it impossible to fish. With heavy rain, high winds and having no power for almost 30 hours not much was happening other than trying to stay dry and comfortable! We probably had 4 to 6 inches of rain in 24 hours. Boats sunk at the docks, etc. Kudos to Rick Jakimchuk whose boat was totally sunk but helped us save another boat stay afloat that was on the verge of sinking. Thanks go out to Reid, Dave, Todd, Charlie, Greg and all the others that helped get Rick's boat over to the ramp and back on the trailer.

While we do our best to help our customers with their boat issues please remember that it is not our responsibility to keep your boat afloat. Working bilge pumps, tarps should be used or pull your boat out of the water. It is up to you when these storms arrive to be prepared for such possible unexpected emergencies. If bad weather hits our area you need to come out and check on your boats and units if you are unsure.

Luckily the weather is supposed to improve and it looks so far that the long weekend will have decent weather and this wild storm will pass but will not be forgotten!

Notable Catches:

• Jeremy Spooner 33   

Bob Culm and a nice fish not quite 30 pounds but close enough to be proud of

Not a big fish but one Mathew was pleased with considering he lives in the Bahamas so any salmon is impressive!

Upcoming Derby: This coming long weekend September 5th and 6th will be the 18th annual Port Renfrew Marina Labor Day Derby. The time sure came up quickly, it seems like the season just started a month ago! Now here it is and we have to say it has been an outstanding year for donations and contributors and volunteers! We have been given many awesome prizes and there is something to appeal to everyone. There will be many silent auctions, live auctions and at least four raffles. Tickets are still only $60.00 a rod and includes a Port Renfrew Marina t-shirt, dinner, beverages and a live band. There will be a fun adult bullhead derby on Saturday night with prizes for the most bullheads caught. On Sunday morning there will be a kids (12 an under) bullhead derby. This derby is a lot of fun and relaxed and at the same time you will know you are helping support salmon enhancement as all proceeds go to the San Juan hatchery. This year has become even more important than past ones as the hatchery hasn't had any additional funding since 1992 and now this year we were told they had a government cutback of another $10,000.00! If it weren't for all the generous donations and the efforts of many to make derby's like this one successful the salmon enhancement program would surely suffer. Tickets only available at the marina and will be on sale later this week.

Upcoming Event: Port Renfrew Marina will be having its annual "Winner Take All" Coho Derby on October 3rd and 4th. This derby beats all for popularity even though there is just one winner. It may be one winner but what a spectacular winner they will be, winning a cash pot that runs in the thousands. There have been some pretty big Coho caught over the last couple weeks, all wild but by the time of the derby you will be allowed to keep wild Coho. Tickets are only $25.00 a rod with $5.00 of each ticket going to the San Juan salmon hatchery. The number of tickets sold will dictate the winnings. From previous years the average winning amount runs between $8000.00 to $11000.00, not bad for a weekend of fishing!

Bud & Rex

Port Renfrew Marina Report Aug. 24/15

At Port Renfrew Marina inshore fishing is fantastic!! This past weekend had anglers calling it the best in years! Practically every boat was hitting the dock with limit catches of Chinook. East Point to Walbran all lit up with long bite times. Some boats having 3 or 4 double headers a day! Betsy and Purple Haze, Purple Onion flashers with chrome Mint Pearl or Joanne as some know it, No Bananas, Purple flash teaser heads and others are popular. Same flashers with Coho Killers were working just as well. Offshore at the "Chicken Ranch" is more or less done for 2015. It was a spectacular season out there and we hope it is as good next year.

Halibut fishing has had little pressure as the salmon fishing is so good.

Notable Catches:

• Kirk Coombs  31
• Dan Maxwell  34
• Scott Cameron  65 halibut

  

Lizard Lake Wildfire: We have heard conflicting reports regarding the fire. To the best of our knowledge it appears to have grown to 300 hectares and is about 35% contained. The Harris Main is now open as of 8:00am August 25th. The fire is farther up the hill an away from the road.The Gordon River road is the other option if you coming from the Lake Cowichan area but is no longer necessary. The fishing is worth the drive!

The proposed road closure for the Deering bridge  for repair work was originally scheduled for Aug. 24 through to the 28th has now been postponed to Sept. 14th to the 18th possibly to avoid more delays considering the problems from the wildfire. When the closure occurs with will be from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm and the bridge will be opened for 15 minutes every hour on the hour to allow traffic through. Your wait could possibly take up to 45 minutes if you arrive at the bridge after the closure for that time period.

Upcoming Event: Port Renfrew Marina will be having its 18th annual Labor Day Derby coming up on Sept.5th and 6th. This is the derby to come to if you like to have a good time! Tickets are $60.00 a rod and includes a Port Renfrew Marina t-shirt, dinner, beverages and a live band. Each year we have been so lucky to have more donations and we have many great prizes to win. We will have silent and live auctions, biggest fish for a lady and a junior, hidden weight and more. Fishing is so good right now, lets hope it is like that for the derby, indicators say it is likely. Also we will be having a fun bullhead derby on Sat. the 5th in the evening for adults and a children's (12 and under) bullhead derby on Sunday the 6th at 9:00 am. Again I want to thank the few people who have helped us gather donations, thanks go out to Vic Gee, Sharon Winters, Brain Kitagawa and Jack Hughes. Also to quite a few customers who have really stepped up with finding donations for us, Steve Holgate, Grant Hilliard, Marion and Howard Randall, Debbie Gilmore, Mike Young, Wallace Cheong and others.

Upcoming Event: This year for Port Renfrew Marina the "Winner Take All" Coho Derby will be on October 3rd and 4th. This derby is extremely popular with a huge turnout. The tickets are $25.00 a rod with $5.00 of each ticket going to the local San Juan hatchery. There is just one winner and it is a cash prize for the biggest Coho. Winnings have varied from $5500.00 up to $13,800.00! Not bad for two days of fishing! We will be drawing for the Bradley smoker that we have for raffle now on the 4th.

At this time Port Renfrew Marina has four items for raffle. One is the Bradley 6 tray Digital smoker, through Port Renfrew Marina, it retails for $649.00. Tickets are $5.00 each or 3 for $10.00. We also have a Samsung 46" HD flatscreen TV donated by Marion and Howard Randall and it retails for $569.00. Tickets are $5.00 each or 3 for $10.00. We have a gift basket which at this time is at the Port Renfrew General Store, also donated by the store. It's value is $300.00 and tickets are $2.00 each or 3 for $5.00. You have to see this one for its amazing contents! For starters it has 2 bottles of good wine, a bottle of Absolute vanilla vodka, 8 year old Bacardi rum, and a bottle of salted caramel Baileys, Purdy's chocolates and many, many more great items. We have another smaller basket with lots of fun things in it at the marina, donated by Debbie Gilmore in memory of her late husband Gary Gilmore. It values at $130.00 and tickets are $1.00 each.

Bud & Rex

Port Renfrew Marina Report August 14/15

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

Port Renfrew Marina Report August 6/15

At Port Renfrew Marina the big tides and the two full moons (Blue Moon) we had this past month are over and the fishing is improving again. The full moons caused some havoc with the tides! The past week only produced good fishing on the high tide in the afternoons. Beach fishing has been better everyday with fish being caught all day. The San Juan fish should be showing up all month, Woods Nose will be a hot spot as the net pen fish will be coming back to where they were raised. Offshore Chinook fishing remains very good, fishing at 140 feet to 200 feet on the downrigger. The halibut catches have dropped right off which is understandable considering the huge pressure on them over the last three months.

Innshore halibut fishing has improved as fishermen are searching out spots other than Swiftsure, time to explore! The big coho are just a month away!

Notable catches:

• George Colgrave  34

Upcoming Event: This weekend Aug. 8th and 9th, Port Renfrew Marina is hosting its 2nd annual Spring Derby. This derby is a simple one with tickets $30.00 a rod and $5.00 of each one going to the San Juan Hatchery. There are only three prizes, first, second and third. The winnings will be based on net sales of tickets and the amount for each place will be 50%, 30%,and 20% respectively of the fist, second and third place. The more tickets sold, the more prize money! With the fishing improving daily this could be a fun derby and the weather should be good also. Please remember that we are a cash business so bring cash for your tickets purchase and for your stay.

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.

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.

As many know we have had a non-working pop machine for some time BUT it is now working! This is after at least five attempts to repair it. Fingers crosses it stays that way. A HUGE thank you goes out to Dan from Ryan Vending who went over and above the call of duty to come out twice to fix it, not to mention numerous phone calls trying to help over the phone.

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 ia bucket or container with a lid and then empty it when its full into the garbage can directly.

Big Thanks: We also want to give out big thank you's to some people who are stepping up and helping out with collecting donations for our Labor Day Derby...not an easy job. Thanks for out to Vic Gee, Sharon Winters, Brian Kitagawa, Jack Hughes, Marion Randall, Port Renfrew General Store who not only donates the funds for the gift basket but then lets us set it up there for ticket sales. I guess it fits with the saying, it takes a village. Seriously, the derby relies on helpers like this as one person just can't get it all done. We are going to be needing helpers during the derby, some to work the silent auction tables, sell raffle tickets, peel corn, set up tables, etc. Anyone with some free time we would be grateful for their help, many hands make less work!

Bud & Rex

Port Renfrew Marina Report July 27/15

Inshore salmon fishing remains good to very good. High slack tide seems to trigger the bite time. Rock Pile, Camper and Logan Creek have been giving up limit catches of Chinook salmon. East Point at first light and the evening has been producing as well. The inshore halibut fishing has seen little or no pressure in the last month so we have no information on that.

Offshore the "Chicken Ranch" continues to provide spectacular salmon fishing for both Chinook and Coho. Large white hootchies and large spoons for the spring salmon and anything for the Coho!

Swiftsure halibut fishing has slowed down and the guides are having to move around to find them. Deeper water on the slack tide should work.

Notable Catches:

• Mary Dice  31
• Kale Eddy  32  25
• Brent Cooper  30.5

At Port Renfrew Marina this past weekend a small fishing derby was held called the "Houdy Memorial Spring Derby." This derby was held in honor of Blair Houdayer, a long time regular at the marina who sadly passed away last winter. He was loved by all who knew him and will be sorely missed by all. One of the few people in the world who didn't have a mean bone in his body and was generous and always happy. Yvette and Barry Houdayer, Blair's brother and sister were there for the fishing and the ceremony. The derby was well received with about 35 boats. The derby was a simple one day event with a salmon BBQ, the salmon donated by Desi Hatchard of Vicious Fish Charters for everyone to enjoy. Entry was by donation to the Canadian Cancer Foundation. After a full day of fishing by cut plugging only the winner was a young Matthew Jones with a salmon of 24. 8. He was awarded a trophy and a stainless steel crab trap generously donated by Paul Taylor of Trotac Marine. At the end of the day the derby raised $1424.00 to be donated to the Canadian Cancer Foundation. Hopes are that there may be another one next year.

This coming weekend at Port Renfrew Marina will be our Fishermen's garage sale. Come by and check out what you don't have and do need!

On Aug. 8th and 9th Port Renfrew Marina will be holing it's second annual Spring Derby. This derby is a two day event from dawn to 5:00 and dawn to 2:00 on Sunday. Tickets are $30.00 a rod with $5.00 of each ticket going to the local hatchery and the winnings for first, second and third are 50% , 30% and 20% respectively of the net sales. More entrants, more pay out! If you are fishing that weekend or if not, think about going in the derby and maybe getting a chance to win some money.

For Port Renfrew Marina's Labor Day Derby we are still hoping for more donations to come in. if you can make a donation or know a business that may be interested is supporting salmon enhancement please contact us and help us make this derby the best one ever!

Bud & Rex