Port Renfrew Marina Report Sept.28/17

For Port Renfrew Marina a very quick update. Coho fishing is off the charts!! Get out here and get some, great weather will make fishing a treat rather than the rain fest we normally see this time of year. Seriously, there are so many Coho and just straight out in front of the bay at 400 to 600 feet of water. On the Chinook front, Shane and Lisa from the local hatchery, report this years return is the best they have ever seen! They already have all their eggs with lots coming from the big five year fish. We took a trip across the lake to the river and even though the blocking fence is open there are still lots of springs schooling in the deep hole, so lots still to spawn. Best news!!!

Good News: The campfire ban has been lifted as of  Sept. 18th so you can now have a fire to enjoy, bring on the weenies! If you want a campfire this weekend bring your own wood as we don't have any.

Upcoming Event: Coming up in two days will be our annual Coho Derby "Winner Take All." This year the 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. We want to reassure everyone that even though we are a first come, first serve business we make sure we find room for all entrants to the derby for camping if needed and moorage. Please remember we are a cash business and come prepared and if possible small bills and change as it can be difficult for us since there is no bank in Renfrew! Come and have a really fun weekend and maybe even go home with a bag of money!!

Closing date: Well, it seems like we were announcing when the marina would be open for the season just a short time ago and now here we are posting the closing date. This year even though Thanksgiving is our usual closing date, the holiday is a week early this year. We were undecided as to whether we should close a bit earlier but our usual time is mid month and so that is when we will close the gate. This year the closing date is Sunday, October 15th. We ask that all our customers please make sure they have contacted us regarding any winter storage they may need for their unit and or boat. Winter storage is to be prepaid, if you do not contact us and do not remove your unit, winter storage rates will apply. We ask that all outstanding accounts be settled up before this date. Once we close if you need to come and check on your unit you will need to contact our caretaker, Reid Warren for access through the gate as it is kept locked. His number is 250 483-1486. Any person storing their unit on the marina property can stay overnight ONE night a month to make sure things are working correctly and your things are in order.

Bud & Rex

Port Renfrew Marina Report Sept. 25/17

Port Renfrew Marina is seeing the last of this years Chinook. It was one of the best years for spring salmon in probably the last five or six years. Neil Hanson capped his season with a 33 pound spring on Saturday while Coho fishing in 400 feet of water running a hootchy. Coho catches had dropped off right after last weekends rain but are back on track again as of today, Monday. Limits of nice Coho are hitting the docks. Most are fishing 45 feet to 64 feet down in 350 feet to 400 feet of water. That seems to be the key right now. Hootchies and bait are working best.

Don't pass up the river mouth on the high tide as there have been lots of fish jumping in as little as 3 feet of water. Casting or trolling fast with spoons or Baitrix strip seems to be working well.

Notable catches:

  • Neil Hanson  33
  • Marion Randall  18 Coho

 Marion Randall 18 Coho
Good News: The campfire ban has been lifted as of a week ago so you can now have a fire to enjoy, bring on the weenies!

 

Upcoming Event: Coming up this weekend will be our annual Coho Derby "Winner Take All." This year the 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. We want to reassure everyone that even though we are a first come, first serve business we make sure we find room for all entrants to the derby for camping if needed and moorage. Please remember we are a cash business and come prepared and if possible small bills and change as it can be difficult for us since there is no bank in Renfrew!

Closing date: Well, it seems like we were announcing when the marina would be open for the season just a short time ago and now here we are posting the closing date. This year even though Thanksgiving is our usual closing date, the holiday is a week early this year. We were undecided as to whether we should close a bit earlier but our usual time is mid month and so that is when we will close the gate. This year the closing date is Sunday, October 15th. We ask that all our customers please make sure they have contacted us regarding any winter storage they may need for their unit and or boat. Winter storage is to be prepaid, if you do not contact us and do not remove your unit, winter storage rates will apply. We ask that all outstanding accounts be settled up before this date. Once we close if you need to come and check on your unit you will need to contact our caretaker, Reid Warren for access through the gate as it is kept locked. His number is 250 483-1486. Any person storing their unit on the marina property can stay overnight ONE night a month to make sure things are working correctly and your things are in order.

Bud & Rex

 

 

Port Renfrew Marina Report Sept. 16/17

Fishing at Port Renfrew Marina has been very good for some time now, today it showed signs of slowing down slightly although everyone was coming back with fish, maybe one or two less than the few days before. Limit catches of springs and Coho have been amazing with Chinook fishing being good this long, it bridges the gap between spring salmon season ending and the Coho season starting. Coho, though slower today has been very very good! Twelve to eighteen pounds has not been uncommon. These hook nosed beauties are right in the mouth of the river! Low tide in the morning or just before dark are the best times.There is no need to snag. Zingers in peach reeled fast or a big blade spinner are all producing biting fish at both mouths of the river. This could be one of the best Coho years in recent memory

Coho Regulations: Quite a few people have come to us asking about regulations and boundaries so we are posting this information for everyone to see.

  • Up to September 5th you are only allowed 2 hatchery Coho in or out of the bay.
  • September 5th: 4 Coho per day only 2 may be wild INSIDE the whistle bouy.
  • Oct. 1st 4 Coho per day, 1 may be wild outside of the whistle bouy.  This means you are allowed to retain 1 wild Coho on the outside, if you want to retain 1 more it has to be caught inside the whistle bouy.
  • No Chinook retention in the bay except for the triangle from Woods Nose to the whistle bouy to East Point.

Notable catches:

  • Brian Woodley & friends   30
  • Mike Game  28.5
  • Sorry, no name  16lb  Coho

 

 

 

 

 

 

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. We want to reassure everyone that even though we are a first come, first serve business we make sure we find room for all entrants to the derby for camping if needed and moorage. Please remember we are a cash business and come prepared and if possible small bills and change as it can be difficult for us since there is no bank in Renfrew!

Closing date: Well, it seems like we were announcing when the marina would be open for the season just a short time ago and now here we are posting the closing date. This year even though Thanksgiving is our usual closing date, the holiday is a week early this year. We were undecided as to whether we should close a bit earlier but our usual time is mid month and so that is when we will close the gate. This year the closing date is Sunday, October 15th. We ask that all our customers please make sure they have contacted us regarding any winter storage they may need for their unit and or boat. Winter storage is to be prepaid, if you do not contact us and do not remove your unit, winter storage rates will apply. We ask that all outstanding accounts be settled up before this date. Once we close if you need to come and check on your unit you will need to contact our caretaker, Reid Warren for access through the gate as it is kept locked. His number is 250 483-1486. Any person storing their unit on the marina property can stay overnight ONE night a month to make sure things are working correctly and your things are in order.

Bud & Rex

 

 

Port Renfrew Marina Report Sept. 12/17

At Port Renfrew Marina Chinook fishing is fantastic! It remains surprisingly and happily strong. Fewer boats on the water do make for some relaxed fishing after the combat months of July and August. Springs in the teens to the high twenties are still hitting the dock making Chinook fishing last longer for the season. Best depths this week has been 60 feet down in 100 feet of water between the Rockpile and Camper Creek. Anchovies and spoons such as Coho Killers are still doing the trick. Some Coho are showing up but it is still early. Anglers casting from shore are starting to see some nice fish already which should indicate a good season this year. Today a 16 pound Coho was brought in to the dock! Looking like it could be a good year for Coho, lets hope so!

Notable catch:

  • Les Hilliard and his daughter Vida  4 springs biggest 28.5

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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!

Closing date: Well, it seems like we were announcing when the marina would be open for the season just a short time ago and now here we are posting the closing date. This year even though Thanksgiving is our usual closing date, the holiday is a week early this year. We were undecided as to whether we should close a bit earlier but our usual time is mid month and so that is when we will close the gate. This year the closing date is Sunday, October 15th. We ask that all our customers please make sure they have contacted us regarding any winter storage they may need for their unit and or boat. Winter storage is to be prepaid, if you do not contact us and do not remove your unit, winter storage rates will apply. We ask that all outstanding accounts be settled up before this date. Once we close if you need to come and check on your unit you will need to contact our caretaker, Reid Warren for access through the gate as it is kept locked. His number is 250 483-1486. Any person storing their unit on the marina property can stay overnight ONE night a month to make sure things are working correctly and your things are in order.

Bud & Rex

Port Renfrew Marina Report Sept.4/17

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