Some mixed reports coming out of Port Renfrew this weekend. Some of the local guides are absolutely killing it, with limits of huge halibut, lots of medium Spring salmon, and a few Tyee class Chinooks thrown in too. Other folks are having a tougher time getting into fish — the fish are definitely out there, but you really have to work to find them.

Jolly Rogers caught quite a few big halibut this week, with a 98, 138, and a 186 pounder. That beast tops the Port Renfrew Marina leaderboard so far this year. Heavy Hauler reports a great halibut day, landing 15 and keeping 6, all between 30-54 lbs. The hotspots continue to be inshore around Carmanah, with the best baits herring and salmon belly.

Heavy Hauler also reports that the salmon are steadily increasing. Jolly Rogers managed to find his way into a limit catch of spring salmon 15-25 pounds, reportedly caught off Swiftsure Bank. Port Renfrew Marina reports that a 38 pounder was caught this week as well. There is an unconfirmed report (rumour?) of a 52 pound Spring caught too, but no photos to back it up yet!

{photo credits: from the Connelly family from Alberta, via Jolly Rogers}

The halibut fishing continues to be steady. Most guides are still focusing their efforts close to shore, chasing the early season big ones.

The salmon is picking up too, with decent sized fish coming in regularly. Heavy Hauler caught a 33 lb at Camper Creek last week. There’s still not a lot of effort being focused on salmon yet, but as more fish arrive, more fishermen will start chasing them.

We received a nice email from a happy Port Renfrew visitor, that we thought we’d share: “What a great destination Port Renfrew is for folks like us. We enjoyed the little marina and its rustic floating logs docks. The Botanical beach was a fantastic experience I will be talking about for some time. I even got some good video of a Black bear beachcombing down there. We watched Bald Eagles stealing fish from an otter family from off the big pier and deer running across the road on several occasions. We look forward to returning there.” Len Zamonis, Florida, USA

Good times in Port Renfrew, whether fishing, camping, hiking, or just general sightseeing.

Hello Port Renfrew fishing fans.

Jolly Rogers reports a good day out of Port Renfrew yesterday, catching four halibut, three smaller and one 130 pound barndoor. He has a short Quicktime video of them pulling the halibut over the gunwale. Well done JR!

The wind in Sooke was howling all day that day, but it was fairly mellow off Port Renfrew…one of the benefits of being outside the mouth of Juan de Fuca strait.

Get to Port Renfrew and get some lines in the water, your dream fish is out there!

Some excellent fishing reports over the weekend from the waters in and around Port Renfrew.

Jolly Rogers Fishing had a good trip, with a 112 and 80 pounder, and 6 more 30-pound halibut thrown in for fun. Happy guests indeed…it is easy to sell a fishing trip to your family with that bounty, what with halibut at $10/pound or more. Geoff Ahlstrom is shown on left with his monster halibut…also the proud recipient of a promised $15 side bet (good luck collecting that!).

Heavy Hauler also had some happy fishermen, who sent in the following report: “My brothers, Richard, Bruce, Dave and I had a fantastic time. Even though one of us ended up being a bit overwhelmed by the whole nautical experience! Mike is a fantastic guide and we’ve been raving to all of our friends about how fortunate we were to have had him showing us the ropes. He knows his business – as a fisherman, a boatman, tour host and all around very decent guy. I’ve attached the whole PDF file. There’s some shots around the cabin at the beginning that you can ignore. There’s some good photos that Dave took on the boat and the trophy shot at the end of the file.”

Check out the PDF for a nice slideshow of a Port Renfrew halibut fishing experience, from sitting on the couch the night before through to the trophy shot on the scale. Awesome day out there.

The reports of late are that halibut are being caught fairly close to shore still, to the west of Bonilla Point, rather than heading all the way out to Swiftsure Bank. Some good sized spring salmon continue to be weighed in, but not too many anglers are chasing salmon yet — halibut on the brain!