Jolly Rogers Fishing Charters reports another fun day’s fishing in San Juan Harbour and out at Swiftsure Bank.

Each day is different offshore…lately it has been huge schools of coho and lots of halibut…this day it was lots of big ling cod and feeder spring salmon. Lots of fun, either way.

The coho are stacked up in front of the San Juan rivermouth, and there is lots of fun to be had trolling shallow or casting from the boat. They are jumping all over the place, and hooking into a 20 pounder right at the surface is as good as salmon fishing gets!

For the next few weeks, as more and more coho arrive, Port Renfrew will offer some of the best salmon fishing on Vancouver Island. Check out Port Renfrew Marina’s coho derby on Oct 3 and 4. $25 to enter, with $5 to salmon enhancement and the rest to the winner….with the great fishing drawing more people in, this year’s purse will probably top $10,000.

Good times to be had in Port Renfrew!

Spring salmon fishing in Port Renfrew is slowing down, and most anglers are now targetting coho. That being said, Port Renfrew Marina reports Hugh Hamer caught a 40.5 pound tyee at Camper Creek this week….and earlier in the week Troy Halliday of Fishing360charters caught a 50 pounder (and then a 37 pounder the next day)…so there’s still a few big spring salmon around!

The Marina’s big coho derby is Oct 3 and 4. $25 per rod, with $5 to the hatchery and winner take the rest…jackpots up to $14,000 in prior years….plus the fun is free!

Kelly from Last Chance Fishing Charters sends in the following report: “Fishing in Port Renfrew is still good, lots of Coho in Juan de Fuca Strait and on Swiftsure Bank. Halibut fishing was good on the anchor on the “dink” reef off of Nitinat, but halibut was slow and small on the bank. [next day] Squid kept grabbing the halibut bait, switching over to smaller plastic and drifting was better today, I gave up on the anchor after getting squidded on my first few pieces of bait.”

Here’s a picture of Dale from Australia with a huge Humboldt squid caught with Jolly Rogers Fishing Charters He catches them back home, so he knows what to do with them: “Lattice cut it, then cut it into 1 inch pieces and dust it in cajun and flour, salt and pepper. Then wok toss it in butter and garlic, serve with some sweet chilli sauce on the side). Came out well.the squid tasted good and was tender“. So there you go!

As the coho move into the San Juan harbour, fishing close to shore should get better and better. Maurice from the San Juan Hatchery reports there are lots of coho in the bay, and a significant number have entered the river. For those fresh water inclined, this might be a good weekend to get a small boat and drift the river….big coho + light tackle = big-time fishing fun and adventure.

Click here to read DC Reid’s article on Vancouver Island shore fishing. Here’s what he says about Port Renfrew: “Port Renfrew is high on the list as it has the largest coho on the Island. Last week there were more than a thousand Chinook in the San Juan System, and the third week in September is the traditional time to fish the estuary below the bridge with spinners and spoons early and late in the day.”

Have fun out there!

Jolly Rogers Fishing Charters reports: “Late summer has provided excellent fishing out of Port Renfrew. We have had good catches of salmon and halibut lately. The photo is Kevin Robinson and crew from Grand Prairie, with a good catch of spring and coho salmon, halibut and ling cod. The Coho salmon are large and plentiful … fishing should be good well into October this year!“

Kelly from Last Chance Fishing Charters reports that the spring salmon fishing on the beach has slowed, but there are lots of nice big fat coho, plus a lot of feeder spring salmon (10-15 pounds) on the bottom in 70-200 feet off the Harbour mouth. For something different, he reports a lot of Humboldt Squids around….some guys hooknig 2-3 per day. He took home 3, using the tentacles for halibut bait, and the mantles for Calamari. “In the event anyone wants to target these things, start in 100 feet of water and troll out slowly with salmon gear (They seem to like spoons), and when you get a dead weight that bounces from time to time, slowly bring it in. Net it and get it in your cooler, if you gaff it, you’ll get inked.. Couple guys tried ‘em, as long as you remove both layers of skin, they said they were quite good.”

Mike Soohochoff posted an excellent Port Renfrew fishing trip report:
“Back from 3 days of fishing Rennie.Springs are almost non existent along the beach but the bank is loaded with coho. Friday on the bank was astounding! Birds by the thousands following a line of krill that stretched for miles.herring feeding on the krill and coho feeding on the herring.Oh, and humpbacks by the dozen. Picked up our limit on coho in about 10 minutes-average one 12lbs largest 16+. Halibut was more difficult and we definitely worked to get our limit. Saturday morning was along the beach from Owen to Logan.No springs save for one jack and only two wild coho. Knocked off two Humboldt squid about 3ft long at Cullite-made for some tasty calimari though.Crab trap was full of females Sunday was off Carmanah & Nitinat. Scraped up 2 more hali before we got blown off. Lots of salmon in the estuary when we left. All this rain should spur them on.All in all a decent trip.” Thanks for the report, and for the awesome whale photos.

Port Renfrew’s fishing has been hot and cold in the past week. The Swiftsure Bank continues to be on fire, in particular for coho salmon with 20 pounders regularly caught, but also medium size spring salmon and chicken-size halibut.

The Beach is not as good as it was 2 weeks ago, but is still bringing in some nice ones. Port Renfrew Marina reports that Mark Thomas caught a 53.75 pound monster at East Point! There were several salmon in the 40s caught on the weekend. So, it is still pretty good, for those hoping to find a big one. Jolly Rogers Fishing Charters reports the beach was hot all day yesterday. Here’s Kevin with his first 30 pounder…way to go!