Al Planiden & sons & Tony with a boat-load of salmon

Dan Harvey from Pacific Sportsfishing Charters sent in these photos of recent catches. He reports the fishing has been excellent. Plenty of Pelagic Chinooks from 12 to 25lbs (average size 14 to 18lbs). Coho are thick right across Swiftsure Bank, lots of wildlife: krill, herring, birds and whales. No fog and the weather has been great!  .

Robin's 50 pound halibut

Port Renfrew Marina also reports Swiftsure Bank has been on fire”Easy limit catches he “chicken ranch” and “salmon bumps”, down deep 160 feet on green hootchies. Smooth seas have allowed even the smaller boats to get out there and enjoy the fishery. Hatchery coho are everywhere, though small in the 3 to 6 pound range they make for a great meal. Halibut has been a little hot and cold. Limit catches of 1 a day and spotty the next.”  They add that the crabbing in San Juan harbour is fantastic … “unreal”.

Get out to Port Renfrew this Canada Day weekend and get in on the fun!

Happy Guests of No Bananas Charters

Photo is some guests of No Bananas Fishing Charters after a “Swiftsure Bank full meal deal”.

Here’s a report from Jeff Lawson (“Totally Tyee”) posted on the sportfishingbc forum. That pretty much sums up the great fishing Port Renfrew can offer up, super fun!

“Just back from 3 days in Port Renfrew. Day 1 on Swiftsure Bank and loads of spring salmon in the 8-18 LB range. Tomic Spoons did the trick for us and outfished the flashers/hootchie. Day 2 on the beach and lost a couple in the low 20s to a seal at Camper Creek and lost another to a leader issue. Cutpluggers were outfishing Anchovy almost 3-1 but I had no herring. Threw out a large Tomic 602 Spoon out the back (no flasher) to try to mimic the herring in the area and landed a 32LB just off the rockpile. Day 3 back out to the bank and again loads of smaller springs and the coho were thick with a few hatcheries mixed in. Threw the pic down on a hump off Carmanah and landed a 162lb Halibut and a bunch of yellow-eye. Great way to cap the trip off!!”

Good times! Get out to Port Renfrew and get in on the fun.

Last weekend saw some slower salmon fishing in Port Renfrew, with a low pressure system coming in and dumping rain. Still Des Hatchard of Vicious Fish Charters was able to take both 1st and 3rd in the Fathers Day Derby, with a 30.1 and 18.7 pound chinook. Second went to Corey Arnett with a 27.7 pounder.

Trevor from No Bananas was the organizer and reports a donation of 850$ to the San Juan hatchery. He also thanks Bud from Port Renfrew Marina for weighing in the fish.

Here’s a photo from Trevor of a tyee salmon caught at Nitinaht, plus a few halibut friends.

There’s been good reports of both salmon and  halibut catches out at Swiftsure Bank.   Let’s hope for some nicer weather, think happy thoughts for some sunshine and calm seas.

Good luck out there!

The  word on the street is that East Point is HOT right now, with  lots of springs to 25 pounds.  Trevor from No Bananas Charters says “hot may be an understatement”.

Just in time for the 1st annual Port Renfrew Fathers Day Derby. It’s $1000$ per boat, 40 boats maximum.  5% off the top is going to the San Juan hatchery, with the rest going to 1st,2nd and 3rd. all cash prizes.  It’s a no frills big cash derby … no hats no shirts and no dinner involved just a good shot at some good cash prizes!  Sign up with Trevor if interested, only a few spots left.

And finally, here’s a video of some early season fishing with Des Hatchard of Vicious Fish Charters. We caught a couple of halibut quite quickly, didn’t have to go far this morning. The fish were about 25 and 60 pounds — the big guy put up a bit of a fight, racing down to the bottom a couple of times. Afterwards, we pulled anchor and caught a couple of small feeder chinook salmon on the way home (winter springs), and then came back to a full crab trap. A fun time was had, a nice start to another season of Vancouver Island fishing adventures.