The Swiftsure Bank season may be winding up, but the coho salmon fishing is just starting.  The fish are starting to move inshore and they will get bigger and bigger over the next few weeks, as they feed voraciously on anything they can get.  Which of course is good news for anglers, as hungry fish means great action!

As of Sept 11, you can keep 4 coho, wild or hatchery, to the west of Bonilla Point (area 121).  Otherwise, fishing closer to Port Renfrew you can keep up to 4 coho, 2 of which can be wild — but only if caught inside the harbour.  And after Oct 1, you can keep 1 wild, but only if caught outside the harbour. Here’s the regs.

Port Renfrew Marina’s coho derby is on Oct 3/4 this year … a winner take all event, always a good time. $25 a rod, with $5 going to the San Juan Hatchery (and some lucky angler goes home with a pretty good chunk of change in their pocket).

Have fun out there … ’tis the season for early winter storms, so watch the weather and be safe!

Fishing continues to be excellent ! Nice weather and a steady stream of Chinooks are coming into the docks. An abundance of Chinook in teens and twenty range are coming in as well as the occasional large ones up to 40 lbs. There are a few pinks around still but the bulk appear to have moved on making it easier to target the Chinooks without going through large amounts of bait. A few coho are showing up and are beginning to get into the low teens for size, although only the hatchery coho can be kept.

With a bit of rain and some salmon heading up stream soon this should also mean better and better halibut fishing as well throughout September.