Port Renfrew Fishing Adventures is happy to welcome Pacific Pro Charters to the crew.  Brent brings years of experience in fishing from Victoria to Port Renfrew, showing his guests a good time whether chasing salmon or halibut or just checking out the wildlife and beauty our Pacific west coast offers.  Brent is focused on fishing in Pedder Bay, Victoria, from October to April, then when May arrives he is fishing out of Port Renfrew.  Welcome to the team Brent!

For fishing reports, it’s pretty sleepy in Port Renfrew these days, with the cold winter weather.  However, John from Hindsight Fishing Charters did get out for a quickie last week after repositioning his boat from Sidney to Port Renfrew.  He caught a winter chinook salmon in one tack in the San Juan harbour mouth and also caught some huge hard shell crabs.  A nice winter feast!

Still a bit blustery in Port Renfrew, no fishing reports yet, but with spring just around the corner, they’ll be coming soon!

FishingPortRenfrew is happy to welcome Nick Hui and Spring Roll SportFishing to the crew. Looking forward to seeing some big smiles and bigger fish from the Spring Roll this summer.

When it is too stormy out there on the ocean around Port Renfrew, the hardcore local fishers head up into the hills. The San Juan and Gordon Rivers provide excellent fly fishing opportunities for steelhead. Here’s Nelson from O’Fishal Fishing Charters
with a nice fish.

This isn’t fishing related, but should be of interest to all who enjoy visiting or living in Port Renfrew.  A video by the Pacheedaht youth. Nicely done!

Reports from Port Renfrew are that there are lots of coho salmon out front of the Bay of San Juan, in 400-600 feet of water.

Just in time for Port Renfrew Marina’s coho derby, Sat Sept 30 and Sunday Oct 1st. $25 a rod, with $5 going to San Juan Hatchery and the rest winner take all. The pot in prior years has topped $10,000, which is pretty decent for a day’s fishing — and you get to keep that big fish too!

More info on Port Renfrew Marina’s report page.

Remember the daily limits for coho in Port Renfrew are currently 2 per day hatchery marked fish only. (except in the San Juan Bay, where you can keep 4 total, 2 of which can be wild/unmarked)    But starting Oct 1, anglers can keep 4 coho per day in outside waters, one of which may be wild/unmarked.

Good luck out there!

[photo a screen shot from a Hindsight Fishing Charters facebook video, coho fishing in Bay of San Juan]

Some fantastic fishing reports coming out of Port Renfrew this week. The big spring/chinook salmon are here! Port Renfrew Marina is reporting daily limits for most boats, with salmon into the high 20s and some 30+ tyee’s.  They said “This type of success has not been seen in years. Feels just like the old days that brought everyone to Port Renfrew.”   Nice!

We are pleased to announce a new member of the Fishing Port Renfrew group.

Alex West of Steelhead Fishing Vancouver Island Adventures is passionate about freshwater fishing. This is a year-round river fishery:  salmon in August to November, steelhead from December to April, or trout from April into early summer.

The focus is in Cowichan and Port Renfrew.  For Port Renfrew, the San Juan is the biggest river, but the fishing action can be great on the smaller Gordon River, Harris Creek and Caycuse River.

Fly fishing is the specialty, but gear fishing is welcome too. Inflatable rafts are the tool of choice for floating the river.

Check out the video below for some South Vancouver Island river fishing action for steelhead.

Port Renfrew Marina hosted its annual coho derby last weekend. The winning salmon was over 19 pounds and the winner got over $12,000. Nice fish….nice haul! Great story too, read all about it here http://www.portrenfrewmarina.com/report/

The Port Renfrew Marina is reporting some excellent early Sept fishing. There are still nice spring/chinook salmon around, with a 37 pounder winning their Labour Day derby. Picture below….Brian Paulson is the lucky angler.

But the coho report is what is most stellar: “The real surprise is the Coho fishing.In the twenty years we have been here we have never seen this many, this large, this early. Lots of limit catches, with fish up to 19 pounds already! You can get them on the beach but the best place seems to be in 300 to 350 feet of water down 35′ to 40′. Spoons and hootchies in green, white or yellow seem to be working well. We would say that this is shaping up to be the best Coho year since 2000.”

That is great news, as Port Renfrew has in past been famous for the Fall coho fishing, with trophy size northern coho salmon, best on the west coast. The last few years have been a little slower, maybe this year they are back!

Their report states not too much halibut chasing going on lately, but that the currents are good in Sept, and with less fishing effort, there tends to be a few more around.

Good luck out there!

Lots of great reports for Port Renfrew fishing these days.  Swiftsure Bank is the spot, with lots of nice size halibut and mid-size chinook salmon.

Weather has been mostly sunny, but some blustery days on the water — so check the forecasts, plan accordingly, and be safe!