Last week saw some excellent salmon fishing in Port Renfrew, with fast and furious Chinook salmon action. The fun continued into the weekend, where it slowed down a bit…steady, but not as crazy good as it was. Perhaps the run has passed by…but who knows when the next one will arrive? The only way to be sure is to get out there and try!
Jolly Rogers reports a few fun days as well, with quick action for Chinook salmon 10-20 pounds, and up to 28 pounds.
Trevor from No Bananas Fishing Charters had a good couple of days, limiting on halibut in Victoria, then the next day fishing salmon in Port Renfrew. His guests limited out with 8 spring salmon to 25lbs.
There is not a lot of halibut fishing to report, with the salmon so good. There have been a few halibut here and there, mostly closer to shore caught at anchor. No reports yet from Swiftsure Bank…but they will be coming soon.
The crabbing in San Juan Harbour continues to be amazing with multiple limit catches and the ability to be very picky in only choosing the biggest hard-shell keepers.
And just to get you thinking of the fun to come, here’s a picture of a 52 pound Tyee salmon caught in Port Renfrew in ’07 by guests of Seawind Fishing. How about that! The lucky angler is Hessel, from Holland.
Get out to Port Renfrew and get those lines in the water!
Desi from Vicious Fishing caught a 189.6 pound halibut, putting Port Renfrew atop the Island Outfitters leader board (where it belongs). Apparently the fight was all the more challenging because a sea lion was pulling at it from the other end.
Jolly Rogers had a couple more fun days spring salmon fishing between Owen Point and Camper Creek, catching limits of Chinook salmon up to 28 pounds.
Trevor from No Bananas Fishing reports Port Renfrew’s fishing and crabbing as “spectacular to say the least. Both days we limited on halibut very quickly by anchoring up off Carmanah. Then on to salmon off Owen Point and I can’t remember better fishing for this time of year…salmon up to 25lbs and the crabbing was unreal. All and all it’s about as good as it gets anytime of year… put into the mix there is almost no boats right now and you have magic”.
With the nicer weather, fishing efforts are increasing around Port Renfrew, with more boats arriving for the season.
Jolly Rogers reports a fun day with Tyler from Australia, catching his first salmon, halibut, and Dungeness crab. Below is his report:
Halibut catches are steady, in the 30-50 pound range, with some bigger. Early season halibut fishing tends to be at anchor closer to shore to the west of Port Renfrew…fewer bites than Swiftsure Bank, but bigger fish on average. There’s a few monsters waiting out there in the secret spots….JR has a few tricks up his sleeve.Port Renfrew’s early season spring salmon fishing has been excellent, with limit catches of medium sized chinook salmon right out front of the San Juan Harbour, between the whistle buoy and East Point. Salmon action in the 10-20 pound range is fast and furious towards Camper Creek too — find the bait, and the salmon will be there too. If the early season fishing is any indication of what’s to come, everyone is very hopeful for an excellent salmon fishing season ahead.The crabbing in San Juan Harbour is outrageous…limit catches in every trap, 7-8 inch hard shell Dungeness crabs. SO sweet.
Expectations are running high for a great Chinook return and if the last few weeks are any indication we would have to agree. Lots of limit catches coming from the can buoy from 40-85 feet deep on any needle fish pattern.
Halibut fishing is very good with quite a few in the 80 pound range and a couple even larger. The weather is still a problem this early in the year so leave prepared and informed of sea conditions.
Crabbing is the best we’ve seen!! Limit loaded traps are the norm right now. Fresh and sweet, the first of the year can’t be beat!
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Here’s a picture of some super tasty Port Renfrew Dungeness Crab Cakes…recipe coming soon.
Sounds like it is time to get out to Vancouver Island’s west coast and get going on some Port Renfrew fishing adventures of your own!
Mike Johns from Heavy Hauler made it out for the first time on April 15, taking the boat for a run west of Port Renfrew to dust off the cobwebs. He reports the weather was fine and he landed a 64 lb halibut, a couple of nice ling cod, and the crabbing was excellent. Not bad for a first trip of the year….hopefully plenty more goodness to look forward to.
Bud from Port Renfrew Marina and John from Jolly Rogers fishing also got out for a few hours, and reported a couple of halibut in the 30s somewhere near Carmanah.
The weather is clearing up off Vancouver Island’s west coast, the fish are out there, time for some fishing!
Still no significant fishing to report off Port Renfrew. The halibut are out there, but the weather has been too iffy. Plus the halibut fishing has been pretty good right off the Victoria waterfront!
The season is coming up pretty soon though. To get the juices flowing, here’s a picture from Trevor of No Bananas Fishing taken last season. That beauty chinook salmon is 44 pounds, caught in early August off Logan Creek, by Mark Wiggins. Picture yourself holding that reel, zzzzzzzzzinging in your palm….good times are a’comin’….
Bud and Rex at the Port Renfrew Marina have reported the crabbing is excellent in Renfrew right now, with limit catches of nice big Dungeness crabs. (photo courtesy Hindsight Fishing Charters)
There are no Port Renfrew salmon or halibut reports to pass along yet, although they will start filtering in shortly. Spring has arrived, even if the temperature doesn’t yet feel like it — as the days get warmer and the weather more stable, there will be more and more fishing going on in Port Renfrew. Lots of South Vancouver Island anglers are focusing their efforts around Sooke and Victoria lately, as the halibut fishing has been excellent.
We still have not heard any reports from Port Renfrew yet…the halibut fishing has been pretty good around Victoria, so the South Island fishing effort is still focused around the city. As the weather warms up and the ocean weather stabilizes, we’ll start hearing more about people chasing fish around Port Renfrew.
In the meantime, here’s a couple of things from last year. First is a video posted by John at Hindsight Fishing Charters. A no-net catch and release of a pretty nice looking Chinook salmon… there’s more salmon where that came from, better to wait for a bigger one and let that one grow up a bit… [sorry for the bad language]
And here’s a fishing tale from “the Newfs”, to get you thinking about summer (not Port Renfrew, but what the heck, it’s Vancouver Island, so close enough…
“The story goes the three of us were camping this summer right on the water. After spending almost a week at the site, we got to know our fellow campers quite well, and they would always watch us launch around 7pm for two hours of power fishing on the “hump”, and anxiously await our return to see if the fishing was good. One evening Chels and I went out by ourselves. I let Chels pick out the tackle. She chose an old apex, that wasn’t even rigged, from the bottom of the tackle box. I put a little treble hook on it, and away we went. Within 20 minutes, and to our amazement, we had a fish at about 220 feet on our line. Chels at seven years of age, did a magnificent job steering the boat, and securing the net while I reeled it in. Needless to say, we were thrilled, and Chelsea was especially proud, to show off her 20 pounder to the campfire gang to a standing ovation. The end. P.S. Chels beat mommy’s 8 pounder from two nights before.“
Way to go Chelsea! Something for us all to think about, as winter winds down, and we all begin to think about summer fish to come.
It’s official…opening day for halibut fishing is March 1st, and that means it’s “Game On” for Port Renfrew’s fishing once again. This time of year can yield the big slabs from the wild west coast of Vancouver Island…fewer fish caught, and usually at anchor, but they are bigger than average and sometimes monsters from the deep!
We look forward to the first reports of halibut catches, hopefully starting this Sunday. We can almost taste those fish and chips now…time to stock up on tartar sauce.
Good luck out there.
[and a word to the wise...it is still winter and that means potential for heavy weather...these winter days can be calm as they come, and things can change for the worse quickly, so make sure you keep an eye on the reports...have fun, but play safe!]
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Effective March 1, 2009, recreational fishing for halibut will be opened coastwide. The daily limit at the start of the season is one (1) per day with a possession limit of two (2).
FN0101-Halibut: Further to FN0037 & Amendment to FN0100 – Coastwide Opening and Limits
The department will implement a coastwide opening of the recreational halibut fishery:
Coastwide: --------- Effective 00:01 hours March 1, 2009 fishing for halibut will be opened coastwide. The daily limit at the start of the season is one (1) per day with a possession limit of two (2).
The exception to this opening is:
Areas 121, 23 and 123: --------------------- Effective 00:01 hours March 1, 2009 to 23:59 hours December 31, 2009:
- No person shall fish for or retain halibut, rockfish and lingcod in Area 121 outside the 12 nautical mile limit seaward of a line that begins at 48 degrees 34.000 minutes North latitude and 125 degrees 17.386 minutes West longitude and continues south easterly at a bearing of 116 degrees True to a point at 48 degrees 28.327 minutes North latitude and 125 degrees 01.687 minutes West longitude.
- Electronic licence conditions will be continued as follows: "no person who is not a Canadian resident may fish for or retain halibut under this licence in management Areas 121, 23 and 123."
In an effort to open the recreational fishery while some key issues with respect to the 2009 management plan remain unresolved, the initial halibut retention limit will be one per day, two in total possession. The department expects to complete its consultations with the recreational sector on the halibut management plan for 2009 before the end of February, including examining the feasibility of increasing the daily limits. The plan will include measures for monitoring and evaluating the catch in-season. Any changes in the management plan following these consultations will be announced in a subsequent Fishery Notice.
The fishing season is not quite here for Port Renfrew, but we’re getting close. Halibut season should be open soon (announcement expected by the end of February). In March, we will begin see the first of the “Columbian” salmon — early Fraser River springs that provide early season adrenaline. These scrappy fish are commonly 20-30 pounds and are fatter rather than longer — aka “footballs”. And from that point…it’s game on! Good times are on the way.
In the meantime, we have to find our fun where we can. If you have access to a Nintendo Wii, go rent the “Rapala Tournament Fishing” game. The kids complain that it’s boring, because you can’t steal cars, beat people up, or see blood splatter from machine gun fire. But if you’re into fishing, it is pretty fun!
You choose a boat type, angler, location, and gear, and motor to the spot you like. There’s a few locations for salmon, coho (silvers) in Alaska’s Kenai River or chinook (Kings) in the Sacremento River in California. The casting with the Wii nunchuk feels pretty realistic. You can view the lure underwater or you can view the water surface from the boat. Your fishing buddy sits at the steering wheel giving “helpful” advice as you fish…just like real life.
When a fish hits, you have to set the hook quickly or it will get away. Then you reel it in. If you reel too fast or have the drag too tight, you’ll break the line; if you don’t reel fast enough or have the drag too loose, it will shake the hook. When the fish takes line, the nunchuk vibrates in your hand…gives a little hint of those summer screaming reels!
Of all the locations, I recommend chasing the Tigerfish in Lake Victoria, Africa, as the most fun….the 100 pound plus fish required the strongest line on offer, or they would snap it every time. The fish go on long runs, with the line ripping off the reel, you felt like you were really there (we ran the batteries dry!).
Here’s a youtube video of someone catching an 11 pound King (Chinook) salmon.
The game’s not perfect, there’s some annoying things from a serious angler’s point-of-view, but it’s got enough fun parts that I’d highly recommend it.
See you out on the water soon, in the meantime, see you at the video game rental store.
No Port Renfrew fishing to report today….cold, windy, and surf’s up!
But for some winter entertainment, here’s a video of fishing among the orcas in Alaska…and some fishermen sharing a meal: >
Caution: some bad language in this video…although likely nothing worse than you’ll hear on any boat when your fish of the day is in reach then taken away.
Last week saw some excellent salmon fishing in Port Renfrew, with fast and furious Chinook salmon action. The fun continued into the weekend, where it slowed down a bit…steady, but not as crazy good as it was. Perhaps the run has passed by…but who knows when the next one will arrive? The only way to be sure is to get out there and try!
And just to get you thinking of the fun to come, here’s a picture of a 52 pound Tyee salmon caught in Port Renfrew in ’07 by guests of Seawind Fishing. How about that! The lucky angler is Hessel, from Holland.
