We’re halfway into September, and the switch has started from summer to fall fishing. There are fewer Spring salmon around the nearshore spots (Camper Creek, Logan Creek, East Point), with some speculating that the unseasonably rainy August brought them upriver to spawn earlier than normal.

JR from Jolly Rogers Fishing says “salmon fishing on Swiftsure Bank has been steady, with lots of medium-sized feeder springs and coho to keep the anglers happy. The coho are starting to show closer to shore as well, and we’re hoping for good coho fishing well into October. Halibut continues to be steady on the Bank as well, with the fish smaller but fairly plentiful.”

Kelly from Last Chance Fishing reports “Good coho fishing today out in 300-600 feet of water, 50-90 feet down. Anchovy and Coyotes worked for me, some nice hooked noses up to 12 pounds, pretty steady action. There are some halibut still if you can get out there, but the seas have been big and rough.“

Mark aka “Nitnat Junkie” provides the following report of his weekend around Port Renfrew: “Spent the weekend out there, fished around East Point Saturday, got 2 small coho, fished the same spots Sunday and got nothing, went out today off Logan in about 400-600 ft of water 40 to 60 ft down, got our limit of springs between 15-20 lbs and 2 small coho under 15, fishing with anchovy and a lime green hoochie seemed to work“. Good job out there Mark…Just goes to show you…if you don’t succeed doing the usual, try something different. You never know what might happen.

Fishing Derby news from Port Renfrew Marina: Port Renfrew Marina’s Coho “Winner Take all” Derby will be held this Sept.27th & 28th. The cost is $20.00 a rod and the rules are dawn to 6:00 p.m. on Sat. the 27th and dawn to 1:00 on Sun the 28th. All fish are expected to be caught within the legal fishing areas. The fisheries rules for Coho are: Two wild Coho can be kept if caught inside the whistle buoy. Hatchery Coho can be retained in or outside the bay. Up to four Coho in total may be kept. For more information, see these links:

• Regs for area 20
• Detailed map

The weather has been great in Port Renfrew, hopefully it continues….rainy season is coming soon, so you better enjoy the sun and calm seas while they last!

A pretty incredible story out of Port Renfrew last night. Not exactly a fishing story, but definitely a story related to fishing in Port Renfrew.

A Saltspring fisherman was on his boat at Port Renfrew Marina, putting a fish in his cooler, on the outside finger wharf, closest to other side of the river. The black bear saw him from across the river, swam across, and was on the dock and into his boat in a flash. The fisherman tried to give the fish to the bear, but the bear went for him instead.

Bruce Miller (Miller Time Charters) was on his boat next door, heard the commotion, with the fisherman’s buddy yelling on the dock, and couldn’t believe what he saw. He grabbed his gaff, ran over, and started stabbing the bear with it. He figures he stabbed the bear 10 times, and it didn’t let go.

Another guy on the dock was hitting it with a hammer, with no effect. Finally a third fisherman grabbed his filet knife and slit the bear’s throat — and the bear didn’t let go until it was dead.
[Updated Sept 11: Bud Watt, co-owner of Port Renfrew Marina, was one of the first guys on scene. Eventually half a dozen men were trying to pry the bear off, but it wouldn't let go. Ed Stirling eventually killed it, with a 30 cm Swedish fileting knife.]

The fisherman was bleeding but conscious after — while being tended to by the paramedic, he asked for a cigarette to calm his nerves and asked someone to take a photo of the bear on his boat. He got medi-vaced to Victoria for surgery, and the word is he will be fine. Our best wishes go out to him for a speedy recovery.

Bears have been a nuisance at the Marina and elsewhere in Port Renfrew this year, getting into garbage. Conservation Officers are looking into what provoked this bear to attack — black bears are normally wary of humans, and attacks of this nature are extremely rare.

Bruce Miller and the other two guys who jumped into that boat are heroes, risking their lives to save someone else’s.

This highlights the “wild west” feel of Port Renfrew’s fishing community. These fishermen and women can be extremely competitive when it comes to finding the good fishing spots and bringing home the biggest and best fish…but when push comes to shove, whether it’s a marine emergency or something else, they all look out for each other, and have each other’s backs! Bud Watt, from the Globe and Mail article: “Everyone was thinking, ‘We got to stop this thing or this guy’s going to die.’ No way anyone could sit around and watch.”

• CBC report with videos.
• CTV report with more extensive videos.
• Globe and Mail article
  

That’s fishing on the wild west coast of Vancouver Island!

James Boshier from Vancouver sent in this Swiftsure Bank report from last weekend, along with pictures: “Pretty bumpy out there at the start, 5-6ft swell with low interval, some steep waves. Glassier as day progressed, bumpy again late afternoon when west wind picked up. We caught five smaller chicken halibut, had to work a bit for them. We caught a nice ling cod, plus some snapper. Trolled deep and caught a couple of feeder springs. We fished Logan Creek and Camper Creek briefly on the way in, but no bites. Two dungeness keepers in the trap. All in all a really fun day!“

Mike from Heavy Hauler Fishing reports this week: “The halibut out at the banks is slowing down as the fish seem to be moving on. So I decided to throw down the anchor closer to shore and caught a bunch of halibut, 92, 65, 50, 35 and 25 lbs, lots of fun. Salmon fishing has been spotty but hopefully the Harrison run will show up soon.”

Port Renfrew Marina‘s annual Chinook derby was a success last weekend, with 272 tickets sold and $4500 raised for local salmon enhancement. Ron Jakimchuk won with a 35.2 pounder. The Marina reports a 17 lb coho was caught … hopefully the start of a good late Port Renfrew coho season! The Marina’s coho derby is Sept 27-28 this year, $20 entry fee, winner take all.

Good luck out there!

Glenn from Back for More Charters sent in this photo of a great day’s fishing out of Port Renfrew. That kind of fun is hard to beat.

Word out of Port Renfrew is that a 56 pound spring salmon was caught earlier this week, and there are coho approaching 20 pounds. Very impressive, in the “fish of a lifetime” category.

There is still lots of halibut on Swiftsure Bank, and coho too. It is a great time to be fishing Port Renfrew.

No Bananas Charters posted this tip on fishing Camper Creek to the sportfishingbc forum: “the fish are all over but best bet is to start in 50ft of water fishing 25-45ft. 41ft seems to be my magic depth. If that doesn’t work move out to 100ft of water and fish from 40-70ft, there seems to be more fish out there. I’ve been getting bigger fish in close, but sometimes you have to wait.” Good advice…

Dan Burkmar sent in the following report and photos:
“We got these fish on August 26: 15 pounder,
21 pounder, 25 pounder, 25 pounder.
We got these fish up by Logan Creek on anchovy.
I would like to say thank you to the Hindsight charter boat as he helped us out on our 3rd fish. The fish took off and wrapped around his fishing line and downrigger he kicked the boat in reverse and got us untangled off his downrigger but we were still tangled around his line. So he let his rod free spool and let us get the fish in the boat. It ended up being 25 pounds….Thank you sooo much”

Nice for a change to hear a story of friendly and polite fishing, in our busy and competitive world.

Good luck out there.

Port Renfrew Marina sent a photo of 46 pound Spring Salmon caught by No Bananas Charters….nice one!

Upcoming derbies in Port Renfrew:

Port Renfrew Marina will be having its 11th Labor Day Derby this year on Aug.30th and 31st. Tickets will be available in the office a few days before the derby. Tickets are $50. a rod and includes dinner, beverage, Port Renfrew Marina t-shirt. There will be a live band on the 31st. All proceeds will go the to the local fish Hatchery in Port Renfrew. They are looking for donations for prizes — give them a call 250-483-1878, Toll-free: 1-866-565-2354 or email info@portrenfrewmarina.com.

Port Renfrew’s Coho Derby is tentatively set for Sept.27th and 28th. Date to be confirmed in the near future.

Good luck out there!

Port Renfrew fishing is reported as pretty good in the past week. Some days hotter than others, but with decent fish caught most days. Port Renfrew continues to be the best fishing spot in Southern Vancouver Island.

Out at Swiftsure Bank, Jolly Rogers reports it continues to be as hot as ever for halibut, with most boats getting their limit of 10-25 pound halibut quickly. The good news is there is lots of decent-sized coho out there, and you can’t beat that for sporting fun.

Closer to Port Renfrew, the inshore spots continue to tease and deliver, with the bite time and location varying from day to day. No Bananas reports a couple of good days in the last week (from the sportfishingbc forum): “fishing was good again today with the hot spots being east point or logan. There was an all day bite with some big fish. Biggest being 45 caught by the banana boat 41 ft off logan creek. [a few days later] Renny remains very good,the morning bite is decent until the huge ebb current kicks in then it is hot and heavy when the afternoon flood starts up. Most boats are limiting on that tide. There are still some big ones around, the banana boat got a 46 on Sat”. Two salmon over 40 pounds in a week…those are some happy guests, going home with some big fish and bigger fishing stories.

For gear, Port Renfrew Marina reports “Anchovies are still the first choice with some fisherman preferring the clear, glow green or red/gold teaser heads.”

Get out there, we’re in prime time, and that dream fish is waiting for you…

A report of a Port Renfrew fishing trip, August 10th

** First Swiftsure Bank fishing mission in the new-to-me boat (18’ Campion)

** arrive 9 pm at Port Renfrew Marina. Along the way see a 27’ Whaler flipped on its side on the steep switchback west of Sombrio. Trailer was pushing the truck downhill, 4 wheel slide on wet pavement. Then it slid sideways, rolled once or twice. Driver felt lucky it turned sideways, rather than landing on his truck and maybe killing him. Woah, reality check…this is serious business.

** motor out in the gloom at 5:15. Straight to Logan Creek, get a 22lb Spring.

** Head out to the “chicken ranch”, south-west corner of Swiftsure Bank. Fairly bumpy from windchop in night and a residual windswell, can only do 15kts. Peasoup fog, 100 foot visibility, freighter foghorns…quite eerie. Once out there, 20 or so boats around.

** Backtroll for halibut as well as jig buzzbombs for coho. No hali bites, and aren’t seeing anyone nearby get any. Catch some decent sized coho though, half wild, half hatchery. Really fun playing them shallow, jumping all over the place.

** Pull up the gear and think about going elsewhere, decide to first troll for coho and see what the rest of the pack is doing. Get to another spot 100m away, everyone around is playing halis. We drop the gear too, bing bing bing, 3 or 4 in 20 minutes, limit an hour or so later. By this time, fog has cleared, swell subsided, it is glassy calm and hot. Best weather I can imagine for west coast Vancouver Island. We are getting into a “it doesn’t get any better” day.

** Deep troll along the Swiftsure boundary, get a bunch more small feeder springs, medium coho, and what I believe to be a couple of pinks (or extra slimy springs?)

** Amazing whale show a few hundred metres west, with humpbacks breaching over and over, every 20 seconds or so for 10 minutes, then disappeared. Also saw grey whales by Carmanah on the way in.

** Drop the gear at Logan on the way home, get into a 28 lb Spring. Great fight.

** Back in the San Juan Bay, crab trap full of 20 or so, but all female or undersized.

** Back to Port Renfrew Marina after 14 hours on the water. Home at 10:30, 2 more hours of butchering and packing. TIRED and very very satisfied. Epic day!

A bunch of great Port Renfrew fishing photos from Dan Burkmar. Dan (14 years old) caught a 21 and 32 pounder. Nicole (12 years old) caught a 32 pounder as well. All caught at Camper Creek, on anchovies. Welcome to the Tyee club! Dan reports: “All of the fish really hard fighters like they always are in Renfrew.” Nice!

Fishing is still reported as hot and cold for springs, although there seems to be decent salmon being caught on “The Beach” (Logan Creek to Camper Creek), with a fair number of 20-35 pounders coming in. There is plenty of chicken-sized halibut, 15-30 pounds, off Swiftsure Bank. As well, the coho are in, with fun surface fishing action.

Some foggy days, so bring your GPS. Although Sunday it burned off, leaving hot sun and the seas as calm flat as you’re ever likely to see on West Coast Vancouver Island. So, you never know what you’re going to get until you get out there.

Mike Johns from Heavy Hauler reports that Port Renfrew’s salmon fishing has been slow in the last few days, with some of the guides going all the way to Pachena looking for springs. He says the coho have shown up in great numbers off of the 170 on Swiftsure Bank, which is good news. He says the halibut fishing has continued to produce, with his last charter landing a nice 89 lb halibut and some quality ling cod.

Jolly Rogers backs up this report, stating there’s Spring salmon to be had every day if you stick with it and work for them (although a little bit of luck doesn’t hurt). He also says the halibut have been plentiful on the Bank as well as coho. The coho are good sized salmon around 8 pounds. His guests have been having fun with a 6 weight fly rod loaded with light monofilament….get an 8 pounder on that light gear, and it will fight harder than a Tyee. Puts the sport back into sportfishing!

So…Port Renfrew continues to be worth a go. There’s some slow moments, but still decent fish being taken — the only way one’ll be yours is if you dip a line. And if you have the means to get out the Bank, now’s the time to make it happen, because when both the halibut and coho fishing are good, it is amazing fishing fun out there.

Mike Johns from Heavy Hauler sent in a brief report: “Salmon has been a bit slower, but the good news is that there is finally some bigger fish showing. The halibut fishing has been awesome with the size out at the banks starting to get bigger“

Sockeye is closed once again, just days after it started. So much for that!

Port Renfrew Marina has some pictures from derby weekend. Due to technical difficulties, they having some trouble posting them, so we are temporarily posting them on their behalf. Nice fish! Congrats to all the winners and thanks to the contest organizers and to the Marina for hosting this event.