There continues to be fun fishing out of Port Renfrew. Salmon was the focus last week, with a great run of Chinook salmon passing through. The spring salmon were mostly 10-20 pounds, but we did get one 28 pounder. Some good reel screaming action for early season. Here’s JR with sons Finn and Sonny.
Dale from Darwin Australia was aboard for his first west coast Vancouver Island fishing trip, and came home with a few nice ones, as well as some tasty Dungeness Crabs. He’ll be back to chase some halibut later in summer, when Swiftsure Bank gets going again.
Speaking of which….it shouldn’t be long now for some offshore adventures, June is just around the corner.
The weather is clearing, the air is warmed, and the sun is out…once again Jolly Rogers is open for business, and business is good…
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.
Here’s a picture of Tyler from Australia with his first halibut and first salmon, and first Dungeness crabs too. Stoked!
All in all, a good early season….get out to Port Renfrew, and catch some of the fun!
Hello to Friends of Jolly Rogers around the world.
As the 2008 year winds to a close, I look back on all the fun times had out there on the ocean last season, and I can’t help but smile.Sometimes I think I have the best job in the world, taking people everyday on Port Renfrew fishing adventures.Vancouver Island’s west coast is a mysterious and exciting place, you can never know what to expect on any given day.But there’s not a day that went by that didn’t offer adventures of one sort or another.Thank you to all my guests over the past year for the good times, I hope you had as much fun as I did!
Recapping some 2008 Port Renfrew fishing highlights:
Early season started out slowly in and surely in April, with some nice halibut being caught close to shore, west of Port Renfrew.However,May become truly remarkable with a number of halibut caught well above 100 pounds.Picture everyone looking over the gunwale, wondering what’s coming up, and then catching the first glimpse of a monster from the deep…the adrenaline starts to flow!You can’t expect to catch something that big every day, but it is good to know they are out there somewhere, waiting just the right lure on just the right tide at just the right spot….I can hardly wait until Spring!
The first salmon started showing up in early June, with feeder Springs on Swiftsure Bank.While these fish are not as large as the late summer Chinooks, they are plentiful and put up a good scrap.The halibut fishing started into its summer pattern, daily trips out to the Bank, with smaller halibut caught but lots more of them.
July and August were awesome for both halibut and salmon.Pretty much everyday we would head out to Swiftsure, fish for halibut until we had our limit, then chase Springs and Coho in the deep water, then head closer to shore for the trophy size Chinook.East Point, Camper Creek, and Logan Creek delivered the big salmon, and there’s nothing in fishing to compare to reeling in a 30 pound plus salmon in only 20 feet of water, and watching its wake as it takes 100 metre long surface runs.
September and October slowed down for large Spring salmon, although they were still out there if you put in the hours.The halibut continued on the Bank this year for as long as the weather remained good enough to go out and chase them.The smaller feeder Springs were also out there.The Coho did not arrive in large numbers this year, but what they lacked in quantity, they made up for in quality….Coho up to 20 pounds makes for some exciting fishing.
Check out this video of a Spring salmon double header off Logan Creek in August.That gets the fishing blood pumping!Thanks toGary, Chris, and Doug for sending the video and for playing those fish like pros.
What is coming for 2009 remains a mystery.Early prognosis for west coast Vancouver Island for 2009 is good, with improved returns of both Chinook and Coho salmon.Halibut remains strong, with a well-managed fishery.Regardless of what the forecasts may be, one thing we can promise no matter what happens is an exciting day on the wild west coast!
Call or email now to make your 2009 bookings – make sure to book early if you have a specific day in mind, especially in July and August or on weekends leading up to summer.
Happy holidays and best wishes from Jolly Rogers to both past guests and to future friends not yet met.
Summer is winding to a close, but you wouldn’t know it around Port Renfrew the last few days. The weather has been beautiful, with sunny, calm days, and the fishing has been really good.
The early rain in August seems to have pushed the Chinook salmon upstream earlier than normal, as we are not seeing many remaining on “the beach”. However, the 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.
A couple of photos from happy Jolly Rogers clients in early September…Marshall Hawley and family from Vancouver, and Derek Young and crew, both groups from Vancouver.
Jolly Rogers is now into its late season reduced rates. A good time to get out there, especially if the coho start arriving in numbers….because there is nothing in fishing that can beat the fun of battling a 15-20 pound coho!
It has been a while since the last post, because Jolly Rogers has been busy fishing! It has been a good summer so far in Port Renfrew, with mostly good weather and always fun days on the water. The last few weeks have been the best of the year so far.
Out on Swiftsure Bank, we are getting limits of “chicken-sized” halibut quite quickly most days. This leaves more time for chasing the medium-sized Spring salmon deep as well as surface fishing for coho. Guests have been having a lot of fun with the coho, because once we’re into a school, it is non-stop action. We have brought out the light tackle, fishing without flashers, so you can really feel the fight of these acrobatic fish. Some of the coho right now are pretty decent sized too, up to 12 pounds. They are about half wild (can’t keep them) and half hatchery (can keep 2). We hope this is a good sign for a good Fall fishery this year, with trophy coho close to shore.
Nearer to Port Renfrew, East Point and “the Beach” have been delivering up some big Spring salmon, 20-30 pounds. The bite location and time changes daily, but high tides afternoons have seemed to be the best call. We have consistently been catching a few good ones each day. As they say, “it’s fishing, not catching”, you never know what you’re going to get…but in Port Renfrew in August, you have a better chance than not of getting a beauty.
Give us a call ( 1-866-623-5646) or send an email and let’s get you out there for a fishing day you’ll never forget!
GREAT fishing to report, Port Renfrew right now is offering up the best fishing on Southern Vancouver Island…or maybe anywhere for that matter. Salmon fishing has been excellent — the early morning bite at East Point has brought many Spring salmon aboard. Halibut have been plentiful out at Swiftsure Bank, with limits of smaller chicken-size halibut quickly caught.
We’ve had a cross-Canada fishing experience in the last little while.
Wilf and his crew were a long way from their farm in Manitoba. This Tyee chinook salmon won Wilf a $5 bet, to go with his 39 pounds of the best fish money can’t buy!
Steve and his dad from Nova Scotia braved some rough seas to bring in their halibut and salmon.
Jeff Woodlife and Sean, Dean, and Spencer will return home to Alberta with tales of great Vancouver Island fishing. They are pictured below with a “typical” July Port Renfrew catch… a large fishing cooler full of halibut and a few nice salmon thrown in.
Port Renfrew’s fishing has improved this week, with excellent catches of good-sized halibut and, finally, lots of salmon!
The Connellys enjoyed their 3-day Vancouver Island fishing trip, returning to Alberta with their coolers full and, more importantly, with enough fishing tales to last them until next year…but, for a nice change, all these fishing tales are true!
Their fishing highlight was hooking into one that seemed a bit stronger than usual.It spooled out a hundred yards of line and then shook the hook.Luckily for us, the same fish came back a couple of minutes later and took the bait on another rod, but this time that fish wasn’t so lucky.Dave fought it for 15 minutes until his arms were Jell-o.He passed the rod to his sons and then his father, and the family took turns over the next half hour inching this “barn door” towards the surface.When we finally got it near the boat, we were shocked…definitely bigger than average, way bigger!We harpooned it and it took off for the bottom, pulling the float under for a solid five minutes.It resurfaced 50 feet away, exhausted and ready to come in.Sean and Mike struggled to pull it over the gunwale, nearly tipping the boat with the combined weight of the fish and all of us (that’s a 25’ boat with a 9’ beam!).
When all was said and done, it turned out to be a once-in-a-lifetime 186 lb halibut.Congrats boys!
A second highlight was getting into a good patch of salmon, and reeling in a 15 lb spring on a 6 weight fly rod, with 10 pound test.It is amazing how strong a salmon is when you are using light gear — it took more than half an hour to get this one to the boat.That’s fun fishing!
In total, we caught 10 spring salmon that day, approximately 15-25 pounds, so the good news is the salmon appear to have arrived on Swiftsure Bank.
Jolly Rogers had a bountiful day on the waters west of Port Renfrew on Thursday. Four halibut caught, two 20 lb, one 30 lb, and one whopper of a fish at 130 pounds. Jake H reeled in the biggie, check out the video of us bringing it aboard.
Another excellent Vancouver Island fishing adventure!
June 11, 2008 Vancouver Island / Port Renfrew Fishing Report The halibut fishing has been great lately! Jolly Rogers recently brought out Kirk Mellor, Geoff Ahlstrom, Kevin Gilbert, and Dean Normore, and showed them a good time, Port Renfrew-style.
We braved a rough day weather-wise to bring in some nice fish, catching a 112 pounder, 80 pounder, and six halibut around 30 pounds each. Geoff says about the day “Thanks again John for another fun day. And it goes without saying that I won the fishing derby this year with a huge profit of 15$ if Kevin ever pays up.”
Get yourself up to Port Renfrew soon and join in the fishing fun!
The Port Renfrew fishing season has started once again. Early trips are finding plentiful halibut near shore, no need to motor all the way out to Swiftsure Bank. Plus, as is normal for late Spring, the halibut are often bigger than the “chickens” of summer, with 50 pound plus fish fairly common.
The salmon are starting to show up too, with medium size spring salmon (10-15 pound) being caught off East Point and “the beach”. The fishing is going to keep heating up, as we approach summer. Good times!
The crabbing is great right now too, with our traps quickly full of big Dungeness.
Starting June 1, the fishing regulations will allow 2 halibut to kept per day, per angler, with a possession limit of 2. The regulations for salmon remain the same as last year, 4 salmon total, of which 2 can be spring (chinook) and 2 can be hatchery coho.
Get yourself to Port Renfrew for some great early season fishing.
