2014 Port Renfrew & Swiftsure Reports

[seadna]

I was out on the U.S. side of Swiftsure on Friday and Sat. Friday we could only fish for salmon but Sat. was one of our 4-5 halibut days. Friday we trolled for about 8 hours. 3 rods total. About 2/3 of the time we trolled tomic plugs at depths ranging from 250' on the cable to 120'. Most of the bait/fish I saw on the finder was around 150-220 but I didn't see near as many fish as I do later in the year. We only picked up 4 shaker chinook the entire day (all of which we gently returned). Sat. the current was pretty high most of the day so we trolled for salmon for a bit of the day and worked hali the rest. Sat. I came up empty but we got out late and quite pretty early. The fish counters at Neah Bay only saw a few salmon for probably around 200-300 boats (however, most guys didn't fish for salmon and instead focussed on bottom fish). I spent enough time on salmon at Swiftsure to get a strong sense that the fish really aren't there yet.

I spent part of Thurs at U.S. Blue Dot. We picked up two small hali out there. The surface water temp was a little over 60F and the water was very clear. I haven't seen water temps that high this early in the season ever so perhaps we'll see those albies a bit early this year.

 

[sammyslabber]

early Tuna would be nice...just say no to inshore -[FONT=arial, sans-serif] [/FONT]mackerel...

 

[Tips Up]

Crabbing was great all weekend in the bay.
Caught some chicken hali just out front.
Did not fish salmon or put much fishing effort in.

Tips

 

[trevor_shiggs]

Was out Saturday Sunday Monday. Fished for salmon in front of campers beach caught 2 small springs. Lost 2 that seemed to be bigger. Went out to the Dink and rabbit ears and caught 3 hali's. One about 12 lbs one about 20 and one 50 lbs. Had the crab traps out the third day got bout 7 keepers. Weather was great. Very minimal salmon out there right now.

 

[ReelSlim]

Just got back from a week on the coast and 4 days at the cabin. I only really fished seriously each morning and caught Springs each day. Most were in the 10 to 12 lbs range but did manage one just over twenty on Sunday morning just past the Rock Pile. I spent a little time trolling the bottom along the 150 foot line and caught some really small hali's but nothing worth keeping. Crabbing was good and overall size was excellent and they all seemed to be nice firm crab. Mostly a shake down trip to get the season rolling and get things tuned up. Great weather considering they called for rain all weekend. Sunny afternoons and flat water made for an excellent trip.......can't wait to get back!

 

[dmurph]

Nice, any work going on at pacific gate way ? Stayed there last summer for my first trip to renfrew and island with my own boat. Thinking to do another trip back this summer.

 

[ReelSlim]

Nice, any work going on at pacific gate way ? Stayed there last summer for my first trip to renfrew and island with my own boat. Thinking to do another trip back this summer.

Yep......The docks were in before the weekend. The gas pump was installed but was not operational when I left on Tuesday so I'm sure it's close if it's not already done.

 

[donnie d]

Anyone here got any advice for my timing of a possible Renfrew trip? When is the latest the Chinooks tend to stick around on the beach (logan, camper, east point, etc)? Is mid September too late for that fishery? I know the cohos are pretty abundant at that time, but non-retention outside the bay until Oct. 1, so was wondering if there are still any Chinooks around at that time. I would think that late in the summer season chovies would be the best bet to entice a bite. I love it out there, but won't get the chance to get out there until then.

Any advice is much appreciated!

thx

 

[kingspring]

Still Springs around mid September, not as many but they are there,chovies,spoons,hootchies, all will work.

 

[donnie d]

Still Springs around mid September, not as many but they are there,chovies,spoons,hootchies, all will work.

Great - thanks for the note, much appreciated. Now I just have to work on making it happen...

 

[C-Ward]

Are many salmon showing up at the bank yet? Going to head out there wednesday for hali and will probably try some trolling before the slack.

 

[islander55]

Anybody know if the fishing is good at port Renfrew for salmon and halibut??

 

[seadna]

I've seen some pictures of 4 springs that came off Swiftsure this past weekend. Two around 29 and two around 25. Very nice quality fish for Swiftsure. They were caught off of cut plugs down deep. I'll be out at Neah Bay this weekend and will hit Swiftsure one of the two days, I'll let you know. I'll also scout around to see if any commies are fishing for sockeye in the middle of the strait.

 

[Falcon]

Got this beauty up in Masset this past weekend, heading up to Renfrew this weekend, anybody know anything?

 

[seadna]

I was out at Neah Bay this past weekend. Sat. was pretty rough offshore and hardly anyone fished anyplace but along shore. We picked up 3 springs but they were small. Two around 7lb and one around 13. According to the fish counters, we were the "hot boat" with 3 on board. Most came back with one and a few had 2.

Sunday, the swells were down a little and the wind was light in the very early AM. I ran out to Swiftsure and fished from around 6-10AM. It took me a little over an hour to get there going into the swells. It was a little nasty out there but fishable. I didn't see anyone else around me fishing so most stayed inside where it was calmer. We had a real hot bite for about 10-15 mins in which we picked up 5 smaller springs and then it died off as the current started to build. We finally got one around 9:15AM that was about 10lb. I caught it on a 5" Tomic plug at 220' on the cable, not too far from J buoy (on the American side). The winds were picking up pretty nicely as we left but we had to go to get back to Seattle at a reasonable time so 10AM was my limit. I'm not sure we would have fished it much more than another hour or two as it was getting pretty rough. Another guy in the marina fished the beaches over by Renfrew. He said it was very crowded along the beaches as all the guides and all the recreational guys were there. He and his wife got 2 or 3. Nothing huge. I think in the 10-15lb range. I did see a few bigger ones come in from those fishing the American side of the strait but it wasn't red hot by any means. But there's fish to be caught out there and it will only get better with time. Hopefully, next weekend the winds will lay down a little.

 

[Falcon]

Just got back from a three day trip to PR, fishing was slow from Owen Point to Camper and beyond, apparently the Bank was hot this weekend but I didn't venture out there.

 

[seadna]

Swiftsure was anything but hot. I was out there Sat. with my buddy and we picked up two halibut and 3 pacific true cod. We then trolled for hours with very few hits. Most others out there sorted through a bunch of shakers and came home without much to show for it. We did the same on Sun, only after completing our hali limit, we ran about 16 miles further west to look for chinook. We got one in a few hours of trolling and called it a day. So for us at least, it was VERY slow. Also, the water is tea colored everywhere due to a huge algae bloom. Visibility in the water is less than a few feet. That made for slower than normal coho fishing on the surface as I don't think they can see the bait from very far away. I'm not sure how mixed the water is from top to bottom but if the visibility down deep is similar to that on the surface, that could be responsible for a slow bite.

 

[Seafever]

hmmm.. tea-colored....so switch to pink-chartreuse?

or how about a OG152R yamashita hoochy.....


Red flashers?


How about a "Clown " hoochy behind a red monkey-puke flasher.......

 

[C-Ward]

Fished swiftsure on Sunday and did pretty well, got two hali on the early slack then trolled around for a couple hours and boated at least 10 springs, kept our limit of the six biggest, which were only 8-10lbs, but still good fun.

 

[meatfish]

Fished the beach today. East pt, Owen pt, rock pile and camper. Caught one 12lb spring at rocklike and lost another decent fish to a seal off camper. Slow slow slow out there. 5am to 230pm