2016 Port Renfrew Reports

[ReelSlim]

Like the title says just wondering if anyone has been out recently. I'm flying out next week to get the boat ready for the summer and hoping to spend next weekend at the cabin and wetting the boat for a few days. I talked with a friend that guides out there and his first charter is on the 15th so things I'm sure are getting going in full swing...bottom fishing anyways.

 

[Fins -n- Skins]

Most Guides are waiting for Pacific Gateway Marina to finish the new marina. They are going full guns on this and lots of changes going on up there.

 

[Old Seadog]

What are they doing at Pacific Gateway Marina ???? when will they be done.
When is the best time to start fishing out there, fished with a guide out there but never with my own boat.

 

[advTHXance]

There's also Port Renfrew Marina, which opened for the season at the beginning of May.

The best fishing would be in July and August but some fish should be showing up soon, probably by the end of this month.

 

[Docmedia]

I was just up to Renfrew with a few friends yesterday. We fished out of the new Pacific Gateway Marina which is an awesome place. They just paved yesterday, and it looks great.

We were fishing with Hindsight Charters and had a pretty great day with John Wells' aprentice Quinn, and we got into some good fish. We came home with two Halibut 65# & 30#, and three springs 10, 15, 15. Great day on the water, the boat & captain were awesome. Highly recommend these guys! You might have trouble finding any availability with them, but definitely worth a shot.

 

[advTHXance]

Awesome stuff Doc! Im heading up myself in a couple of hours. Were u fishing at the banks or closer inshore?

 

[Docmedia]

We ran quite a ways west in the morning, just past Nitnat, I think the guide said 20 miles from port.

We were inshore, though not super close probably 3 km off the shoreline while we were fishing Hali. Then we zipped in closer for the springs which were all caught at "Hole in the Wall".

We were using Mackrel and herring for the Halibut, and the springs were all caught using a glow-white hootchie with pink, and a white UV cuttlefish hootchie 55' and 65' fishing in 90' of water.

Have fun!

 

[The Jackel]

We ran quite a ways west in the morning, just past Nitnat, I think the guide said 20 miles from port.

We were inshore, though not super close probably 3 km off the shoreline while we were fishing Hali. Then we zipped in closer for the springs which were all caught at "Hole in the Wall".

We were using Mackrel and herring for the Halibut, and the springs were all caught using a glow-white hootchie with pink, and a white UV cuttlefish hootchie 55' and 65' fishing in 90' of water.

Have fun!

Wellsy and Quinn are a good team. The Renfrew Marina is a shithole, unless you like to smell stinky outhouses and have boats tied up to yours. Gateway is the real deal, it is run professionally and has great docks

 

[advTHXance]

Just got in from Renfrew earlier tonight. Unfortunately I didnt see your post before I left Doc, but we made out alright regardless. We fished Sunday from Camper Creek all the way up to the Bonilla Lighthouse (a few miles offshore from the RCA). Picked up a 24# unclipped by the lighthouse, in about 150 feet of water at 140 on the downrigger. Gibbs g-force spoon. Later that afternoon we popped a nice 27# clipped right out front of Camper, in about 50 feet of water, 40 on the downrigger, on an AP herring spoon! Monday we fished all morning at Camper. My buddy lost 2 decent fish early in the morning, then we hooked into a nice 20# unclipped around 10:30am or so. Had one more absolute screamer, easily the most powerful fish I felt all weekend, that peeled out a ton of line before a seal got ahold of it and nearly spooled me before the leader snapped (clean break half way up a freshly tied 40lb leader). The fish was easily mid-high 20s and possibly larger, but all in all a great weekend with calm seas and decent weather. The only problems we had were with the cod!!!!! There were thousands of them all the way up the wall on Sunday, so much so that we went thru about 20 anchovies and 5 leaders in our first hour or two of fishing before deciding to switch to spoons.

The AP herring spoon had the most action for us when it was all said and done. The bay is also crawling with crabs right now. Unfortunately we didnt really get a chance to fish for hali, we were too busy chasing salmon!

ps: The Jackel, what do Gateways outhouses smell like?

 

[The Jackel]

Gateways outhouse probably smell like honey compared to the shitholes at the marina. All you can smell there is ****, when I stayed there years ago I made bio filters for the outhouses that were by our camp it was so bad, then the owners said hey can you make them for all the rest, nope. Glad you had a good trip

 

[advTHXance]

Outhouses are literally shitholes so Im a bit perplexed as to why the apparent smell bothers u so much! Ive had no issues thus far staying at PRM but then again I dont have the keenest sense of smell. The docks are definitely a bit dangerous in spots though.

I havent been to the new Gateway Marina but by all accounts it sounds lovely!

 

[The Jackel]

Outhouses are literally shitholes so Im a bit perplexed as to why the apparent smell bothers u so much! Ive had no issues thus far staying at PRM but then again I dont have the keenest sense of smell. The docks are definitely a bit dangerous in spots though.

I havent been to the new Gateway Marina but by all accounts it sounds lovely!

Well this thead has gone into the crapper like I said try gateway you won't go back to stinky town

 

[Tips Up]

Well to get this thread back to a fishing report rather than a Marina review...

I was up Thursday to Monday. Mostly camping with the family but had the boat on the dock and got some reports.

Crabbing was unreal. Best I have ever seen up there. Almost all oversized males.

My fishing efforts were weak. Went out Friday morning for halibut but the swells were too big for my son and he was green as fast as I got the gear down so that was short lived. Sunday I trolled from Owen to Camper with no salmon. Just cod. Total fishing time about 1 hour.
Spoke to local friends and people fishing over the weekend. Hali fishing is good. Salmon fishing is just getting going. A couple in the high 20's caught this weekend, couple in the low 20's and a few in the 10-15 range. Seals are an issue at Camper.
Weather was good and seas were calm Saturday to Monday.

Tips

 

[big.griff]

I was under the impression that it was difficult to launch bigger boats at Pacific Gateway. Can anyone tell me if the changes there have solved this issue? Any problems with low tides?

 

[terrin]

Well this thead has gone into the crapper like I said try gateway you won't go back to stinky town

How about the type of gas you put in the tank. Any of that available at gateway?

 

[advTHXance]

Well, tried to fish the beach at Renfrew this weekend, which proved to be a waste of time, unless you like to catch+release cod. Couldnt keep them off the lines!! In about 16 hours of trolling we probably released 10 small lings, a handful of snapper and other assorted cod, as well as at least 100 black bass/cod/whatever. Not even joking, we fished 3 lines all weekend and what seemed like every 30 seconds we were pulling up a cod, or dragging a cod for 20 mins before checking. Couldnt really fish anchovies because Id just be re-tying leaders all day. Such a shame too because the sun was shining, hardly any wind, and the tides werent too bad as long as youre an early riser. We tried trolling faster, fishing deeper, fishing further northwest, they were everywhere and the water was thick with them - from Owen Point to Carmanah. I finally know what the early explorers felt like when they arrived to Newfoundland and were pulling up cod by the basket.

Halibut fishing seemed to be good though, as did the crabbing, and of course the weather was great!

If youre heading up to Renfrew, you might want to plan to head out to Swiftsure. Inshore fishing is a real grind right now. Unless of course you like black bass.

 

[ReelSlim]

I was under the impression that it was difficult to launch bigger boats at Pacific Gateway. Can anyone tell me if the changes there have solved this issue? Any problems with low tides?

There is a new boat launch there now too. It is very good in my opinion. I always get the full season moorage there since it first opened. They are definitely doing things right and apparently not afraid to spend money. I pulled my boat last week at a low tide and was still good. Check it out I'm sure you will like what you see....IMO

 

[The Jackel]

Well, tried to fish the beach at Renfrew this weekend, which proved to be a waste of time, unless you like to catch+release cod. Couldnt keep them off the lines!! In about 16 hours of trolling we probably released 10 small lings, a handful of snapper and other assorted cod, as well as at least 100 black bass/cod/whatever. Not even joking, we fished 3 lines all weekend and what seemed like every 30 seconds we were pulling up a cod, or dragging a cod for 20 mins before checking. Couldnt really fish anchovies because Id just be re-tying leaders all day. Such a shame too because the sun was shining, hardly any wind, and the tides werent too bad as long as youre an early riser. We tried trolling faster, fishing deeper, fishing further northwest, they were everywhere and the water was thick with them - from Owen Point to Carmanah. I finally know what the early explorers felt like when they arrived to Newfoundland and were pulling up cod by the basket.

Halibut fishing seemed to be good though, as did the crabbing, and of course the weather was great!

If youre heading up to Renfrew, you might want to plan to head out to Swiftsure. Inshore fishing is a real grind right now. Unless of course you like black bass.

Well buddy landed a 44, another 3 buddies fed the frickin seal, i fed the seal a 30+ and boated a 20, lost 2 others and zero bass or cod all's good, crabbing is insane!

 

[advTHXance]

Yeah on Friday a guy named Eric landed a 42.5# Chinook. Hes a PRM local and seems to cutplug at Camper most of the time. Thats the only good fish I heard of caught all weekend, mind you I wasnt exactly asking around. The Creel guy said he saw ZERO salmon hit the docks on Saturday, but lots of halibut. By Sunday there were only a handful of boats fishing the beach, due to what I assumed was the massive influx of sea bass, but I suppose thats not true since The Jackel and his buddies seemed to do just fine! There was a lot of chatter on channel 6 about the sea bass though... and I only saw a couple seals all weekend as well as a sea lion or 2.

Mind sharing where you and your buddies were fishing and what you were fishing with, The Jackel? Or the depth? Im in the market for a lure that repels black sea bass and cod!

 

[The Jackel]

Yeah on Friday a guy named Eric landed a 42.5# Chinook. Hes a PRM local and seems to cutplug at Camper most of the time. Thats the only good fish I heard of caught all weekend, mind you I wasnt exactly asking around. The Creel guy said he saw ZERO salmon hit the docks on Saturday, but lots of halibut. By Sunday there were only a handful of boats fishing the beach, due to what I assumed was the massive influx of sea bass, but I suppose thats not true since The Jackel and his buddies seemed to do just fine! There was a lot of chatter on channel 6 about the sea bass though... and I only saw a couple seals all weekend as well as a sea lion or 2.

Mind sharing where you and your buddies were fishing and what you were fishing with, The Jackel? Or the depth? Im in the market for a lure that repels black sea bass and cod!

Yes it was Eric who got the big one we all cut plug, deep six the hardware and come on over to the other side and the bass will leave you alone