2013 Summer Port Renfrew & Swiftsure Reports

Fished July 9th with Kelly on Last Chance. The bank had big swells and we had a really green fisher so we turned for shore. Found a huge pod of coho somewhere on our way in. The two boys and two adults were busy with double to quadruple headers. A 3" chartreuse and white bucktail on the fly rod was working at least as well as spoons and flashers. About 50% were hatchery so after 20 fish we had a limit of 8. Went in to fish halibut on the hook and managed a 15lber on herring. Watching a friend's 11 year old boy reel it in was worth the trip! We tried the beach for springs but only found undersize springs and a couple more coho. We kept the fly rod with bucktail out in the prop wash on the beach and it produced the best coho of the trip around 8lbs and several black bass for entertainment.

We found 4 keeper crabs in the two traps on the way in.

Kelly was a great guide again and really tailored the trip to our needs / wants. He explains a lot about the fishery and took time to show the kids what he was doing and why. I'll be back again!
 
mbowers,

Great report!...I have found that our Port Renfrew guides really know their stuff, and even on a less than great day for weather or fish " bite" can make a great trip happen...I didn't know anyone used good old bucktail flies anymore...good to hear as they make for great sport in a fly rod. Lately the weather has been challenging for everyone, I certainly would not have been able to be out there on the Bank in my boat, or anchor in the swells for halibut...good for your group to hang in there and enjoy the day.

Traveller
 
Any improvement in the weather allowing easier access to the bank?

Headed up for monday-thursday this week.

Thanks.
 
Discus said:
I want to know what is legal size boat can go on Port Renfrew / Swiftsure?

Thanks
Discus
Click to expand...
Anything is legal so feel free to use a float tube. What's prudent is probably 25 ft. with a few years experience behind the captain. Any boat still has to watch out for drunk Chileans in an uninsured submarine! :)
 
traveller said:
mbowers,
I didn't know anyone used good old bucktail flies anymore...good to hear as they make for great sport in a fly rod.
Click to expand...
Kelly was even impressed how well they worked. Even if you don't have a fly rod/fly line you could buy 6ft of fast sinking head T-18 from Robinson's for $6 and run that off a mooching rod with 4-5 feet of 25lb test mono to the fly. Let out 20-100ft of line down the side of the prop wash, point the rod straight out the back (too much flex in a mooching or fly rod to set the hook well) and hang on! Definitely kept the kids more interested when the spring bite was slow.

 
mbowers said:
Anything is legal so feel free to use a float tube. What's prudent is probably 25 ft. with a few years experience behind the captain. Any boat still has to watch out for drunk Chileans in an uninsured submarine! :)
Click to expand...
Ive been out there many times in a 18.5 , no problem whatsoever ..And have seen 17 footers out there as well ... Just pick your day
 
Been to the bank many times in my old 17.5 ft, like peetz says just pick your days and make sure all your $hit is order. If you don't trust yourself, then don't go.
 
Thinking about heading to Renfrew this summer.
What's the best boat launch for a 25ft boat?
what's the best area to fish for salmon? the bank? or?

thanks guys appreciate it.

Cheers
 
Our last day out today and the weather was perfect. Seemed most boats got into some nice big springs with a mix of coho and pinks back at the dock. Best day today for springs at the dock that we've seen in the past 5 days. We still struggled being new to the area and released a wild coho and kept one pink and some rockfish along with crab. We tried different dephts, flahsers and hootchies to anchovies and spoons (got the coho). Lots of boats in the Logan Creek area. We picked up our two salmon on the troll up there between Owen Point and Camper Cr.
 
Just back from my first trip to the west coast with my own boat. Took the wife and boy and fished renfrew Monday to Thursday. Launched the boat at the Pacific Gateway Marina, and slept on the boat there at the dock each night. What a great set up, very friendly owners and a super impressive spread of sick fishing boats moored up there. I think the entire Renfrew fleet is based there. Pretty cool being exposed to that fleet running out each morning. After about 5 each night we had the entire place to ourselves. Great cleaning tables at each finger, and sea ice at a good price right at the dock. There were covered picnic tables on the dock aswell which made for some great barbecues. There was also a fuel dock, but no showers or flush toilets but all in all a great set up . The owner tells me they plan to expand in a big way. The fishing was pretty good to us, the first day we tried The ears for Halibut came up empty so ran out to swift sure and had better luck there, the swell was big and a little much for the family, so I called it a day. The rest of the trip was spent off Logan with a really good day and one slower one. Chartreuse worked really well and bait seemed best. Hit fish on big and small spoons and the batrix strip worded well when I ran out of bait. All in all we left with 9 springs up to 20 lbs and three Hali up to 20. Had the full west coast weather thunder, lightning, crazy rain, sun and of course fog which was a first for me. Looking forward to getting back there.5
 
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