2019 Port Renfrew Reports

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I fished Swiftsure on the American side on Friday. Tons of little halibut were on the flats and we picked up one per line on every 20 minute drift. Eventually we took two little ones that were about 10#. Bigger ones can be found on the deeper edges from what I hear. We switched over to salmon fishing and put 4 chinook in the boat. One of the 4 was a "typical" Swiftsure size king in the 8-10# range. The other 3 were mid teens. The average size of the kings there seems larger than in most recent years at this point in time.
 
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I was out Saturday/Sunday on Swiftsure. I experienced the larger than typical chinook, too. Only one 10 pounder and the rest were bigger. We were right along the southwest side of the border and closure area. When it opens in a couple of weeks, the boats out of Pt Renfrew should have plenty of action. Note: the black cod were relentless! Nothing we did seemed to prevent a hookup every couple of minutes. Couldn't keep gear down on Saturday for several hours and it impacted our success that day. Heard an idea of using plugs and trolling fast... might try that next time we are out there if the cod are still around in force.
 
I think he means Grey Cod or at least that's what I know them as. When I was out last week the guys out at the bank were bringing in some each day.
 
I think he means Grey Cod or at least that's what I know them as. When I was out last week the guys out at the bank were bringing in some each day.
Black cod (AKA sablefish) are in abundance on Swiftsure. Most of those that are there now are around 2' long. Last year they were there and were around 8-12". They are less aboundant this year than last but the juveniles behave very differently than the adults - e.g. rather than hanging out near the bottom, they are present throughout the water column. Last year they were even finning on the surface.
 
good,they similar to the cod you can buy at Costco,white flaky fish,not much meat on them for they size but still enough to feed you,if you over cook them they get a like rubber

I agree they are good eating. I try and keep them as cool as I can. I have had then go pretty soft after a long day if they were at the bottom of the fish box and no ice.
 
Yes, sablefish. They hit lures on the surface before we could set the downriggers. They hit at 60', 100', 200'... you get the picture. Place was lousy with them.

We fried some up in panko and it was pretty tasty. But, they have a row of bones right in the middle of the fillet, kind of like pin bones but different. Had to pick around those bones, which was a hassle, but overall pretty good.
 
Unless you guys are catching these
220px-4sablefish_500.jpg
You are catching Black Rock Fish also known as Black Sea Bass among other names.
Sablefish are usually caught at depths in the range of 600 ft and deeper @ILG has a thread detailing one of his trips for them.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sablefish
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_rockfish
 
And they also taste exceptionally good, super oily and delicious! Not like some random cod from costco
 
Just a heads up for boats coming out of the Gordon River the sand bar has grown . There is also a juvenile gray whale hanging out at the mouth ( Saw it on the news last week) it was just lying there when we were coming out of the Gordon and was in the little bay inside the mouth when we were coming in . Salmon fishing was okay for a afternoon with one lost next to the boat and one tailed and released that was around 30 lbs. :)
 
Unless you guys are catching these
220px-4sablefish_500.jpg
You are catching Black Rock Fish also known as Black Sea Bass among other names.
Sablefish are usually caught at depths in the range of 600 ft and deeper @ILG has a thread detailing one of his trips for them.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sablefish
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_rockfish


Yep, that was them. I know they are supposed to be deepwater fish, and it was CRAZY, but they literally were everywhere, including eating krill right at the surface! We thought they were true cod but there was no barbel. Quite shiny/irridescent when you catch them but they turn dark after they die. I thought they were tasty, although the bone structure was a pain to work around in the fillets.

I'm looking forward to the opening in BC as I love running across from Neah Bay and fishing the nearshore plug cut fishery. I love hooking fish shallow and fighting it with nothing but a hook. But, in the meantime, the Swiftsure fishing is off the hook. Canadian fishers were on the US side fishing. The best spot for us was just south of the property line trolling parallel to the BC closure area.
 
Unless you guys are catching these
220px-4sablefish_500.jpg
You are catching Black Rock Fish also known as Black Sea Bass among other names.
Sablefish are usually caught at depths in the range of 600 ft and deeper @ILG has a thread detailing one of his trips for them.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sablefish
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_rockfish
Yep - that's what we were catching. As I said above - " They are less abundant this year than last but the juveniles behave very differently than the adults - e.g. rather than hanging out near the bottom, they are present throughout the water column. Last year they were even finning on the surface."
 
Keeerist, talking about sable fish on this thread, are any of you actually fishing for salmon or hally. Ok i will post about salmon, dropped the cut plugs in the water at 7:01 am, first fish at 7:05, released a bright 23 lber, that is of course after i took many hero shots because apparently it is the thing to do :rolleyes:, long story short pulled the lines at 11am , so in total released 7 springs from 15-23, nothing to big this day and missed 4 others. The bite was still happening but i had to get home to give our dog her medicine as she too has cancer, did i say cancer sucks. To be honest not all to excited about fishing yet as this C&R fishery makes my blood boil, ok everyone back to talking about sable fish ;) Oh on another topic Seadna i hope you weren't one of the Americans fishing in the closed zone, it seems your brothers were having quite a time in there....
 
Keeerist, talking about sable fish on this thread, are any of you actually fishing for salmon or hally. Ok i will post about salmon, dropped the cut plugs in the water at 7:01 am, first fish at 7:05, released a bright 23 lber, that is of course after i took many hero shots because apparently it is the thing to do :rolleyes:, long story short pulled the lines at 11am , so in total released 7 springs from 15-23, nothing to big this day and missed 4 others. The bite was still happening but i had to get home to give our dog her medicine as she too has cancer, did i say cancer sucks. To be honest not all to excited about fishing yet as this C&R fishery makes my blood boil, ok everyone back to talking about sable fish ;) Oh on another topic Seadna i hope you weren't one of the Americans fishing in the closed zone, it seems your brothers were having quite a time in there....
People in the close area all the time, good on you for sore lipping a few, and yes cancer sucks
 
Keeerist, talking about sable fish on this thread, are any of you actually fishing for salmon or hally. Ok i will post about salmon, dropped the cut plugs in the water at 7:01 am, first fish at 7:05, released a bright 23 lber, that is of course after i took many hero shots because apparently it is the thing to do :rolleyes:, long story short pulled the lines at 11am , so in total released 7 springs from 15-23, nothing to big this day and missed 4 others. The bite was still happening but i had to get home to give our dog her medicine as she too has cancer, did i say cancer sucks. To be honest not all to excited about fishing yet as this C&R fishery makes my blood boil, ok everyone back to talking about sable fish ;) Oh on another topic Seadna i hope you weren't one of the Americans fishing in the closed zone, it seems your brothers were having quite a time in there....
Not me but I do note that the U.S. and Canada have different ideas of where the border lies in that area. So things in your version of the Canadian RCA may be well within the open area of US waters on our version of the map. Similarly, Canadian boats bottom fishing on our side of our version of the line are breaking the US law as (except for the small number of all depth hali days) we can't bottom fish in water outside of a defined 20 fathom line. However, on the Canadian version of the map, what they are doing is completely legal. At present, the "rule" seems to be that the Canadian DFO/Coast Guard doesn't bother US boats fishing legally according to the US version of the line and the WA Dept. of Fish and Wildlife or the US Coast Guard doesn't bother Canadian boats fishing legally according to the Canadian version of the line. That said, I've definitely seen a few Renfrew guides regularly south of even the Canadian version of the line and some American boats definitely N or the US version of the line.
 
Not me but I do note that the U.S. and Canada have different ideas of where the border lies in that area. So things in your version of the Canadian RCA may be well within the open area of US waters on our version of the map. Similarly, Canadian boats bottom fishing on our side of our version of the line are breaking the US law as (except for the small number of all depth hali days) we can't bottom fish in water outside of a defined 20 fathom line. However, on the Canadian version of the map, what they are doing is completely legal. At present, the "rule" seems to be that the Canadian DFO/Coast Guard doesn't bother US boats fishing legally according to the US version of the line and the WA Dept. of Fish and Wildlife or the US Coast Guard doesn't bother Canadian boats fishing legally according to the Canadian version of the line. That said, I've definitely seen a few Renfrew guides regularly south of even the Canadian version of the line and some American boats definitely N or the US version of the line.
Reminds me of a cross border shopping debate.
 
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