The operating season for Port Renfrew Marina and RV Park came to an end on October 12, 2020. As you all know, the Covid 19 situation has created challenging and changing times for everyone and most businesses.
For our facility, in 2020 it began with our opening being postponed from our usual May 1st until June 1st. I would like to express my sincere thanks to all our Seasonal Guests for the amount of respect they displayed to both their fellow campers and our staff relating to Social Distancing and other guidelines established by the Chief Medical Officer of British Columbia.
From a fishing perspective, the 2020 season was pretty good despite the continuation of the DFO mandated Chinook salmon retention and slot size restrictions that we had in 2019. There were many reported Tyee sized Chinooks hooked and released in the early part of the season by both the trollers and cut plug herring fishers. It seemed that the bulk of these large Chinooks had gone through our waters by the time the 80 cm slot size restrictions were lifted on July 31, but smaller Chinooks in the 15 to 20 lb range were plentiful in August. Our annual Labour Day Weekend Chinook derby did not take place this year due to Covid 19.
The late-season offshore Coho fishery was also pretty good this season as waves of migrating fish passed through our waters. Hatchery marked Coho were at times plentiful allowing for retention outside of San Juan Harbour. There was also a short time period where our local San Juan and Gordon River Coho were staging at the river mouths with some angling successes there, however, the huge rainfall event we had in early September ended most of that in the tidal waters with most fish heading up those rivers. Our annual "winner takes all" Coho Derby was also canceled this year due to Covid 19.
Most of our regular guests will have noticed some staffing changes this year at the Marina. I would like to thank and congratulate both Linda Holman and Ken Sutton for doing a great job this year. There were many positive comments on the helpfulness and professionalism I received from both of you. Also a big thank you to Reid Warren, John Holman, Wayne Winters and Clayton Wright for their help onsite this year.
With our facility now closed, we want to remind everyone that our telephone will not be answered or messages returned until we reopen next Spring which hopefully will be on May 1, 2021. For those of you wishing to make contact during the off season, please direct your inquiries through our website and responses will come back to you through email.
Thank you to everyone for another great season at the Marina. Please stay safe and we look forward to seeing you all again next year.
Port Renfrew Marina
Rex Coburn