For Port Renfrew Marina the past week has had better Chinook fishing. Even though most fish are in the 10 to 20 pound range there are good numbers of bright fresh fish coming to the docks. All the regular spots are holding fish with East Point giving up the larger fish on a daily basis. Teaser heads of choice seem to be purple haze, eye of the tiger, mint pearl and red gold. Flashers that are being fished are betsy, both gold and silver, purple onion and green plaid. Fishing for springs had picked up in the last few days, more in line with what you would expect in a late Aug, early Sept. Coho fishing is still fantastic. Offshore in 300 to 400 feet of water seems to be the right depth. Hoochies and spoons are working well. If we don't get any serious amount of rain we should see the best fall coho season we've had in the last ten years.
Halibut fishing has picked up again just before its' September 9th closing. Barndoors are being caught by our highliners almost daily.
Port Renfrew Marina held their 15th annual Labor Day Derby this past weekend. It was an unprecedented success all around with a really amazing turnout with 280 tickets sold, fantastic weather, decent fishing with calm seas and NO fog. Fishing was a bit slow on the Saturday but picked up on the Sunday. We had an amazing amount of generous donations given for the derby and the dinner and dance went well with no glitches, thanks to Judy in The CookShack and the band, Soul Searchers. Music went on until 12:30 at night with many people dancing up a storm right to the end. Everyone had a great time and we want to thank everyone who came for supporting this derby to help raise funds for the San Juan Hatchery. At the end of the report you will see a list of all the businesses who gave generous donations.
The top winners in this derby were: 
- Tom Isherwood 35.2
- Mark Richards 34.2
- Gerry Gammie 31.14
- Largest fish for a woman Sarah Fraser 27.7
- 16 & under Luc Quigley 28.13
- And this year a surprise placing of smallest fish to Ryan Worrall 5.9 courtesy of Three Point Properties
Every year Port Renfrew Marina also holds a childrens bullhead derby held on the Sunday at 9am. All the young ones love this event and it's a lot of fun to watch the excitement. This years winners were:
- Boys Matthew Daines 29
- Girls Madisyn Styba 24
Port Renfrew Marina held three raffles for fundraising. The Bosch tool package donated by Langford Rona, a Blue Ember BBQ donated by Ian & Deb McGregor and a large patio heater donated by Port Renfrew Marina and Rona. The three items raised altogether $4456.00. We also had nine silent auction items and two jelly bean contests that were done by Meagan Gammie and Makayla Styba. We also had five live auctions and the grand total of all the fundraising for the hatchery came to $15359.90!
This year we also had a new event and this was the first ever Adult Bullhead Derby held on the Sat night. This event was thought up by a long standing regular at the marina, Val MacDonald with Gayle Kerrone's help. This event was so popular that over 40 people entered and it was the event to watch and have a ton of laughs! The winner for that was Steve Hydes with 30 bullheads and Fred Uhlman runner up with 29 and Clint Thomas for catching the weirdest fish, a small mackerel. Val and Gayle managed to raise $722.40 for the San Juan Hatchery. Congrats to both of them and a big thank you.
For the Labor Day Derby there were a few private donations made through different methods. Neil Young personally donated $500.00, Jeremy Fall sold kindling and raised $200.00. Both Larry Green and Larry DeFrane sold vintage Penn reels and raised over $110.00. There were items donated for funds by Todd Garrett and $40.00 from Terry Wilson and Jim Lebitschnig. Dave Mills came up with an idea of getting $1.00 for each time someone threw a cigarette in the fire pit and missed and raised $852.00. Our American friends, the Schiffners, donated $100.00. Another seasonal customer Jim Parry has donated some vintage fishing gear for an ongoing fundraiser and has raised over $120.00 so far. One of the guides Trevor Zboyovsky of www.nobananascharters.ca donated $800.00 to the hatchery from a Fathers Day Derby he put on. Audie Williams who holds the annual Davey Derby was at the Labor Day Derby to present Maurice Trembley with a check donation for $2800.00, $2000.00 from the Davey Derby and $800.00 from a side bet that Dave Mills organized. An anonymous donater gave $100.00 in respect for the boaters who helped him with a boat issue on a Friday morning at 6am.
Notable Catches:
- Rick Stubbs 36
- Jody Gervais (Bargain Bin Charters)
- Bruce Miller 30 www.millertimefishingcharters.com
- Mike Richards 34.2
- Luc and Dan Quigley
- Gerry Gammie 31.14 sorry for the head cut off!!! not camera , the computer did it!
- Mark Kuzman 30.6
- Tom Isherwood 35.2
List of businesses who generously donated to Port Renfrew Marina's Labor Day Derby
- Rona: Langford Trailhead Motel
- Ian & Deb McGregor All Battery
- Trotac Marine Driver Industries
- Kelly Wagner of Gizmos Construction Drilling
- Islander Reels Soule Creek Lodge
- Sanction Boardshop Butler Bros
- Surespan & Surespan Structures Handsome Dans Cottages
- Harbour Chandler Tomi's Restaurant
- Three Point Properties Botanical Getaway
- Sooke Power Supplies TK Glass
- Mt. Sicker Lumber Jeanette Lundgrin
- Big Fish Lodge Sneakers Computers
- Joe Serpa Monti's Boat Sales
- NorthWest Aluminum Gary West
- M & M Marine Choice Charters
- National Concrete Monk Office
- Nisers Artisan's Gift Shop
- Maple Bay marina Scott Ross Marine
- Beachview B&B Superior Propane
- Four Points Sheraton Bow Mel Chrysler
- Wholesale Sports Oak & Carriage Restaurant
- DSS Welding Duncan Auto
- Scotty Lordco
- 4 Mile Pub David Blitterwyk
- Home Hardware Coastal Kitchen
- Mac's Convenience Store (Admirals & Craigflower)
- Grant Hilliard for Coast Capital, Sannich Co-Op & Verico Select Mortgage Group
- Steve Holgate Moby Meats (Duncan)
- Claire Cooper of Salt Spring Soapworks Pacific Gateway Marina
- Jim Hermanson of Volvo Village Foods (Sooke)
- Superstore (Colwood) Country Grocer (Lk. Cow)
- Island Outfitters West Marine
- Walker Power Sports Glenwood Meats
- West Shore Sports Fishing Trevor hendriks
- Early Bird Hardware Eagle Eye Sports
- Western Foods (Sooke) Shoppers Drug Mart (Duncan)
- Thriftys (Colwood) Hillside Stone & Garden
- Lifetimer Boats Gregs RV
- Cineplex Theater (Colwood) Oki' Tackle
- Bob Gicas of Pacific Shores Charters Port Renfrew Hotel
- Port Renfrew General Store St. Jeans Cannery
- Great Canadian Oil Change (Colwood) Clayton Wright
- Redl Sports Out of the Blue Designs
- Rhys Davis (Tom Davis) Blair Davis
- Home Hardware ( Sooke & Duncan) Brian Dice
- Hardie honey Dennis Murray
You can see from the long list of the many businesses and people both private and connected with a business have made a donation in the commitment of helping with salmon enhancement to have salmon stocks for today's fisherman and for future generations to come. We want to give a huge thank you to all of them and encourage all our customers and everyone else to patronize these businesses who willingly donated either goods and or services.
Important News regarding the Deering Bridge. Expect minor delays from Sept.4-8th daily between 8am to 5pm. On Sunday Sept.9th there will be full closures from 9 to 11am and from 11:15 to 1:15 to allow for paving.
More Important News: Port Renfrew Marina's annual Coho Derby "Winner Take All" will be on Sept.29th and 30th this year. Tickets are $25.00 and available at the office shortly before the derby. $5.00 of each entry will go to the San Juan Hatchery and the rest will go to the winner of the biggest Coho. Winnings will be based on the number of entries we get. This is a fun and very relaxed derby and very popular with anglers, come and support salmon enhancement and at the same time have a good time fishing!
Other News: Port Renfrew Marina will be closing on October 14th 2012. Please make sure your unit and or boat is out on or before that date unless you have arranged winter storage. Storage is to be prepaid for the winter.
Bud & Rex