Port Renfrew Marina's 10th Labor Day Derby Results

Port Renfrew Marina's 10th annual Chinook Labor Day Derby has come and gone for another year and it was our most successful one of all. We had a record number of tickets sold, 296, with a record amount 0f $5657.50 donated the local fish hatchery! Our thanks to all who sponsored and everyone who participated.

Chinook fishing was excellent up to the derby weekend and continued into Saturday, the first day of the derby but slowed down quite a bit on the Sunday. That didn't seem to slow the fisherman down as they all continued trying to get the winning fish. Steve Beal, fishing with one rod hooked the winning fish of 42.2 pounds after fishing for only one hour Sat. morning and it held for the next day and a half. He also won the draw for the pressure washer and was only 3 numbers off from winning the large gas grill. One lucky man!

Tides should be great this coming week with the high flood happening mid to late morning. Owen point is open again and may be worth giving a try. Still too early for the wild Coho even though the bay is now open.

Here are the results of the Labor Day Derby:
1st. Steve Beal: 42.2 $1200.00
2nd. Kyle Samitz: 36.3 $ 700.00
3rd. Mark Perkins: 35.6 $ 400.00
4th. Don Uhlman: 35.4
5th. Brian Peters: 33.0
6th. Woody woodruff: 31.8
7th. Hugh Hamer: 31.7 19"
8th. Ross MacKenzie: 31.0
9th. Shane Wilson: 30.7
10th. Mel Jacobsen: 28.9

Ladies. Freda Fielden: 34.2
Under 16. Erin Pringle: 20.7
Hidden weight, Day 1: Mel Sager 20.8
Hidden weight, Day 2: Cory Kovacs 14.6
Bullhead Derby 12 and under:
Boys:
1st. Jordan Dice 30
2nd. Chris Miller 26
3rd. Jake Winter 16

Girls:
1st. Taylor Trudgeon 30
2nd. Makala Styba 29
3rd. Marley Wright 23
Monies raised from raffles items: $5657.50
Trudie Ammann Print $425.00
Texas Micky Auction $250.00
Judy's Cheesecakes $140.00
Pressure Washer $492.00
Gas Grill $1235.00
Quad $3015.00

On behalf of the Davey Derby, held in July, Brian Dice awarded a donation to Maurice Trembley of the Port Renfrew hatchery a check for $1000.00.

The 2 young Wright girls came up with the idea of doing a jelly bean guess and that raised a whopping $172.50! Good for you, great idea!

This years Labor Day Derby was as much fun for everyone as ever. Over the years the popularity of this event has grown. The weather held up fairly well, at least it didn't rain the night of the dinner! The derby ended Sunday at 1:00 p.m. and soon after people gathered in the Long House for the beer garden and an early dinner. At 5:00 the prizes were announced and among the real ones we had some fun. Ian Bateson got an award for best boat cleaner and among his cleaning things were q-tips and a toothbrush for those hard to get places! Also George Lockwood the "mayor" of Port Renfrew Marina decided to resign his position claiming he "hadn't been paid one dime!"and nominated Gerry Hamilton the dubious position. That brought laughs all around. After the ceremonies there was a great live band called Ready & Willing that played until nearly midnight. Everybody danced and had a lot of fun and we're all looking forward to next years event! Again, thanks to all who donated to help make this event a success and to all those who participated!!

A special thanks to some very generous people and businesses who donated:
Rona of Langford
Ian & Deb MacGregor of MacGregor Van & Storage in Nanaimo
Wayne & Judy Schiffner
Shane Fedosenko of Pemberton Holmes
Fish of notable size caught within the week: (but not during derby days)
Ron Abrahams 36
Bud Watt 32
Mike Styba 37
Terry MacDonald 31, 39
Nathan Ross 30.5
No Bananas 46
Alan Jane 43
Dan Hydes 38.5, 38.5 twins!
Bruce Gibson 35.5
Mariette Fall 42
Wayne Schiffner 32
Des Hatchard 38
Martin hill 44.5
Joe Serpa 94 Halibut
Steven Hunter 40
Keith Gowanlock 50.5
Donna Evans 42.5
Mark Jordan 43.5
Upcoming Events:Coming up on Sept. 15th and 16th will be the Peter Lawson Derby and the annual Coho Derby will be Sept. 29th & 30th. The first is one with a dinner and many prizes and the Coho derby is one winner, winner take all. Last years winner took home $13,880.00 in prize money! We are expecting a huge turnout and who knows what the prize money will be this year?!

Bud & Rex

Aug.22, Port Renfrew Marina Fishing Report

Port Renfrew Marina is seeing a possible record August this year. The fishing is outstanding, this is as good as it can get and at the end of each day we are seeing boats unloading limits of Springs and Halibut. Lately there have been on average 4 to 6 Chinooks over 30 pounds each day and 1 over 40. The hot spots vary from day to day but they are the usual ones of Logan, Camper, East Point and surrounding areas. We are also having a nice long stretch of calm flat seas which help with the fishing and makes it very pleasurable out there. The new teaser head of choice out there seems to be one called Mint Pearl or Joanna but the long standing ones of green/gold, clear, purple haze and green glow are popular also.

Halibut fishing is also showing to be a good year at Swiftsure Bank, with amazing numbers over 100 lbs. As one fisherman said "You could throw a tin can over and catch a Halibut."

Here is a story of astronomical odds: Glen Varney runs the fish hatchery in Sooke and his job entails the process of creating the breeding environment for the Springs, raising, marking and releasing them by the thousands. In 2007 he was fishing in Englefield in the Charlottes and caught a hatchery fish and sent it off to be tested. It was discovered that it came from the very hatchery he runs and was quite literally one that he had raised for release in 2002. An amazing story!
Catches of fish of notable size for the past week: Dan Fraser 34 Des Hatchard 38 Ian Batty 34 Jeff Just 34 Kevin Wright 32, 35 Jerry Siddel 30, 30 Bud Watt 40 Wayne Schiffner 35 Dan Wallaker 40 Shawn Aikenhead 31, 34, 34 Kevin McKenna 72, 77, 125 Halibut Don Colgrave 42 Ed Stirling 39 Mike Marlow 35 Darrel Bales 29 Clifton Dyke 37 Darrin Wright 37 Terry Wilson 35 & 100 Halibut Blair Houdayer 30 Doug Thorarinson 35 John Lum 42.75 Betty Beachum 33 Pat Hill 35.5 Bill Tennent 35 Dave Mills 165 Halibut Al Teng 42 Jake Palmer (age15) 35 Glen Varney 34 Chuck Coplin 34, 40 Is. Outfitters 43

Sorry for any names missed as we have had a very busy time lately! If fishing at the marina and you have a big one let us know!

Bud & Rex

Port Renfrew Marina's 10th Labor Day Derby

Port Renfrew Marina has their 10th upcoming Labor Day Derby scheduled for Sept.1st and 2nd. This is our biggest derby and you won't want to miss it. Tickets will be on sale soon and up to Sat. morning at 10:00 a.m. the day the derby starts. Fishing begins Sat morning, ending Sat night at 6:00p.m. and ends a designated time on Sun. (to be announced) Tickets are $50.00 a rod and that gets you a t-shirt, dinner on Sun. with all the beverage you can drink. We will be having a live band also in the Longhouse. Dinner will be sold at $10.00 a person for those not in the derby.

First prize: $1000.00
Second Prize: $500.00
Third Prize: $250.00 many additional prizes, at least a couple of items
to be raffled and there is always the Bullhead Derby
for the children with prizes for them also.

All proceeds go to the local fish hatchery in Port Renfrew to help restore and keep the Salmon coming for future generations. Anyone interested in giving a donation for the derby please come see us in the office or contact us. This derby is always a success and lots of fun for the young and the young at heart!

Please Note: For those of you not planning on being in the derby please be aware that this a busy weekend for camping and moorage.

Bud and Rex

Port Renfrew Marina Aug.14th Fishing Report

Port Renfrew Marina is seeing the great August fishing we have come to expect. Afternoon high tides and perfectly smooth seas have combined to produce great Halibut and Salmon catches.

Halibut masters Des Hatchard http://www.viciousfishcharters.com/ and Dwayne Isaac continue to stun us with their catches. Des brought in on one charter 6 Halibut 35, 45 ,55, 100, 110 and 112, also 5 Red Snapper all in the10 pound range. Dwayne came in with a 156 Halibut, a 74 and 2 others in the 50 pound range.
Other notable catches were Bill from Island Marble brought in a 75 and Matt Wylie with a 104 pounder.
Chinook fishing is right on track to be one of our best big fish years. We are almost at the 30 Springs over 40 pounds to date which will translate into a possible 60 over 40 pound by mid September.
Catches of notable size for the past week are:
Gerry Hamilton 39, 43
George Klimek 48.5
Deb Ribeyre 43
Jordan Bruvold 41
Cole Cross 36.5
Larry Whyte 37
Marty Fladager 39
Bob LaFleche 36
Merv Pywell 35
Gerry Gammie 35
Noah Baxter (age,8) 28
Carol Wardlow 33
Carol Combs 31
Travis Kernachan 34
Judy Thorarinson 36
Daniel & Nichol Burkmar 31, 31
Melanie Kew 41
Kerry Rawlick 42
Mark Roberts 37, 33, 32
Nick Driedger 33
Shawn kent 34
Liana Sanbrooks 31
Steven Hawes (age,10) 35

Bud & Rex

Aug. 5th Port Renfrew Fishing Report

Port Renfrew Marina has lots of quality Chinook hitting the docks lately! It looks as though we are going to have a great August fishery. It started out hot and hasn't slowed down making everyone eager to get out there and find the big ones. On Sunday, Aug 5th there were 3 Springs over 40 pounds brought in.

Eastpoint, Camper, Cullite and Logan are all producing fish with at least two long bites a day, usually early morning and later in the afternoon. Depths are 25 to 40 feet on the down rigger with anchovies and 4 inch coyote spoons working best. Perfect tides this week should hold the fish close to shore.

Swiftsure Bank is still good for Halibut and smaller Chinook in the 12 to 20 pound range. Bank Springs are at a 170 to 200 foot depth with 5 and 6 inch plugs being the lure of choice by the guides.

Some Springs of notable size in the last 8 days are:

Braiden Hardie, (age 10) 39lb.
Tyler Hnatiuk 37, 37
Bruce Miller 31
Don Lewis 33
Sarah Fraser 40
Rob deBree 38.5
Kerry Rawlick 36
Mike Styba 34
Edgil Nelson 36
Neil Young 41.5
Mike Dames 30, 30, 31 and 32
Adam Dames 35
Mark Perkins of www.aceofkings.ca 30
Carrie-rae Hicks 40
Al Marsden 43
Dwayne Nikkels 44.5
Brian McGaw 45
Wallace Cheong 31
John Holman 31
Dave Walker 30

Sorry but picture of Des Hatcher's 4 Halibut (said to be posted in future)is not available. Sorry for any inconvenience during the last 24 hours if there was some down time on our site as we were in the process of changing servers which is now completed.

Bud & Rex