CHARTERS

Port Renfrew's salmon & halibut is legendary!

Chinook (Kings/Springs):
Chinook Salmon also known as Spring, King or Tyee (30 lbs or bigger) are the largest of the Pacific Salmon. Anglers came from all around the world for an opportunity to fight these powerful monsters once hooked these beauties take long line, reel screaming runs. Anglers target Chinook in Sept, with the peak in July and August.

The predominant fishing technique is trailing or cut plugging using bait such as anchovies, herring or spoons. Chinook are voracious eaters hunting bait fish such as herring, anchovies, sardines, pilchards, squid, and needlefish. Average weight are between 15 and 30lbs, while fist up to 60+lbs are caught every year. Medium-sized Chinook are in abundance in off-shore waters, but the big ones are generally close to reefs and structure as shallow as 20ft. Target Chinook all year...peak times June,July,Aug, and September.

Coho (Silvers):
Coho are well known for their hard hitting, acrobatic and energetic battles on the end of your line. They are also voracious eaters, aggressively feeding on herring, sardines, pilchards, anchovies, squid, needlefish and krill. Mid July through November provides outstanding off-shore fishing for these prized fish. Surface spoons and epoxy flies or large Polar Bucktails provide outstanding action on the end of a fly rod. West Coast Coho typically weigh 10 to 20lb in their prime, although fish up to 30lbs are caught occasionally.

Abundant bottom fishing on Swiftsure Bank and humps in our nearby water.

Halibut (Chickens, Turkies, Flaties, Barndoors):
The Pacific Halibut is one of the largest game fish caught in the North Pacific. As larvae, these juveniles start out their lives in the depths of the continental shelf off the Pacific, then move to shallower waters of the shelf after drifting with the currents for the first 6 months of their lives. At this stage an amazing transformation occurs as the left eye rotates to the right side of the head, skin pigment is lost from the left side of the body and the Halibut settles onto the gravelly bottom of the ocean. With its mottled gray-brown skin as camouflage and both eyes facing up, the halibut is perfectly suited to life as a predator on the ocean floor. Halibut feed on crab,clams octopus, squid, and other fish as it quickly grows to maturity. Females mature at approximately 12 years and males 8 years.

Each summer, halibut migrate from the depths of the continental shelf to Vancouver Island's reefs and gravel bottoms which are rich in baitfish. Its during the spring and summer that anglers have the thrill of catching one of these flaties.

Average size of a mature halibut is 30-40lb, but many halibut over 100lb are landed every year. The largest sport caught Pacific Halibut is 459lb, so be prepared to handle these monsters.

There are several productive Halibut grounds around Port Renfrew and the Strait of Juan de Fuca, so come on out and see if you can wrestle one of these monsters off the bottom!

Also, abundant in our waters are Lingcod, Red Snapper, Pacific Rock Fish, Black Cod, Gray Cod, etc.

Enjoy an abundance of marine wildlife such as orcas (killer whales), bald eagles, porpoises, humpback and grey whales, sea lions, and otters. Not to mention all the sea birds. Not only is the fishing fantastic, but the scenery and wildlife of the Pacific Coast makes it an adventure to remember.

Click here for Google Map