by David Y. Wei and Suzanne L. Clouthier
WCVI
at Port Renfrew SALTWATER FISHING
Whether on the beach or offshore - here are the places to go when fishing Port Renfrew
No Bananas Fishing Charters Photo
Vancouver Island. With recent major improvements to the Port Renfrew Community Wharf, local fishing charter operators now have a convenient base. Anglers with their own boats will find boat launches, moorage, campgrounds, and marine fuel at marinas based on the nearby San Juan River. Port Renfrew has a number of resorts and B&Bs.
T
There are also several cafes, restaurants, and pubs that serve fine home-style meals. Port Renfrew lies near the head of the small coastal inlet of Port San Juan, which opens onto the entrance to the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The long, narrow strait, lying between Vancouver Island and Washington State’s Olympic Peninsula, acts like a huge funnel that pulls in major salmon runs destined for rivers in Washington and Oregon, on Vancouver Island, and along the southern British Columbia mainland. Feed-rich offshore banks provide an important nursery for immature salmon. The banks also serve as the first shallower holding areas for mature salmon and bottomfish returning from pelagic feeding grounds beyond the continental shelf. With an ever-present possibility of fog and rough seas, anglers should seriously consider hiring a guide to go fishing anywhere on the west coast of Vancouver Island for the first time. Port San Juan is the only safe refuge along the coast for about 30 kilometres to the northwest or southeast. Be sure that your boat — or
30 The SPORT FISHING Guide 2012
HE COASTAL VILLAGE OF PORT RENFREW is becoming a favoured destination for anglers who want to fish the west coast of
any charter boat — is well-equipped with a VHF radio, radar, depthsounder, GPS, EPRIB (emergency locator beacon), and trolling kicker in addition to Coast Guard- required safety gear. There is year-round fishing for feeder chinook off
Port Renfrew, but realistically, the season only begins in May with improving weather and sea conditions. Charter trips for halibut start around May 15, after the Community Wharf’s floating docks are put into place for the summer. When mature chinook bound for the Fraser and Columbia Rivers start to show up around mid-June, anglers can go on combination halibut and chinook safaris. This June chinook fishery features a good number of tyee (chinook salmon over 13.6 kg), including a few trophy fish each season that top 25 kilograms. Throughout the summer, chinook are followed by mature coho, pink, sockeye, and chum salmon on their homeward migrations to natal streams to spawn. While salmon fishing is excellent well into October, saltwater angling tapers off with the autumn storms that blow in from the west after the fall equinox.
Places to Fish: Beach
At the entrance to the Strait of Juan de Fuca, a huge volume of water flows between the Pacific Ocean and the strait on flood and ebb tides. The shoreline drops in a fairly even but steep gradient to a depth of 236 metres in the middle of the strait. With almost no undersea structures (like reefs or shoals) to provide respite or hiding places, predatory chinook and their prey can only find refuge from currents in kelp beds or in shoreline
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