Written by David Slater “Honeylulu”
September continues to be a very quiet month in the fishing business, with fewer trips than I remember for very many years, but this is good news for the fish and on those days when a boat gets amongst them there have been good catches.
Adrian Paul got away from his desk and took Snark for a test run after her overhaul down to the Banks where they soon had a marlin jumping on a Rappala – it was only a month ago that Adrian remarked in his newsletter that in twelve years he had never had a marlin on a Rappala! It did shake the hooks free however, but an hour later another black marlin again hooked itself on a Rappala! This time, with Abubakar on the rod, the marlin was fought to the boat and duly released, a healthy fish around 100kgs. The lure was in fact a Halco lure, similar to the Rappala and regarded by some anglers as superior, but if one insists on catching marlin on these triple hook lures one should replace the hooks on the bought lure with stronger ones. A good day already but on returning to the Banks, they found the wahoo running and caught nine in an hour before going home. More test runs are planned!
Con Jooste continue his run of sailfish on fly with another two successful days, Eclare finding plenty of sail finning in the Che Shale area and raising several to the teasers. It’s good to hear these fish are there, but it is usually later in October before they start to come up in quantity to provide the sport for which Malindi is famous. This bodes well for the Herbie Paul International tournament at the end of that month over the holiday.
The Watamu boats were all away this week for the Latham island tournament, but the fishing there was quiet this year, with tuna and wahoo on the first day, but billfish action warmed up the second day, with Natasha catching two striped marlin to win top honours and Simba, from Watamu, in second place with one striped marlin, while third went to Joint Venture. Natasha, a 35ft Cabo Express was formerly based at Watamu, but was sold and now stays in Dar-es-salaam. Black Widow and Unreel found a broadbill each on the night run back from Tanzania to compensate for not being on the podium in the tournament.
Alleycat did not make this trip, so was busy here with trips catching wahoo, a spinner shark and tuna with Kevin Ibrahim and a mixed bag of two wahoo, two kingfish, two yellowfin and a barracuda with Geoff Jones, while another trip yielded nine wahoo, and Castle Lager recorded a sailfish released on a couple of trips.
Reading that a minister was releasing billions of shillings for the fishing industry, one can’t imagine much of this trickling down to the sport fishing business. but tourism does need help, increasing the numbers of visitors, and both infrastructure and security seriously need improvement. Writing in the dark again with power off, as it was last week also when I wrote, and having to shift the article from one laptop to another as the battery fades is hardly my vision for 2030 !
News courtesy of David Slater – Marlin catches seal victory in Watamu tournies
The Fly540 sponsored Watamu International Tournament resulted in twenty marlin and sixty eight sailfish for the sixteen boats that competed – over five billfish per boat, a good result as these fish have been harder to find in recent days after the bonanza catches of a month ago.
Tega, with three striped marlin and four sail looked to be well ahead on day one, but it was the team on Black Widow, Batian Craig, Adam Ogden and Nixon Kayeni who came on strongly the second day to take first place. With a stripey and a black marlin, caught by Nixon Kayeni which died on the line and was weighed in at 194 kgs on the Saturday they added another stripey and four sail on the Sunday for a total of 2800 pts, taking all the main prizes including a very smart Zodiac rubber dinghy with a 5hp Yamaha engine.
The fishers on Tega, Neil McGowan, Nick Dalton, John Bolden, and Jen Cobill with skipper Steve George, seemed to have used up their luck ration as they could find only two dorado the second day, one of which gave Jen the Lady’s prize, but they held on to second place ahead of the team on White Bear, Robin James, Sean Macaulay and James Shepherd, who added a good second day with two striped marlin and three sail to the stripey they had the first day to make third place.
Instedda, fished by Imran and Uhsam Moosa, Alan Sibley and Ali al Harazi did well both days adding a stripey and five sail on Sunday to the stripey and three sail they had the first day, to clinch fourth place ahead of Sea Storm, with anglers Callum Scott, Craig Allen and Steve Webb, who had two sail the second day to top up their first day score of a black and a striped marlin and a sailfish, to record the only grand slam of the competition.
A good weekend’s fishing, and many thanks to sponsors Fly 540, the low cost airline, who as the speakers remarked, not only kept fishing tournaments going with their sponsorship, but stepped into the gap flying to Malindi when the national airline deserted the area.
A days rest, and the Hemingways ‘Friends of Kenya’ tournament was under way – two days and a night non-stop fishing, which has become such a popular feature of the angling calendar and the only one of this format for the real enthusiasts.
White Mischief, fished by Russ Brumby, Nick Michaelides and Mtawali Chondo were the clear winners when all the fifteen boats finally returned by 4pm, flying flags for a blue marlin, four striped marlin and two broadbill swordfish for a total 3800 pts and a grand slam.
Second place went to Seastorm, but it was just one fish that scored, a black marlin taken on fly tackle under official rules by Gai Cullen. On fly, this fish scored treble points for 3000 pts, but more remarkable was that it is the first black marlin on fly by a lady angler caught off the African coast – well done Gai, now for that broadbill!
Black Widow came third, with anglers Adam Ogden, Dicky Evans and Adam Lenga, who tagged two blue and one striped marlin and four broadbill, also for a grand slam – very consistent fishing for this boat after their win a couple of days before. Simba, with Mark Allen, Mtawali Zia and Kasungu filled fourth place with two blue and one striped marlin, one broadbill and a sailfish for a super grand slam, while Ol Jogi, fished by Jim Pointon, John Stevens and Stuart Simpson, came in close behind for fifth place, with a blue and two striped marlin, two broadbill and two sailfish, another super grand slam! What amazing fishing!
