SAILFISH & TUNA AROUND DESPITE VARIABLE WEATHER !

While the weather has been variable with some windy days, it has been dry till this morning when howling winds and sleeting rain made it seem more like July than September! But despite not many boat trips during the week, quite a few sailfish have been caught and schools of small tuna have been showing in the Mambrui area.

Adam Ogden in his Black Widow took a test run around the Banks with the crew fishing, and released four sailfish as well as catching four yellowfin for a satisfying start to the season, while Ol Jogi tagged three sail with Peter Voss fishing. Other days saw catches of tuna, kingfish, wahoo and the occasional giant trevally which kept anglers busy. Alleycat reported a couple of sail and some nice kingfish as well as a giant trevally in a couple of recent trips while Unreel scored six yellowfin and three wahoo, a fairly typical catch at the moment to keep the Harrison family busy on the rods!

Malindi boats have been trying north, as there are yellowfin off Mambrui and this is a shorter run for them, but on windy days the seas there are rough and the wind churns up the layers of silt from the river to discolour the water and discourage the fish. Snowgoose had a good day ending with 18 yellowfin off Malindi, while next day Guido van der Steen from Belgium had a busy day in Neptune with five sail, a giant trevally, a wahoo, a kingfish and several baitfish for plenty of action.

Billy Lynch from Nairobi tagged a sailfish on fly on Snowgoose, successfully hooking the one fish that came up to the teasers to start his season – he had 47 sail and two striped marlin on fly last season, an amazing total. Another day three boats chased yellowfin off Mambrui on a windy day when the fish were moving very fast, but Snowgoose found one of 28 kgs and the other boats had fish just under 20 kgs, but encouraging to see some big tuna starting to come in as late September and October are usually the best month for these.

The Latham Island tournament will be held in a couple of weeks time – this is Tanzania’s most prestigious competition and as there are not many charter boats available in Dar-es-Salaam half a dozen Kenya boats will be on their way down for this event. Last year, only tuna were caught and Kenya boats swept the board, so let’s hope billfish will be around this year for good variety for this two day event.

Written by David Slater

Bigger marlin appearing as weather holds

The good run of marlin continues as the wind stays in the east, and although rain is forecast none has appeared yet in the Malindi/Watamu area. As we near the end of March fewer boats are going out but with Easter soon tourists will increase and will want to try their luck if the fishing holds.

Catch of the week was a 354 kg blue marlin caught on Eclare, which died during the six hour fight and had to be hauled up from the depths, but what a nice fish. Neptune also had a big blue the same day which got wrapped in the line and came in dead, weighing 180 kgs, while up near Lamu Clueless released a blue estimated around 360 kgs. The second half of March has always been the time for a run of the biggest marlin, but the wind seems to have started blowing from the south today, so time may be limited.

The Penn Challenge with eleven teams from Belgium and Holland finished their four days and good catches were reported by all, with Jan Maas and Frans van Bechel having the best day on Snark, with two black marlin and sixteen sailfish which helped them to top position overall, with Snark the leading boat. Other good days included a black marlin released on Tina and estimated at 200 kgs, and three stripeys on Neptune, so a thrilled bunch of anglers that we can expect back next year.

Another group, this time from Poland, started four days in four boats very successfully with Snowgoose catching eleven sailfish and Tina eight the first day, while on the third day Neptune had three stripeys and three other boats two stripeys, so another very satisfied group of anglers.

Watamu boats have been busy, Bamara having a busy day with Dickie Evans tagging a black marlin of 100 kgs and a sail, as well as catching ten yellowfin and a selection of bottom fish, while Tega tagged another black of 90 kgs. Jasiri had a good overnight trip, with five broadbill, a mako shark and a sail being released by George Allen and his crew, and B’s Nest tagging five broadbill and a stripey on another night trip.

Chinook released both a blue and a black marlin, and Alleycat released a big blue and a stripey. Castle Lager has been active, with a broadbill on a night trip and a good day for Dave Young and friends when they were fighting both a black and a blue marlin at the same time. One came off, the other broke the line, but they still caught a striped marlin for a very exciting day leaving the team itching for the morrow!

Tarka found four broadbill and two stripeys on an overnight trip, and then had a mixed bag day, with two sail, two yellowfin over 20 kgs and a shark – skipper Callum Looman had earlier passed the hundred marlin mark for the season for the second consecutive year, while skipper Angus Paul on Neptune has just reached this mark also, congratulations to them both.

KASA, the Kenya Association of Sea Anglers, hold their annual Dinner at Ocean Sports Resort on Saturday, April 3rd. KASA represents all sea anglers, from clubs and hotels to charter companies and individual anglers, and keeps angling record details and publishes it’s own annual magazine with all the records and various angling articles. A raffle with many valuable prizes will be drawn, and all are welcome.

On the morning of Apr 3rd, an informal family fishing tournament will be held out from Ocean Sports, from where details are available. Children especially encouraged!