Heavy rains bring up the tuna !
The forecast heavy rain seems to have started at the coast, with two storms of an inch and a half in the past five days, and out from Watamu the boats have been catching good hauls of Yellowfin in all areas, the Banks, Canyon, Mountains and further out in the Rips. Fish up to 20 kgs are there, but school tuna between 5-10kgs form most of the bag – and there is always the odd ‘half’ where a shark has had a bite!
Unreel fished by Phil Revett and David Bird came back with about twenty Yellowfin of varying size from all the areas this Wednesday, while a couple of days earlier Phil released a 100 kg Silvertip shark and boated a dozen Tuna, but they did not see any billfish on either trip. Ol Jogi the previous day took Paul Loome and Etienne Brain to try some deep jigging in the Rips. They heaved up five Amberjack all about 20kgs, no mean feat when these fish are hooked at 600 feet down and are still fighting hard when they arrive beneath the boat, and also scored ten yellowfin up to 20kgs as well.
White Bear entered the fray for her first trip of the season, and running up to Mambrui they tagged a sailfish for Thomas Saunders, catching a couple of Wahoo and a Barracuda as well. Tarka has been catching good hauls of tuna as well, and Castle Lager released a sailfish, so varied action amongst the Watamu boats.
From Malindi, the good news is that sailfish have started to appear in the Mambrui/ She Shale area, Tina having caught five sail last Saturday for the Minar party from South Africa and been home by 2pm – with several other sail missed, and lots more seen finning and jumping, it looks as though the fishing is hotting up at the right time for the Malindi Herbie Paul International Tournament this weekend, which should be running as you read this. Earlier in the week, Richard Collins and friends from Nairobi had three sail on Snowgoose, and a single sail the next day along with three Wahoo.
Another day, Billy Lynch was having success with his fly rod, tagging two sail. Ralf Fearnhead, a novice fisherman who had booked five days in the small craft Malachite eager for a sail, had caught Tuna, Wahoo and Dorado but the Billfish had eluded him – but having decided to try one last extra day, he was duly rewarded with the coveted sailfish, as well as eighteen tuna – persistence pays when fishing!
Simba returned from Kiwaiyu after a successful trip with fly tackle only, Richard Baudry with ten, Gai Cullen with two and George Allen with one a good score, with the Sailfishing there usually at it’s peak in November.
All the boats have been short of clients, but the tournament this weekend should start the ball rolling. Tourism is such an important industry in Kenya, and needs the infrastructure to support it. Roads have improved a lot in the last year.
