There are not a lot of fishing trips being made at present. With a lull in the tourist presence in local hotels charter boats have not been busy but some of the private boat owners have started fishing, and both billfish and tuna are being caught.
` Contagious, a big catamaran built in South Africa, started well earlier this week with a sailfish released, while JJ Nicholas in his small boat caught a black marlin near the Watamu banks, and Brett Ayton on MisB’have landed a fine yellowfin of 42kgs, as well as a 20kg wahoo so good sport for the amateurs. There are not as many private boats around as there used to be, probably due to the astronomical cost of fuel, but the modern four-stroke outboard is very economical, using half the petrol of earlier predecessors.
Most of the black marlin being caught are attracted to live baits, with the skippers specifically targeting these fish, and Tarka must be well ahead in the race at present, as two more marlin were caught on successive days last week, both fish of about 80kgs. A few days earlier the same boat landed two good tuna of 35 and 30kgs, while Unreel also had good fishing with a catch of two sailfish released and two tuna of 33 and 30kgs. White Bear from the Hemingways fleet has also been launched after overhaul, and started with a wahoo and a tuna for the Parkin family. Alleycat had not been out for a week, but early today they had caught a very big yellowfin guessed at almost 70kgs, a good start.
At Malindi, skipper Angus Paul was out in Snowgoose for a couple of trips, finding four sailfish, good catches of tuna and a nice wahoo and a kingfish, and as a bonus they were able to watch some humpback whales near the Boiling Pot. These huge creatures have been seen often in this area and near the Banks, with some clients going out in the boats just to look for the whales.
Clueless ran out for an overnight trip to the North Kenya Banks, and released a small broadbill swordfish, but the water did not look promising out there so they moved closer in to find tuna off Ziwayu island –fishing should improve here as it calms down next month, as the wind is still strong with choppy seas, more like August weather.
