Eye Go Fishing, 2014! - Captain Andys Kenya

24Nov

This year’s Eye Go Fishing Competition was held this past weekend and was, once again, a huge success. The event is run to raise funds for the Kwale District Eye Centre who work tirelessly caring for, repairing and restoring the eyesight of thousands of Kenyans across the country. This year’s competition was very well supported, 21 boats fished out of various Kenyan ports and there were some fish around to keep the anglers busy. The boat auction on Saturday night was a fun affair with every boat selling for something, adding up to a great donation for the Eye Centre. The drinks and bitings sponsored by Captain Andy’s went down very well. Captain Andy’s and Liaison Insurance sponsor this event and there were well over 100 supporters to cheer in the fishermen upon their return on Sunday afternoon.

With a mixture of professional and amateur boats, all seemed happy to hug the reef in search of sail fish and other catches, a few boats ventured a little further out but the fish seemed to be happier in shallower depths along the dirty water line. There was plenty of action in the morning with large groups of tuna and bonito feeding up and down the reef. Some boats were lucky enough to land some of these feisty fish and there were also some wahoo and kingfish around to add to the mix. There were well over 100 supporters to cheer in the fishermen upon their return on Sunday afternoon and being greeted by a cold beer and refreshing cold towel made the hard work worthwhile.

The overall winners of the competition were the crew of Delta; Justin Walters, Max Donner and Sean McGovern. They successfully tagged and released one sailfish late in the morning as well as a collection of other smaller fish, including a lovely barracuda and a good sized karambesi. This was the only billfish to be tagged and released for the whole day, although other boats reported several strikes and lost fish well into the afternoon, none were able to keep any on the hook and the Dave Parry trophy went to the overall winners of the day. Well done to Justin, Max and Sean, it is great to see a young group of men enjoying their fishing, the future generation is leading the way and showing the more ‘mature’ amongst us how it should be done!

The event itself has raised Ksh 559,750.00 for Kwale Eye Centre, all of which will be used to help those with sight problems. A truly worthwhile cause that Captain Andy’s is very proud to be associated with. Many thanks to La Marina for hosting and for the hard work of the fishermen and women on the day but most of all to the committee who work tirelessly to make sure this event runs so smoothly and successfully every year.

Overall winners – Delta (Justin Walters, Max Donna and Sean Mcgovern)

1st professional boat – Delta (Justin, Max and Sean)

2nd Professional boat – Nala (Cathy, Cindy and Mark)

3rd professional boat – Utawala (Vikash, Abbas and Kavit )

1st amateur boat – De Grand Cat (Hamid Salim, Saeed Salim, Bahati ,Zira Yusuf)

2nd amateur boat – Dragonfly (Jim, Ian, Phil and Terry)

3rd amateur boat – No Idea (Steve and Lorian)

Ladies prize – Cathy

1 non billfish – wahoo 24 De Grand Cat , Hamid Salim

2 non billfish -wahoo 15.6 Nala, Cathy Robertson

Light line – Stephen Webb, No Idea

Species prizes